Graduate Education Governance in China: A Comprehensive Policy Analysis (Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices) 9811920486, 9789811920486

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Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices

Jian Li Eryong Xue

Graduate Education Governance in China A Comprehensive Policy Analysis

Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices Series Editors Eryong Xue, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China Simon Marginson, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Jian Li, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

This book series explores education policy on Pre-K, K-12, post-secondary education, and vocational education, informing multiple experts from academia to practitioner, and specifically pays focuses on new frontiers and cutting-edge knowledge that transforms future education policy development. It has been initiated by a global group of education policy research centers and institutions, whose faculty and staff includes internationally recognized researchers in comparative education policy studies. The series’ mission is to advance the modernization of the education and social construction. This series provides policymakers and researchers with an in-depth understanding of international education policy from diverse perspectives. Topics include cuttingedge and multidisciplinary studies on identifying, analyzing and uncovering education policy reform and practice among the fields in education policy and pedagogy. It addresses how education policy shapes the development of education systems in different regions and seeks to explain how specific education policies concentrate on accelerating the development of quality education and social progress. More importantly, this book series offers policymakers and educational stakeholders, government, and private sectors a comprehensive lens to investigate the trends, rationales of education policy development internationally.

More information about this series at https://link.springer.com/bookseries/16621

Jian Li · Eryong Xue

Graduate Education Governance in China A Comprehensive Policy Analysis

Jian Li Beijing Normal University Beijing, China

Eryong Xue Beijing Normal University Beijing, China

Key research projects of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education “General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Thought on Education” (Project Approval No.: 18JZD006) ISSN 2730-6356 ISSN 2730-6364 (electronic) Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices ISBN 978-981-19-2048-6 ISBN 978-981-19-2049-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2049-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Preface

Graduate education is an important support for building a high-quality education system and an innovative country. High-quality development is the core theme of graduate education in China. Graduate education needs to further promote the adjustment and upgrading of disciplines and specialties, focus on cultivating high-level talents urgently needed by the country, effectively strengthen the construction of the team of supervisors, and continuously promote the modernization of the management system and capacity of graduate education. Thus, this book explores the graduate education governance in China from a comprehensive policy analysis perspective. Both the conceptual and practical models are offered to analyze the holistic landscape of graduate education governance in China systematically. In particular, it analyzes the national governance of graduate education in China, graduate education quality assurance in China, the student–tutor relationship of graduate education in China, the regional layout structure of graduate education in Chinese universities, the integration of science and education in China’s graduate education, the integration of industry and education in graduate education, the reform of graduate education evaluation system and mechanism in China’s universities, the opening up of graduate education in China’s universities, an international comparison of graduate education governance policies between the case of China and the United States. Chapter 1 explores the policy analysis on national governance of graduate education in China. On July 29, 2020, the National Conference on Graduate Education was held in Beijing. The number of graduate students in China will exceed 3 million in 2020, and China’s graduate education has achieved a historical leap from small to large and from weak to strong, the meeting said. “We should deepen reform and innovation and promote connotation development with improving the quality of postgraduate education as the core”, the meeting said. Taking research as a basic indicator to measure the quality of graduate students, optimizing the layout of disciplines and majors, focusing on classified training, open cooperation, and cultivating high-level talents with research and innovation capabilities. The conference reflected the policy orientation of “attaching importance to quality” and “attaching importance to research” in the future development of postgraduate education. This chapter intends to study the national policy guidance for postgraduate education governance v

