Enhance Classified Education and Cooperative Exchangeto Promote the Cultivation of Creative Talents

---Thoughts about the Future Orientation of Graduate Education

Prof. Zihe RaoPresident, MCAS Nankai University

Aug.26th, 2010

Outline

1. The orientation of graduate education must correspond with the trends and needs of social and economic development

2. The acceleration of classified positioning is the basis and prerequisite of making clear the orientation of graduate education

3. Service-centeredness and innovation-orientation are the overall trends of future graduate education

4. The reinforcement of international exchange and cooperation is the important way to widen the orientation of graduate education

5. The consolidation of postdoctoral education is the important link to widen the graduate education of creative talents

1. The orientation of graduate education must correspond with the trends and needs of social and economic development

The ever-enlarging scale of graduate education in the past 30 years indicates the vigorous needs for high-level talents and it also manifests, to a certain extent, that the orientation and standard of graduate education in China during this period is basically in accordance with the needs of social and economic development.

quantity

Enterprises: qualified high-level talents difficult to be found

Crossroad

Universities: graduates more and more difficult to be employed

quality

“The work in the structural reform units of graduate education should be actively conducted, the inherent initiative of both graduate students and their supervisors should be positively motivated, and the students’ creative spirit and practical ability should be emphatically cultivated.”

News spokesman of Ministry of

Education

2006.9.25

“Graduate education in our country has achieved a lot due to reform and development in the past 20-odd years. However, according to the principle of cultivating creative talents, at present the quality and level of graduate education is far from satisfactory and thus a structural reform in graduate education is called for.”

In March, 2009, The Annual Joint Working Conference of National Professional Degree Education Guiding Committee was held in Beijing, the very theme of which is to accelerate the structural adjustment of graduate education by cultivating more professional-oriented talents and reducing the number and proportion of academic-oriented talents. A notice issued by the Ministry of Education regarding the enrollment of master students in 2010 requires clearly that each enrolling unit should cut down the number of academic-oriented admissions by 5%-10% on the basis of that in 2009, and the consequent vacancies are used for professional-oriented admissions instead.

The first batch of 17 universities engaged in the structural reform of graduate education approved by Ministry of Education (2007)

Peking University Harbin Institute of Technology

Tsinghua University Zhenjiang University

Fudan University Xi’an Jiaotong University

Shanghai Jiaotong University China Agricultural University

Tongji University Dalian University of Technology

University of Science and Technology of China

Nanjing University

Wuhan University Sichuan University

Southeast University South China University of Technology

Sun Yat-sen University Nankai University （ September, 2008）

main

contents

enhancing research-

orientation ,

construction and management

of supervisors

arousing students’ creative initiative

adjusting the structure of graduate education

reforming graduate

admission and education plan

establishing special fund

for graduates

implementing supervisor’s

post system

perfectingsupervisor’s responsibility

system

Reforming scholarship and subsidy

system

academic- oriented

graduates

professional-oriented graduates

According to the guidance of Notice on Further Implementation of Work Regarding the Structural Reform of Graduate Education in Those Units Concerned issued by the office of Ministry of Education (Teaching and Researching Office, [2009], N0. 1), the contents of the structural reform of graduate education mainly include:

In March, 2008, Nankai University carried out the classified graduate education in response to the call from Ministry of Education. Being the first to propose this concept of education, Nankai University also issued forth a series of documents such as Reform Measures in the Scheme of Classified Education of Graduates, Nankai Univeristy, and Provisional Plan for Graduate Scholarship and Subsidies, Nankai University etc.

Classified education enabled our graduates to be more qualified to meet social and market needs and effectively enhanced the quality of our graduates as well as the employment rate. Except some majors, the employment rate in our university maintained the level of 97% in recent years.

