2020 Graduate Education Meeting: Forging Distinctive and High-quality Graduate Education

(Reporter Tian Tian, Correspondent Lin Xiaoyan and Photographer Zhang Yuxian) The 2020 Graduate Education Meeting was held on December 3, the topic of which was to study and implement the guiding principles of National Conference for Graduate Education, forging distinctive and high-quality graduate education through reform and innovation. All school leaders, supervisors, student representatives and other faculty attended the meeting.

Huang Xiaomei, secretary of CUG party committee, chaired the meeting. She stressed the topic of the meeting and the main task of fully carrying out moral education. She also concluded the experience of graduate education and analyzed the current situation and problems. Ideas and measures for the reform and development of graduate education would be put forward in this meeting, as an effort to build a high-quality graduate education system. In addition, she stated that the school should focus on high-quality graduate education, with a higher ideological position, a broader perspective of understanding, and a deeper exploration of rules and principles. Reforms and innovations, comprehensive planning, creative mechanism and practical measures would be needed throughout the development.

With the construction of a “Double First-Class” university and achievement of “three-step strategic goals”, graduate education reform was facing higher requirements. It was urgent and necessary for us to precisely recognize, scientifically respond to them and initiatively pursue the changes. Besides strengthening our quality awareness and insisting on innovative reform, we should seize the opportunities, plan in advance, follow and take advantage of the trend to forge high-quality graduate education with distinctive features.

Professor Wang Yanxin gave a report entitled “Creating distinctive and high-quality graduate education through quality awareness and innovative reform”. As one of the earliest universities in China to carry out graduate education, CUG, keeping abreast of the times, has cultivated nearly 50,000 postgraduates through all the exploration and hardship. Valuable experience has been accumulated from the practice for the reform and innovation of graduate education in the new stage. Ensuring Party’s overall leadership to graduate education and sticking to moral education, CUG must forge high-level disciplines and rely on high-quality supervisors who are the “critical minority”. With high standards from time to time, it must think about students’ development in all respects.

Meanwhile, Professor Wang Yanxin also analyzed the current challenges and existing problems of graduate education. He emphasized that graduate education must be goal-oriented, demand-oriented, and quality-oriented. CUG must make efforts to the integration of science research and teaching, of industry and education, and of undergraduate and graduate education. Moreover, he pointed out that CUG must follow the laws of teaching and educating, the laws of talent growth and the laws of technological innovation while cultivating graduates’ abilities. CUG should also establish a cross-disciplinary, cross-platform, and cross-cultural graduate education system. In order to forge high-level graduate education, it was necessary to provide high-quality ideological and political courses for graduate students, deepen the comprehensive reform of all-staff, all-process and all-round education, and build a high-caliber interdisciplinary training system. At the same time, we should also monitor the training quality, strictly select the supervisors and promote the evaluation reform.

Lai Xulong, vice president and dean of Graduate School, gave a report entitled “Fully implement the fundamental task of moral education, promote the development of graduate education, and accelerate the construction of a high-quality graduate education system”. According to professor Lai Xulong, after the National Conference for Graduate Education, CUG have held more than 80 seminars, analyzed five major problems in school’s graduate education and proposed 10 action plans for graduate education reform --- strengthening ideological and political construction for graduate students courses as well as construction of supervisor groups, improving the quality control of dissertations and courses, promoting classification training of graduate students and interdisciplinary integration, advancing internationalization of CUG, deepening reform in admission and multiple evaluation, and developing the governance capabilities of graduate education.

Wang Linqing, deputy secretary of the party committee, delivered a speech entitled “Improving the Quality of Ideological and Political Education for Graduate Students in All Respects”. He proposed that we should work together to understand the task of ideological and political construction from a scientific perspective, and foster students’ integrity and promote their rounded development in the reform of school operation in the optimization of governance structure, in the enhancement of governance capabilities, and in the advancement of all-staff, all-process and all-round education. We should lay emphasis on the following tasks: first, be goal-oriented under the guidance of higher education policy put forward by Chairman Xi Jinping; second, improve the organization and leadership system according to system construction; third, perfect the operation and implementation mechanism depending on the supervisor group; fourth, promote method innovation centered around the research characteristics; fifth, rectify the evaluation orientation to boost students’ all-round development ; sixth, strengthen students’ problem-solving ability of .

Representatives of supervisors, alumni and graduate students also gave speeches.

Tong Jinnan, supervisor and professor of School of Earth Sciences, stated that supervisors must assume the main responsibility for training their graduate students’. Their missions are glorious and sacred. With lofty ideals, deep feelings and persistent pursuits, supervisors must be able to grasp the frontier direction of the disciplines, and innovatively teach students in accordance with their aptitude. Meanwhile, supervisors should set themselves as models to lead students to practice socialist core values.

Li Jiulin, a representative of CUG alumni, shared his thoughts and experience. He said that the school motto of “working hard with a plain living style, seeking truth with a pragmatic attitude” had shaped his character of being practical and daring to face challenges; his supervisor, also his model, had cultivated his professional foundation and innovative ability. He hoped that all graduate students could keep their original aspirations and take on their missions in the new era.

Jin Li, a graduate student representative from School of Automation, promised that she and other students would adhere to the spirit of the school motto and forge ahead to become a graduate student with excellent academic performance and all-round abilities.

Feng Qinglai, deputy dean of School of Earth Sciences, Zhao Kuidong, deputy dean of School of Resources, Chai Bo, deputy dean of School of Environment, Yang Shuwang, dean of School of Economics and Management, and Gao Xianglian, dean of School of Marxism made speeches respectively. They exchanged opinions on the following aspects: construction of top talents highland in geological field, innovation of talent training mechanism in geological engineering discipline, internationalization of graduate education, practice and prospects for graduate students in School of Economics and Management, development of ideological and political courses, and graduate education in Marxist theory discipline. They all agreed that we should firmly grasp the direction of graduate education, aim at the cutting-edge and key areas of science and technology, advance the level of the supervisor group, improve the talent training system, and cultivate professional talents with patriotism.

It is reported that after the graduate education meeting, CUG will launch a series of reform measures to cultivate innovative talents that can meet national needs, strengthen the construction of supervisor groups, promote the reform and development and forge high-quality graduate education with distinctive features.

Website: https://graduate.cug.edu.cn/info/1143/9238.htm