NCEPU Actively Developing Postgraduate Education with Professional Degree to Achieve a Balanced Development between the Academic Degrees and Professional Degrees

Publishing time:2014-09-18    Viewer:

      Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Postgraduate Educationpoint out that the university must actively develop postgraduate education of professional master degrees and steadily develop postgraduate education of professional doctor degrees. It means that the type and structure of postgraduate cultivation should change from academic degrees based to a balanced development between academic degrees and professional degrees. 
      Reporter has recently visited the graduate school of NCEPU on the issue of the type and structure of postgraduate cultivation and learned that NCEPU recruited 2315 postgraduate students in 2014 including 1008 postgraduates with professional degrees accounting for 44 percent of the total. In 2009, NCEPU recruited a total of 1918 postgraduate students including 375 postgraduates with professional degrees accounting for 20 percent of the total number. Compared to the year of 2009, in the year of 2014, the proportion of postgraduates with professional degrees has increased by 24%, which basically achieved a balanced development between academic degrees and professional degrees.
      Professional degree is a type of degree compared to academic degree. It cultivates high-level professional talents with practical knowledge conforming to the demand of actual work of specific occupation or position, which is an important manifestation of postgraduate education closely combining with the demands of economic and social development. In 2009, NCEPU began to recruit full-time postgraduates with professional degrees and took a series of measures to actively develop professional degrees educations. The ratio of postgraduates of professional degrees has increased year by year, which gradually optimized postgraduate education structure.
      According to the survey, the students are very cautious in choosing academic master or professional master. Jiang Shuting, an academic master entering into NCEPU in 2013, said “I think I am suitable for basic academic research for my personality. Moreover, it’s possible for me to pursuePhD. So I choose academic master.” Wang Haotian, a professional master entering into NCEPU in 2012, said “I want to look for a job after graduating. And the education of professional master degree pays more attention to the cultivation of one’s professional competence. So I choose professional master.”
     “The training objectives of academic master and professional master are different. Postgraduate education of academic degree aims at improving innovative ability while postgraduate education of professional degree aims at promoting professional capacity to meet the demands of diversification of economic and social development. Therefore, the university formulated different training programs. Although course contents are different between academic degrees and professional degrees, academic masters and professional masters enjoy the same treatment, and never undermining postgraduate of professional degree.”Zhao Dongmei, executive vice president of graduate school, said“Our country deepening postgraduate comprehensive education reform must realize ‘Four Transformations’ including the type and structure of postgraduate trainingchanging from academic degrees based to a balanced development between academic degrees and professional degrees. ”
       “Recruiting professional masters contributes to cultivating high-level talents with professional skills and complex talents required by different kinds of industry to meet the needs of industrial upgrading.” Zhao Dongmei also said“In possession of industry background, NCEPU is able to play its full role in postgraduate education structure and type adjustments and possess good development opportunities. On the one hand, through school-enterprise cooperation, NCEPU and enterprises jointly cultivate professional masters and innovate produce-learn-research cooperation mechanism to strengthen industry influence. On the other hand, in possession of strong employment traction, postgraduate of professional degree features career-oriented, and all these make our university obtain better opportunity for development as an industry-based characteristic university.”
        After five years’ exploration, our university formed its distinctive features in the cultivation of postgraduate of professional degree. On the one hand, in the aspect of the module of professional quality training, NCEPU pays attention to change training mode effectively from knowledge-based to focusing on both knowledge learning and ability culturing and designs a number of courses reflecting the quality cultivation of senior engineers. On the other hand, emphasis on the process of professional practice, NCEPU has established 65 postgraduate workstations/ practice bases which provide practice platform for graduates of professional degrees. It demands that the time of professional practice for the postgraduate during the study period should not less than half a year and the time of professional practice for the fresh graduates obtaining a master degree should not less than a year in general. The postgraduate workstations/ practice bases adopts double-tutors system featuring joint cultivation between colleges and enterprises and combination of theory and practice, which will promote research achievements output and contribute to the realization of benefits of enterprise, university and students.
     The postgraduate education of professional degree has generated positive results.Graduate student workstation of Yunan Power Grid Corporation of our university was rated as national demonstration project joint training base for postgraduate of professional degree, which became one of the first batches of 28 demonstration bases. Zhang Wei, a postgraduate student of professional degree in electrical engineering in NCEPU, won the honorary title of the first “Master of Engineering Outstanding Achievements Winner in Practice”.
     NCEPU will continue to make use of professional advantages and take full advantages of the Council platform. Focusing onthe training goal and orientation of postgraduate education and considering the demands of national economic and social development, NCEPU will continuously carry out discussions, reforms, and innovations in training program formulation (amendment), curriculum instruction, practices base construction, joint supervision of produce-learn-research talents, and internal and external quality assurance mechanism. Paying attention to the balanced development of academic degrees and professional degrees and improving the quality of postgraduate education.