2. The acceleration of classified positioning is the basis of making clear the orientation of graduate education

Classified graduate education has been attracting extensive attention. Western developed countries like America since the very beginning have divided graduate students into academic-oriented type and professional-oriented type, with the former mainly cultivated by comprehensive schools of arts and sciences and the latter by professional schools.

graduates

Academic-oriented

Professional-oriented

Cultivated by Schools of artsand sciences

Cultivated by professional

schools

classified graduate education

Classification of graduates

Redistribution of graduates

Academic-oriented

(20-25 ％ )

Professional-oriented(75-80%)

Opportunity to Choose the type

of education

Opportunity to pursue further study trans- disciplinarily

For universities and research

institutes

For industriesand markets

Restricted to similar or neighboring

disciplines

Basic operational procedures of

classified graduate education in Nankai University

3. Service-centeredness and innovation-orientation are the overall trends of future graduate education

J. S. Brubacher, one of the famous higher education experts in America, holds that there are three kinds of philosophical thinking guiding the development of higher education, namely, epistemological thinking with the aim of exploring truth freely, political thinking with the aim of serving the country, and pragmatism philosophy characterized by the rational combination of both epistemological thinking and political thinking.

The future graduate education should on the one hand serve the disciplinary development and knowledge production and on the other serve the needs of the country, the society, the market as well as the individual graduate. Therefore, it embodies none other than the service-centered pragmatism. In order to serve better, the emphasis should be shifted from the increase of number to the upgrading of quality, which is the overall transcendence and innovation of the current graduate education system with its entire links.

Graduate education

Academic-oriented graduates（ epistemological

philosophy ）

Professional-oriented graduates

（ political philosophy ）

In service ofdisciplinary development

and knowledge production

In service of all kinds of

practical purposes

Pragmatismphilosophy

In view of the innovative practice of classified education in our university as well as the trends of social development, we hold that the basic orientation and general framework of future graduate education should be as follows:

Service-centeredness

Overall innovation

Overallinnovation

In order guarantee the high quality of graduate education, Nankai University has put forward successively 10 reform measures since 2005:

adhering to the disciplinary structure and educational principle of quantity in compliance with quality and structure in service of needs;

stipulating that each supervisor can admit no more than two doctoral students each year;

refusing to admit those students with high scores and low abilities; sticking to the unification of the generality of professional cultivation scheme

and the specificity of individual cultivation plan; improving educational quality by centering on the cultivation of creativity; making clear that supervisor is just a kind of working post instead of rank

symbol; breaking the situation of zero-weeding-out of graduates by strictly

implementing the academic standard and weeding-out system; establishing the fund for producing excellent doctoral dissertations and the

new academic star award for doctoral students; exploring a new model of doctoral student cultivation through the integration

of both master’s level and doctoral level; implementing classified graduate education.

Great Expectation’s High-end InterviewClassified Education: Nankai’s Step is the Earliest ---Interview with Professor Tong Jiadong, Vise President of Nankai Universityand dean of Its Graduate School

Reforms in our university has attracted

extensive attention from domestic media for coverage

transferred from Bulletin of Ministry of Education, 2005 (207) by China Alumni Association: Nankai University Carries Out Nine Measures to Upgrade the Quality of Graduate Education

4. The reinforcement of international exchange and cooperation is the important way to widen

the orientation of graduate education

Great differencesexist between Chinese and western graduate education which are well complement to each other

Our country has a good tradition to learn from the advanced experience of western countries, and since the reform and opening-up policy in 1978, there are increasingly more and more people studying abroad ， which contributes a lot to the exchange and cooperation between Chinese and western education.

YearThose studying abroad

Those returned

1978 860 248

1980 2124 162

1985 4888 1424

1990 2950 1593

1995 20381 5750

2000 38989 9121

2001 83973 12243

2002 125179 17945

2003 117307 20152

2004 114682 24726

2005 118515 34987

2006 134000 42000

2007 144000 44000

2008 179800 69300

The number of overseas students from abroad in China also

takes on a growing trend year by year ：

yearOverseas students admitted

Oversea students at school

Overseas students graduated

overseas students

degree-awarded

2004 50603 64107 36454 3030

2005 60904 78323 44337 3791

2006 62612 82107 44566 4782

2007 66509 92491 46322 6071

2008 71294 106870 52745 7406

Actively widening the scope of international exchange and increase the number of programs

Actively widening the scope of international exchange and increase the number of programs

Introducing world-renowned scholars in our university through the national wisdom-attracting program

Introducing world-renowned scholars in our university through the national wisdom-attracting program

Establishing international academic exchange fund for doctoral students in Nankai University

Establishing international academic exchange fund for doctoral students in Nankai University

Creating favorable conditions to attract overseas students from abroad to study in Nankai University.

