Preparing Future Scholars & Professionals:Facilitating Professional Development Of Graduate Students

Hong GAOVice Secretary General, Chinese Society of Academic Degrees and Graduate Education

Associate Dean, Graduate School, Tsinghua University

Chengdu, August 5, 2012

Graduate education in transition Tsinghua’s practice

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Changing landscape of graduate education

Knowledge-based economy favors more educated and academically skilled professionals

Transition of economic development Rapid growth in graduate enrollment

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Year Doctoral degrees Master’s degrees

1998 8,498 40,384

2010 50,735 458,214

Degrees Awarded

Annual Report on Degrees and Graduate Education in China, 2010

Chinese Society of Academic Degrees and Graduate Education4

Changing landscape of graduate education

Diversified career paths Percentile of graduates taking academic career paths

Employer’s expectations of well-developed “soft skills”/transferable skills− critical thinking− problem solving− teamwork− oral and written communications

− professionalism/work ethic

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Changing landscape of graduate education

How responsive is higher education to the needs of the labor market?

Purpose of graduate education?— Academic & professional degree programs

Reshaping graduate education to better serve our nation’s economic development to better facilitate professional development of

graduate students

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Challenges to graduate education

Master’s education in transition— Enlarging enrollment in professional degree programs

leading to 39 professional master degrees and 5 professional doctoral degrees

— Full-time professional programs offered to college graduates aiming at non academic careers

— Professional degree programs redesigned to include more hands-on experience, case study, project-based learning, internship opportunities, “soft skills”, ……

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What can we do?

Initiative on reforming professional degree programs– 64 universities – 15 professional degrees

Main challenges– students with no work experience– research-oriented faculty– academic-oriented curriculums – lack of effective communication between academia and

industry

Reforming professional programs

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Reforming professional programs

Reflection on the goal of programs, curriculum design, effective teaching and learning, format of the master’s thesis

Curriculum redesigned– Case study, project based learning

– Intern as a required learning experience

– Substitute case study report, policy analysis, etc. for the Master’s thesis

– Involvement of industry in curriculum design, teaching, and internship arrangement

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Professional development programs

Professional development programs– Help developing transferable skills

• Ph.D. students: research integrity, teaching skills, research paper writing and presentation, ……

• Engineering students: engineering ethics, technology entrepreneurial skills, communication and teamwork, management

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Reforming graduate education Tsinghua’s practice

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Goals of graduate programs

Research-Research-orientedoriented

Research-Research-orientedoriented

Application-Application-orientedoriented

Application-Application-orientedoriented

40% in academic programs40% in academic programs

How to prepare scholars and high quality professionals for diversified career paths?

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60% in Professional programs60% in Professional programs

Master’s Master’s studentsstudents14,10014,100

Master’s Master’s studentsstudents14,10014,100

Doctoral Doctoral students students

6,8606,860

Doctoral Doctoral students students

6,8606,86099% in Ph.D. programs99% in Ph.D. programs99% in Ph.D. programs99% in Ph.D. programs

Academic & Professional Development Program

Career planning from orientation Ten seminars each semester by experienced

faculty members to help developing skills for different career paths

—research integrity—research paper writing and presentation—innovation and technology entrepreneurship—communication and leadership—......

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International Collaboration

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Purpose and nature of graduate education have been changing

Innovation in program and curriculum design is called for

Transferable skills are crucial for our students to be successful in future career

Graduate school can play a role in facilitating such a change in professional development

In summary