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in non-double first-class universities through the analysis of policy texts from 2013 to 2021. Chapter 2 examines the graduate Education quality assurance in China. Quality is an important proposition for the development of global higher education in the twenty-first century. To construct a scientific and effective quality assurance policy for postgraduate education is a necessary guarantee for the sustainable and healthy development of China’s popular higher education and an urgent need for national macro-management after the adjustment of higher education management system. This paper analyzes the forming background and changing process of quality assurance policy of graduate education by combing relevant literature and applying educational evaluation theory and institutional change theory. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the evolution of graduate education quality assurance policy is not only a process from quality construction to quality assurance, but also a process of constant change and development. In view of the problems existing in the quality assurance policy of graduate education, this paper puts forward the countermeasures to improve the quality assurance policy of graduate education. Chapter 3 concentrates on the practical analysis on the guiding relationship of graduate education. The mentoring relationship of graduate students is a key issue in the field of graduate education research, which has a great impact on the growth and development of graduate students. Under the background of the gradual maturity of higher education, what are the characteristics of the practice and research on the guiding relationship of postgraduate education in China? How does China’s policy guide the student–guidance relationship? Based on sorting out the existing studies on the guiding relationship, this paper analyzes the policy texts of China in the past 10 years to clarify the direction of the policy, return to the problems and challenges faced by the guiding relationship, and give some policy suggestions from the perspective of pedagogy and student development. Chapter 4 examines the regional layout structure of graduate education in Chinese universities. Graduate education is the commanding point of the construction of education power, and high-quality talents are an important support for the development of education power. With the rapid development of knowledge and social economy, the demand for high-quality and high-level talents in various countries is more and more urgent, which further promotes the development of postgraduate education. Facing the future, those who achieve high-quality development in graduate education will be able to take the lead in high-end talent cultivation in the country and even the world and make greater contributions in serving national economic construction and social development. Therefore, facing the increasingly complex situation at home and abroad, developed countries are consciously expanding the scale and improving the quality of postgraduate education. After decades of development, the quality of graduate education in China has been basically guaranteed while the scale and structure have been continuously expanded and optimized. To meet the needs of social and economic development, industrial structure upgrading, and higher education development, graduate education has been promoted to an increasingly important position in China. China’s 13th Five-Year Plan and the Opinions on Promoting discipline Integration and Accelerating Artificial Intelligence Graduate Training issued

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by the Ministry of Education in February 2020 both make it clear that China will continue to expand the enrollment of graduate students, with the latter focusing on expanding the cultivation of graduate students in artificial intelligence. Chapter 5 concentrates on Policy research on the integration of science and education in China’s graduate education. The construction of world-class universities and disciplines (referred to as “double first-class”) is an important strategic decision made by the CPC Central Committee and The State Council, as well as another national strategy in the field of higher education in China following the “211 Project” and “985 Project”. “Double first-class” universities play an extremely important leading role in cultivating high-level innovative talents, while “non-double first-class” universities’ postgraduate education also plays an equally important social role in serving local economic and social development and cultivating high-level and excellent talents. The integration of science and education is an important innovation of the graduate education and training mode of “non-double first-class” colleges and universities, and an inevitable choice to train builders and successors of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics. Chapter 6 examines the policy analysis of the integration of industry and education in graduate education. Through extensive literature search, there are various titles related to school-enterprise cooperative education in literature, such as “industry– university–research cooperative education”, “school–enterprise cooperative education”, “industry–university cooperative education”, “industry–university–research combined education”, “industry–education integration education” and so on. After searching and comparing the database of master’s and doctor’s dissertations in China, In the academic circle, “industry–university cooperative education” and “school– enterprise cooperative education” are mostly used in the research of vocational education, and “industry–university–research cooperative education” is mostly used in the research of higher education, that is, the integration of industry and education gradually appears. Chapter 7 explores the policy analysis on the reform of graduate education evaluation system and mechanism in China’s universities. Graduate research team is a new force of scientific research innovation, which contains strong vitality and explosive force. The direction of graduate education evaluation is the baton of the development direction of graduate research team and has become one of the key issues in the study of education policy. In the process of the reform of postgraduate education evaluation system and mechanism, the construction of postgraduate scientific research team is faced with many problems, such as the unstable foundation of the team, obvious homogeneity development, lack of cultural implication, and so on. This chapter attempts to explore graduate student scientific research team of the construction of the policy guidance, the practical difficulties, such as analysis, in order to “graduate student scientific research team evaluation system mechanism reform path breakthrough” as the breakthrough point, to explore the mechanism reform of graduate student scientific research team evaluation system in our country the barriers and difficulties, for graduate students in China as reference path mechanism reform of scientific research team evaluation system.

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Chapter 8 investigates the policy analysis on the opening of graduate education in China’s universities. Active participation in global education governance will be an important point for China to participate in the construction of international education system. This means that China’s theory, experience, path, and model of education development will provide Chinese solutions to the problems of world education development. It indicates that China’s education will enter the world with a more confident and open attitude and promote global education governance into a new era with a more positive and responsible attitude. The opening of postgraduate education cannot be separated from the promotion of postgraduate education policy. Policy is “a process, not a product, that involves negotiation, competition, or struggle between different groups that may not be part of the formal mechanisms of official policymaking”. Chapter 9 offers an international comparison of graduate education governance policies. The United States is a powerful country in higher education in the world, and its policies and practices in postgraduate education governance are the objects of learning and reference for other countries. By studying and comparing the policies and practices of graduate education governance in the United States, we can promote the process of graduate education governance in China in the new era. This paper analyzes the higher education policy of the United States, especially the policy impact and practical measures on graduate education. Combined with the governance practice of graduate education in China, it analyzes the challenges of graduate education in China: Graduate education policy and mode need to be improved; The training mode of postgraduates in master and doctoral stage needs to be mastered. The long-term mechanism of “moral cultivation” for graduate education needs to be constructed; The autonomy and enthusiasm of colleges and universities need to be brought into full play. The current enrollment examination system of postgraduate education needs to be improved. On this basis, the development direction of graduate education in China is discussed: Graduate education governance to global education governance; The training of postgraduates has changed from “discipline” to “application”; Graduate education is moving toward a trinity of government regulation, society leading, and institutions main body. Graduate education will move toward college autonomy; In graduate education, we will establish a financial support system for graduate awards and grants. Jian Li Eryong Xue Faculty of Education Beijing Normal University Beijing, China