Creating favorable conditions to attract overseas students from abroad to study in Nankai University.

Taking full advantage of the state-funded overseas student program and widen the scope of state-funded joint training

Taking full advantage of the state-funded overseas student program and widen the scope of state-funded joint training

Major

Measures

to

promote

International

Exchange,

Nankai

University

Major

Measures

to

promote

International

Exchange,

Nankai

University

Up to now,

we have already

established exchange

and cooperation with

more than 100 universities

or international academic institutions in 25 countries or regions. At present, there are

more than 2300 overseas students

from various countries in our university,

and the programs involved have

provided an important platform

for the graduates to

participate in

international

exchange and

cooperation.

5. The consolidation of postdoctoral education is the important

link to widen the graduate education of creative talents

The main force of research:

Home ： centered on doctoral students

Abroad ： centered on postdoctoral students

The type of postdoctoral students:

Home ： out-of-job or in-job postdoctoral students

Abroad: employee-like postdoctoral associates

or non-employee-like postdoctoral fellows

Twenty-five years’ development of postdoctoral education system in China (1985-2010)

Problems: Misunderstanding of postdoctoral education

（ mixed with schooling and degree) Formalization of postdoctoral education

（ in principle in-job admittance is not allowed) Utilitarianism of postdoctoral education (mixed with various titles)

Achievements: 413 postdoctoral mobile stations, 2148 postdoctoral mobile research stations and 1642 postdoctoral research working stations established up to now Annual admittance more than 8000, with 14000 still working in stations and 40000 already graduated Seven of those postdoctoral members already selected as academician in China Academician Ouyang

Zhongcan from Chinese Academy of Sciences

Academician Wen Lan from Peking University

Conclusion

The orientation of future graduate education exhibits a kind of uncertainty because it is influenced by quite a few complicated factors in a specific period, such as political, economic, cultural and demographic etc, all of which may exert some influence on the orientation of graduate education.

Since 2005, we have explored issues such as how to upgrade the quality of graduate education, how to better link up social needs and graduate education and so on.

The following are specific measures taken during these

years.

(1) Through the strict application of supervisor’s post system, we have made clear the supervisor’s obligation and responsibility;

(2) we have established the new academic star award for doctoral students and the fund for producing excellent doctoral dissertations to encourage them to conduct creative research, and their creative ability is consequently enhanced;

(3) through the improvement of scholarship and subsidy standard, the graduates’ learning and research initiative has been effectively aroused;

(4) through the implementation of graduate weeding-out system, the traditional zero-weeding-out practice has been smashed and as a consequence, the quality of graduate education is greatly upgraded;

(5) through allowing graduate students to pursue further study trans-disciplinarily, their learning potentials have been better exploited;

(6) through classified graduate education, the dual needs of social development and disciplinary development have been optimally satisfied.

It can be safely concluded that Nankai University’s attempt at exploring the structure

and orientation of graduate education is quite successful. Nonetheless, we are still facing a lot of challenges and difficulties which require further effort and exploration to tackle them.

　 Well-known both home and abroad, Nankai

University is directly under the jurisdiction of the

Ministry of Education and it has been listed as one

of the “985 Project” universities as well as “211

Project” universities. Due to its renowned status, it

has always been cared and emphasized by the

Party and state leaders.

　 Nankai University was grown out of Nankai

School, privately established in 1904, and it was

formally established by famous patriotic educationists

Yan Xiu and Zhang Boling in order to realize their

ideal of saving the nation through education. In

addition, it was a successful example of running a

school by collecting unofficial resources.

Nankai yesterday: its origin

• In the history of Chinese

Olympics in the past century,

Nankai has always been very

active. The history of Nankai

University is engraved by its

longing, inheriting and

practicing of Olympic spirit.

• Zhang Bolin, the creator as

well as the first president of

Nankai University, once in a

sports award-giving meeting,

shouted that China should

participate Olympics, which

became Nankai’s first cry for

Olympics.

