The new "Academic Degrees Law" is coming, and the awarding of degrees is no longer "only a thesis"

On April 26, the Academic Degrees Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Academic Degrees Law") was promulgated, which will come into force on January 1, 2025. This is the first comprehensive revision of the legal system of academic degrees in mainland China since the implementation of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Academic Degrees on January 1, 1981.

In 2019, the national college students' dissertations entered the era of "big duplicate checking". In the past six years, colleges and universities across the country have become more and more strict in their requirements for papers, such as duplicate checking, review, defense, back-check, and random inspection...... There are more and more processes, and the requirements are getting more and more detailed.

Now, with the introduction of the new "Academic Degrees Law", the new clause of "not conferring degrees and revoking degrees" has made some students worry: "Is it difficult to get a degree?"

Is it really harder for college students to get a degree?

Universities' "layer upon layer"

In fact, the state has uniform regulations on how college students can obtain a degree.

According to the Higher Education Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Academic Degrees, the National Student Physical Health Standards and other laws and regulations, college students at different stages must meet the corresponding requirements if they want to obtain a degree.

For example, whether it is a bachelor's degree, a master's or a doctor's degree, you must complete the course within the specified time, pass the grade or complete the credits, according to the national physical test standards, if the score does not reach 50 points, it will be treated as completion or dropout. In order to apply for a master's degree or doctorate, you also need to pass the course examination and thesis defense.

Take credits, take compulsory courses, take physical examinations, complete dissertations, graduation projects, and pass the examination and defense...... Students have a lot to do to graduate and get their degrees. Moreover, on top of the uniform standards, some schools also put forward a variety of additional requirements. Many students find that colleges and universities will "add layers of weight" to the details of awarding degrees.

For example, the passing score of long-distance running in individual colleges and universities is higher than the national standard, and for example, swimming is not included in the physical test items stipulated in the "National Student Physical Health Standards", but many colleges and universities have added this assessment item to the graduation requirements.

At the same time, some colleges and universities have also set various special courses as "compulsory" courses, including tai chi, ice skating and even vegetable planting.

In addition, there are many other standards for degree awarding that are not available to the Ministry of Education, but the universities themselves put forward their own regulations, which are more familiar to everyone, such as obtaining certificates such as college English level 4 and 6 examinations and computer level 2 examinations. In the case of graduate students, several papers must also be published in academic journals......

Can universities "add weight" to degrees?

At one time, this issue was controversial.

For example, in response to some colleges and universities that "do not give degree certificates if they are only CET-4 or 6", there are cases of "students suing the school" from time to time. In this regard, the Ministry of Education has repeatedly reiterated that it has never required that CET-4 test scores be linked to degrees.

Since then, many colleges and universities have "legalized" this, and no longer require the award of degrees to pass the college English test level 4 or 6, but use the on-campus English proficiency test, or include it in the student training program instead.

The new Academic Degrees Law gives more autonomy to degree-awarding institutions.

Professor Xu Jing, chief expert who participated in the revision of the draft of the Academic Degrees Law and the establishment of the Education Legislation Research Base by the Ministry of Education and Central South University, pointed out that the Academic Degrees Law has made clear provisions on the acquisition of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, and also empowers universities, scientific research institutions and other degree-awarding institutions to formulate specific standards for degree awarding based on their own academic evaluation standards.

Of course, the degree awarding standards of colleges and universities should not be arbitrarily "increased".

Xu Jing introduced that the "Academic Degrees Law" clearly stipulates that the formulation of specific standards for the awarding of degrees in various disciplines and majors must adhere to the scientific evaluation orientation, fully listen to the opinions of many parties and publicize them. This means that the degree awarding standards set by universities cannot add conditions that violate the express provisions of the law and the orientation of scientific evaluation.

For example, conditions such as "to obtain a degree, you must publish a paper in an academic journal" violates the orientation of academic evaluation to "break the thesis-only theory".

In general, the requirements for the awarding of degrees should be respected as long as they "do not go beyond the mandatory provisions of the law".

Degree awarding is no longer "thesis-only"

In the final analysis, the purpose of higher education is to cultivate talents.

Nowadays, the introduction of the new law is to give different types of talents different assessment methods. Xu Jing introduced that the provisions of the new "Academic Degrees Law" on the awarding of master's and doctoral degrees are more diverse than in the past.

In the past, the "Regulations on Academic Degrees" required that in order to obtain a degree, graduate students should not only complete the course assessment and complete the credits, but also pass the "course examination and thesis defense"; now, the "Academic Degrees Law" has added two requirements: "complete academic research training or professional practical training" and pass the "prescribed practical results defense", which stipulates two types of academic degrees and professional degrees from a legal perspective, emphasizing classified development and training.

This kind of legal orientation will naturally affect universities and scientific research institutes, which will successively adjust the original training system and degree awarding standards, and break the "thesis-only" theory. For master's and doctoral degrees, it is not necessary to write papers or send papers.

At the same time, the degree awarding process for students will be more standardized.

Xu Jing pointed out that in the past, students had no way to seek relief when they disagreed with the conclusions in the peer review of their dissertations or other academic evaluations.

Today, the Academic Degrees Law has established a system of academic review and degree review, which has clear legal protection for students' rights and interests. If a student is dissatisfied with the refusal to accept the application for a degree, the non-awarding of a degree, or the revocation of a degree, etc., the student may resolve the matter through a review.

For example, if the same dissertation is "killed" in the peer review stage, students can apply for academic review from the degree-awarding institution (usually the school) with the support of the Academic Degrees Law, and the school must organize a review within 30 days after accepting it. In addition, if the degree-awarding institution is found to "fail to ensure the quality of the degrees conferred", the education administrative department of the State Council and the provincial degree committee can also revoke the corresponding degree-awarding qualifications.

Of course, the life of the law lies in its implementation, and the Academic Degrees Law has given more detailed and clear provisions on the qualification review, examination and approval subjects and procedures, and the conditions and procedures for the awarding of degrees. It remains to be seen how these regulations will ultimately be implemented in the "Degree Conferment Rules" of various universities and scientific research institutions, and affect every student.

(CCTV WeChat public account)