Acknowledgments

Eryong Xue and Jian Li share the co-first authorship and contribute equally in this book. In the realization of this book, our contributors have been supportive and willing to share their opinions and perspective on how to explore the overall Chinese education policy landscape from a concept-added policy chain perspective. We are grateful for the generosity and positive spirit of collegiality.

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Contents

1 Policy Analysis on the National Governance of Graduate Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Literature Review and Conceptual Basis of the National Governance of Graduate Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 Overview of the National Governance of Graduate Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.2 The Overall Change and Development of Graduate Education Policy in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 The Policy Text Analysis and Policy Implementation Data . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 The Basic Data of Governance of Graduate Education . . . . . 1.2.2 The Reform and Development of Postgraduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 The Challenges of the National Governance of Graduate Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.1 The Policy Challenges of National Governance . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.2 The Challenges of Postgraduate Development . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 Suggestion on the National Governance of Graduate Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.1 Improve the Quality of Process Cultivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.2 Improve the Quality of Degree Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.3 Strengthen Classroom Synergy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.4 Improve Teachers’ Teaching Ability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Policy Analysis of Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools of the Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 Literature Review of the Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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2.1.2 Theoretical Tools of the Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 The Policy Text and Policy Implementation Data of the Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 The Initial Stage (1949–1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 The Second Is the Development Stage (1978–1986) . . . . . . . 2.2.3 The Steady Extension Stage (1987–2009) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.4 The Deepening Stage of Adjustment (from 2010 to Present) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 The Challenges of the Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.1 The Main Body of the Formulation of Graduate Education Quality Assurance Policy Is Single . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.2 The Aim Direction of Postgraduate Education Quality Assurance Policy Is Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.3 Lack of Democratic Mechanism of Quality Assurance Policy for Postgraduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 The Suggestions of the Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.1 Deepening the Reform of the Education System, and Following the Law of Postgraduate Education Development in Policy Formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.2 Guide Social Participation, Strengthen the Position of the Industry, and Play a Leading Role in Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.3 Optimize Top-Level Design and Establish a Diversified Participation Mechanism with Sound Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.4 Refine Classified Management and Promote the Coordination and Unity of the Objectives of Postgraduate Education Quality Assurance Policies . . . . . 2.4.5 Establish a Democratic Operation Mechanism for Higher Education Quality Assurance Policies . . . . . . . . . 2.4.6 Establish Transnational Quality Assurance Institutions . . . . 2.4.7 Establish an Industry Supervision System for Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Policy Analysis on the Student–Tutor Relationship of Graduate Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools of the Guiding Relationship of Graduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Graduate Student Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 The Graduate Growth and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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3.2 Policy Text and Policy Implementation Data of the Guiding Relationship of Graduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 The Mentor Responsibility System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 The Emphasis on Political Literacy of Teachers Has Also Become the Key Melody of Policy Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 The Challenges of the Student–Tutor Relationship of Graduate Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1 Pay Attention to the Academic Environment and University Ecology in Which Graduate Students Mainly Participate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2 Focus on the Living Situation of Individual Teachers and the Construction of Postgraduate Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Suggestions on the Student–Tutor Relationship of Graduate Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.1 The Evaluation and Reward Mechanism of Teachers Should Be Perfected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.2 The Cultivation of Graduate Students’ Self-Leading Ability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.3 The Active Participation of Tutors in the Guidance Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools of the Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.1 Literature Review of the Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.2 Theoretical Tools of the Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Policy Text and Policy Implementation Data of the Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 Overall Enrollment Expansion of Postgraduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 The Development Process of Graduate Student Scale in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.3 Expansion of Graduate Enrollment in Different Disciplines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.4 Distribution of Postgraduate Education in Regular Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.5 The Expansion Driven by Local Ordinary Undergraduate Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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4.3 The Challenges of the Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Imbalance Between Postgraduate Enrollment Expansion Scale and Postgraduate Tutor Team Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Imbalance Between the Scale of Postgraduate Enrollment Expansion and the Quality of Postgraduate Enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.3 Imbalance Between the Scale of Postgraduate Enrollment Expansion and the Configuration of University Hardware and Software Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.4 Imbalance Between the Target of Postgraduate Enrollment Expansion and the Quality of Postgraduate Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 The Suggestions the Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1 Strictly Control the Quality of Students, the Good Postgraduate Access Threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.2 Adjust the Training Program to Improve the Quality of Postgraduate Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.3 Construct a Team of Tutors and a Mechanism for the Construction of Teaching Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.4 Improve the Separation System and Raise the Graduation Standards for Graduate Students . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.5 Fully Respect the Autonomy of Training Units in Subject Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.6 Give Full Play to the Provincial Overall Planning Function in Postgraduate Education Governance . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Policy Research on the Integration of Science and Education in China’s Graduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools for the Integration of Science and Education in Graduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.1 Overview of the Integration of Science and Education in Graduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.2 Research on the Importance of Integration of Science and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.3 Research on the Reality of the Integration of Science and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.4 Research on the Implementation Path of Science and Education Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.5 Theoretical Tools of the Integration of Science and Education in Graduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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5.2 Relevant Policy Texts and Implementation Data of Science and Education Integration in Postgraduate Education of “Non-Double First-Class” Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Challenges and Problems in the Integration of Science and Education in Postgraduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.1 The Conflict Between Traditional Concepts and Modern Concepts Leads to the Deviation in Understanding the Integration of Science and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.2 The Differences in Emphasis on Teaching and Scientific Research Lead to Difficulties in Dealing with the Contradiction Between Science and Education Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.3 The Lack of National Policy Documents for the Integration of Science and Education Leads to an Unclear Path for the Integration of Science and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.4 Defects in the School’s Internal Management System Lead to Obstacles in the Implementation of Science and Education Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Suggestions on the Integration of Science and Education in Graduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.1 Establishing a Holistic Concept of Integrating Science and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.2 Clarifying the Scientific and Reasonable Orientation of Running a School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.3 Stimulating the Integration of Science and Education Through Institutional Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4.4 Improve the System of Teaching, Research, and Education, and Realize the Synergy of Science and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Policy Analysis of the Integration of Industry and Education in Graduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools of the Integration of Industry and Education in Graduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.1 Motivation and Essence of Industry–University– Research Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.2 Operation and Realization of Industry–University– Research Cooperative Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.3 Dewey’s Theory of Learning by Doing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.4 Tao Xingzhi’s Theory of Integration of Teaching and Doing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.5 Forster’s Theory of Industry–School Cooperation . . . . . . . . .