Picture 1 on the right hand: Zhang Boling at the 18th North China Sports Meeting

Picture 2 on the right hand ： Zhang Boling kicking off for the students’ football match

Nankai yesterday: witness of Olympics in the past century

Nankai, born from a family school in Tianjin in

1898, is a world-renowned brand and Nankai

educational series are all famous schools in China.

　

Those personalities cultivated by Nankai

include 2 premiers, namely, Zhou Enlai and Wen

Jiabao, 1 vice premier, 4 NPC vice chairpersons,

5 CPPCC vice chairpersons, and more than 100

academicians. This nourishing glory is called

“Nankai Phenomena”. 　　　

Above: Young Zhou Enlai and other members in

Awakening Association

Deep affection I cherish for Nankai --- Zhou Enlai

Below: Wen Jiabao and Nankai students

Nankai spirit lasts forever --- Wen Jiabao

Nankai yesterday: two premiers and

tens of thousands of talents cultivated

Zhu Guangya

Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences as well as Chinese

Academy of Engineering, graduated from Physics Department,

National Southwest Associated University, alumnus of Chongqing

Nankai Middle School

Wu dayou

Distinguished physicist, honored as the father of Chinese physics,

graduated from Nankai University, once a professor in National

Southwest Associated University

Zhou Guangzhao

Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, renowned physicist,

once vice chairman of the standing committee of NPC, president of

Chinese Association of Science, alumnus of Chongqing Nankai

Middle School

Nankai yesterday: three distinguished deans

Zhou Enlai （ first premier of PRC, admitted in 1919 by Nankai University)

Shiing-shen Chern ( father of differential geometry, admitted in 1926 by Nankai University )

Wu Dayou （ father of Chinese physics, admitted in 1925 by Nankai University)

Cao Yu ( father of Chinese modern drama, admitted in 1928 by Nankai University)

Guo Yonghuai （ meritorious service for atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb and artificial satellite, admitted in 1929 by

Nankai University)

Liu Dongsheng （ father of loess in China, admitted by in 1937 by Nankai University)

Nankai yesterday: luminaries cultivated

Nankai Middle School, Tianjin （ 1904） Nankai University, Tianjin （ 1919）

Nankai Girls’ Middle School, Tianjin （ 1923） Shuguang Middle School, Sichuan （ 192

4）

Nankai Elementary School, Tianjin （ 1928） Nankai Middle School, Chongqing （ 1936 ）

Nankai University was first bombarded by the aggressing

Japanese army in 1937 due to its resistant effort. Later it moved

to the south and established the National Southwest Associated

University with Peking University and Tsinghua University

which was honored as the “North Star of Learning”, a miracle in

Chinese education history.

Zhang Boling:

What was destroyed was just Nankai’s substances, but Nankai

spirit will become even more vigorous because of the frustration.

Chiang Kai-shek:

Nankai has sacrificed for China and as long as China exists,

Nankai will remain.

Miao Du and other 55 left-wing writers

sent a telegraph to Zhang Boling and Nankai teachers and

students, denouncing the barbarity of Japanese army.

Nankai yesterday: North Star of Learning

1946, Nankai returned to Tianjin to start anew as

a state-run university

1952, Nankai became a comprehensive university

with both arts and sciences

1994, Nankai was selected as one of “211

Project” universities

2000, Nankai was selected as one of “985

Project” Universities

With tremendous effort exerted by Nankai people

through several generations in the past 90 years,

Nankai University has established its leading statues

among universities in China, and it has developed

into a comprehensive research-oriented university

with the widest span of disciplines.

Nankai yesterday: rise in the century

2007, September, 13th witnessed the erection of the

monument of National Southwest Associated University in the

original form in Nankai University. The history of National

Southwest Associated University has been simultaneously

recorded in the respective history of each university. Rao Zihe,

president of Nankai University, Gu Binglin, president of

Qsinghua University and Xu Zhihong, president of Peking

University, standing together before the monument, appreciated

in retrospect that tragically stirring and glorious history in order

to pass down the school motto of National Southwest

Associated University (fortitude and prominence) and make the

historical friendship between Nankai University, Qsinghua

University and Peking University even closer in this new day

and age just like what it was in National Southwest Associated

University with a common purpose of making its largest

possible contribution to the rejuvenation of China.

