Recently, the People's Republic of China's Degree Law (referred to as the "Degree Law" hereafter) has been officially enacted after undergoing multiple rounds of draft revisions and will come into effect on January 1, 2025. Consequently, the long-implemented People's Republic of China's Degree Regulations (referred to as the "Degree Regulations" hereafter) will be abolished.
The significance of the Degree Law replacing the Degree Regulations is substantial, as the legal force and binding power of a "law" are notably higher than that of "regulations." This elevates the legal status of degree management, reflects the changing governance concepts of graduate education, better meets the needs of the rapid development of graduate education, and establishes a legal foundation for building a strong country in graduate education.
Currently, many scholars have discussed the significance of the Degree Law and its impact on the future development of graduate education from various perspectives. However, there has been limited discussion on the forward-looking features of the Degree Law. This happens to be the aspect of the Degree Law that has struck the author the most.
Firstly, the Degree Law enhances the approval system and the flexibility of degree conferment, providing sufficient exploration space for subsequent reforms of local educational administrative departments and graduate training institutions.
Many stakeholders in graduate education (students, mentors, training institutions, local educational administrative agencies, etc.) believe that the previous approval system and degree conferment were overly controlled by policies, somewhat stifling the enthusiasm and innovation of local graduate education. In response to this, the Degree Law has made a decision to expand the autonomy of degree-conferring units.
According to the Degree Law, degree-conferring units meeting the requirements, approved by the State Council's Academic Degrees Committee, can independently carry out the review of establishing new master's and doctoral degree-granting points. Simultaneously, the Degree Law also encourages degree-conferring units to formulate specific standards for degree conferment based on their own characteristics. These two measures significantly enhance the flexibility of graduate training institutions, encouraging local educational administrative departments and graduate training institutions to boldly explore reforms according to local conditions.
Secondly, the Degree Law emphasizes the distinction between academic degrees and professional degrees, opening up possibilities for the emergence of more types of degrees.
The law has made significant adjustments to the requirements for professional degree theses, allowing students to defend their degrees based on practical achievements. This is currently a hot topic of public concern regarding the Degree Law. The author welcomes this development but also has some concerns about the implementation of this adjustment and the need for interactive feedback from stakeholders, especially employers. Only through such interactions can the relevant measures and regulations be gradually perfected.
In this process, the author does not rule out the possibility of "backtracking." For example, if many employers find that graduate students who have not completed their theses lack the required theoretical knowledge and research skills, they may push the training requirements back to the training institutions, demanding an increase in the requirement for students to write theses. This kind of "backtracking" is not a regression but a progressive development.
Regardless of whether there will be any "backtracking" in the future, the Degree Law provides more exploration directions for the differentiated development of professional degrees, favoring the diversified development of professional degrees themselves.
Furthermore, Article 2 of the Degree Law states, "The state implements a degree system. Degrees include bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, including academic degrees, professional degrees, and other types." The wording here is not "including academic degrees and professional degrees," but rather indicates China's welcoming and open attitude towards the diversified development of degree types. This may be an important practical area where China provides its wisdom and solutions for the global development of graduate education.
Lastly, while strengthening the quality assurance of degrees, the Degree Law grants more rights to degree applicants. In recent years, there have been several judicial litigations arising from degree applications and degree conferrals. In response to this, the Degree Law, based on the Degree Regulations, has included relevant content on "academic review."
The Degree Law makes clear provisions on "academic review": "Degree applicants who have objections to the academic evaluation conclusions made by relevant academic organizations or personnel during the expert review, defense, and achievement recognition processes can apply for academic review to the degree-conferring unit."
It is worth noting that although the Degree Law stipulates that the "review decision is final," it also states that "degree applicants or degree recipients who are dissatisfied with actions such as rejecting their degree applications, not granting their degrees, or revoking their degrees can apply for a review to the degree-conferring unit or request relevant authorities to handle them in accordance with the law." This gives degree applicants dissatisfied with the results of the "academic review" the right to appeal to a higher-level institution.
At the same time, the Degree Law emphasizes that "degree-conferring units should establish a degree quality assurance system, strengthen the quality management of the entire process of enrollment, training, and degree conferral, timely disclose relevant information, accept social supervision, and ensure the quality of degree conferral." This comprehensive setup not only strengthens degree quality assurance but also provides further channels and procedures for resolving objections that may arise.
In conclusion, the Degree Law proactively considers the demands of various stakeholders in graduate education, making degree management more standardized, comprehensive, and systematic, thereby better promoting the construction of a strong country in graduate education in China. The author is a distinguished professor appointed by the Institute of Education at Tsinghua University. This article is a phased research achievement of the key project in education funded by the National Social Science Foundation, titled "Research on the High-Quality Development of Graduate Education in the New Era (AIA210012)."
