Transcript Rao Zihe - University of Alberta International

Enhance Classified Education and Cooperative Exchange
to Promote the Cultivation of Creative Talents
---Thoughts about the Future Orientation of Graduate Education
Prof. Zihe Rao
President, 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
Universities:
graduates
more and
more difficult
to be
employed
Crossroad
quality
Enterprises:
qualified
high-level
talents
difficult to
be found
“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.”
“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.”
News
spokesman
of Ministry of
Education
2006.9.25
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 academicoriented 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）
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:
main
contents
enhancing
researchorientation ,
reforming
graduate
admission and
education plan
establishing
special fund
for graduates
construction
and management
of supervisors
implementing
supervisor’s
post system
perfecting
supervisor’s
responsibility
system
arousing
students’
creative
initiative
Reforming
scholarship
and subsidy
system
adjusting
the structure
of graduate
education
academicoriented
graduates
professional
-oriented
graduates
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
Academicoriented
Professionaloriented
Cultivated by Cultivated by
Schools of arts professional
and sciences
schools
Basic operational procedures of
classified graduate education in Nankai University
classified
graduate
education
Classification
of graduates
Academicoriented
(20-25％)
For universities
and research
institutes
Redistribution
of graduates
Opportunity to
Professional- Opportunity to
pursue further
oriented
Choose the type
study trans(75-80%)
of education
disciplinarily
For industries
and markets
Restricted to
similar or neighboring
disciplines
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.
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:
Graduate
education
Overall
innovation
Overall
innovation
Pragmatism
philosophy
AcademicProfessionaloriented graduates
oriented graduates
（epistemological
（political philosophy）
philosophy）
In service of
disciplinary development
and knowledge production
In service of
all kinds of
practical purposes
Servicecenteredness
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.
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
Great Expectation’s High-end Interview
Classified Education: Nankai’s Step is the Earliest
---Interview with Professor Tong Jiadong, Vise President of Nankai University
and dean of Its Graduate School
4. The reinforcement of international exchange and
cooperation is the important way to widen
the orientation of graduate education
Great
differences
exist 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.
Year
Those
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 ：
year
Overseas
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
Major
Measures
to
promote
International
Exchange,
Nankai
University
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
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.
Taking full advantage of the state-funded overseas student
program and widen the scope of state-funded joint training
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)
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
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)
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 yesterday: its
origin
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:
witness of Olympics in
the past century
•
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.
th
Picture 1 on the right hand: Zhang Boling at the 18 North China Sports Meeting
Picture 2 on the right hand：Zhang Boling kicking off for the students’ football match
Nankai yesterday: two premiers and
tens of thousands of talents cultivated
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.
Above: Young Zhou Enlai and other members in
Awakening Association
Deep affection I cherish for Nankai --- Zhou Enlai
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”.
Below: Wen Jiabao and Nankai students
Nankai spirit lasts forever --- Wen Jiabao
Nankai yesterday: three
distinguished deans
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: luminaries
cultivated
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 Middle School, Tianjin（1904）
Nankai University, Tianjin（1919）
Nankai Girls’ Middle School, Tianjin （1923） Shuguang Middle School, Sichuan（1924）
Nankai Elementary School, Tianjin （1928）
Nankai Middle School, Chongqing（1936）
Nankai yesterday: North Star of
Learning
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: rise in the
century
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: fortitude and
prominence
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 today: prosperity in both arts
and sciences
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 University gives priority to the construction of
five major disciplines in accordance with the principle of
“ aiming for extractive powerfulness with specific focuses”.
Chemistry, biology…
Chemistry,
physics
information science…
Mathematics…
History…
Economics and
Management…
and
 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
Nankai today: distinguished teachers
gathering
Small-scaled Nankai University has one of the smallest
faculty among China’s prestigious universities and among its
1998 full-time teachers, there are
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
Nankai Today: distinguished talents
attracting
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
th
On 15 , 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: excellent academic
Results
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 inputoutput 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: important base for
research
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
Thank you!
Nankai University
Add:No.94 Wei Jin Road, Nankai District, Tianjin
P.R.CHINA 300071
Web:www.nankai.edu.cn