Nankai yesterday: fortitude and prominence

National key disciplines 26

Provincial and municipal key disciplines 48

Authorized primary doctoral disciplines 16

Doctoral Programs 118

Mater’s programs 214

Undergraduate specialties 71

Postdoctoral mobile stations 18

In the first China’s Discipline Ranking conducted by Ministry of

Education between 2002 and 2004, all of Nankai’s 16 disciplines

participated ranked top ten nationally. In the second round of

ranking results (part of them) released by Ministry of Education,

Nankai’s chemistry ranked the first and its mathematics and

business administration ranked the third nationally.

Nankai today: prosperity in both arts and sciences

Chemistry, physics and

information science…

Chemistry,

biology…

Mathematics…

Economics and

Management…

History…

Nankai University gives priority to the construction of

five major disciplines in accordance with the principle of “

aiming for extractive powerfulness with specific focuses”.

taking full advantage of traditional

disciplines of literature, history and

philosophy

Strengthening fundamental research in

mathematics, physics and chemistry disciplines like economics, management

and law actively participating in social and

economic development

promoting the development of disciplines

like life science, medicine, pharmacy, new

materials and new energy

15 academicians in Chinese Academy of Sciences or Chinese

Academy of Engineering

4 academicians of the Third World Academy of Sciences

10 members of the Subject Assessment Division Degree Appraisal

Committee of the State Council

33 Yangtze River Scholars

27 recipients of National Outstanding Talents Foundation

17 teachers selected by national “Millions of Talents Program”

2 National Innovation Research Groups

2 National Wisdom-attracting Bases for Disciplinary Innovation in

Universities

3 Yangtze Scholar Creative Teams

　　

Small-scaled Nankai University has one of the smallest

faculty among China’s prestigious universities and among its

1998 full-time teachers, there are

Nankai today: distinguished teachers gathering

In 2006, Nankai University selected for employment deans of some specific colleges from both home and

abroad publicly. As business flourishes with talents, school prospers with them. Nankai University, abiding

by the strategy of “talents lending power to school” and following the conventional practice of selecting

talents by prestigious universities in the world, has been attracting talents in open arms regardless of

nationalities.

Nankai Today: distinguished talents attracting

On 15th

, March, 2007, deans of 9 specific colleges as well as a batch of

outstanding talents attracted both from home and abroad made their appearance together in Shiing-

shen Building, and there they participated the solemn appointing ceremony.

Nankai Today: distinguished talents attracting

Li Zhaoxing, a famous diplomat, and Lin Liyun, a famous translator, received

their letters of appointment of Nankai University in September, 2007, respectively

appointed as the dean of Zhou Enlai School of Government and of College of

Foreign Languages with a four-year term.

Nankai today: distinguished talents attracting

Although the scale of science and engineering of Nankai

University is far smaller than that of many other universities,

Nankai University received 10 national awards of science and

technology between 2001 and 2005 because of its high input-

output ratio. It also received 7 national second awards of natural

science in three successive years (the first award is vacant),

ranking first with a parallel among universities in China.

Various awards and funds acquired by humanities also rank top

four in China’s universities.

Nankai today: excellent academic Results

There are in Nankai University

16 national or municipal key labs or engineering centers,

6 key research bases for humanities and social sciences under Ministry of education,

7 innovation bases in philosophy and social sciences included in “985 Project”, and

4 science and technology innovation platforms included in “985 Project”.

For many years, papers published by Nankai University in the fields of chemistry and mathematics in

international top journals have always ranked top three in China’s universities. Report made by Ministry of

science and technology and Chinese Academy of Sciences demonstrated that Nankai University had

published SCI papers in the field of super-molecular chemistry ranked the forth in the world and the first in

Asia.

Chart of SCI, EI papers published between 2000 and 2004

Nankai today: important base for research

Thank you!

Nankai University Add:No.94 Wei Jin Road, Nankai District, Tianjin P.R.CHINA 300071

Web:www.nankai.edu.cn