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6.2 Policy Text and Policy Implementation Data of the Integration of Industry and Education in Graduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 Challenges of the Integration of Industry and Education in Graduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.1 The Government Intervenes a Lot in Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.2 The Main Body of Quality Evaluation Is Single . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.3 Lack of Quality Awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.4 The Quality Management System Is Not Perfect . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.5 School–Enterprise Cooperation Lacks Proper Measures to Guarantee It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.6 The Structure of Postgraduate Education Is Not Reasonable Enough and the Degree of Integration with the Market Is Not High . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 Suggestions on the Integration of Industry and Education in Graduate Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.1 Strengthen the Understanding of Schools and Enterprises on the Importance of Integrating Education with Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.2 The University Should Strengthen Its Own Construction and Improve Its Attraction to Enterprises in the Process of Integrating Education with Industry . . . . . . 6.4.3 Explore the Operation Mode Which Is Beneficial to the Integration of Production and Education . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.4 Strengthen Curriculum Construction, Reform and Perfect Curriculum System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.5 Improve the Organization of Graduate Students for Integrated Education and Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.6 Set Up Innovative Education Fund for Graduate Students Integrating Industry and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.7 Establish and Improve the Assessment and Incentive Mechanism to Greatly Mobilize the Enthusiasm of School and Enterprise Mentors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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7 Policy Analysis on the Reform of Graduate Education Evaluation System and Mechanism in China’s Universities . . . . . . . . . 95 7.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools for the Research on the Evaluation System and Mechanism of Postgraduate Research Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 7.1.1 Literature Review on the Evaluation System and Mechanism of Postgraduate Research Teams . . . . . . . . . 96 7.1.2 The Characteristics of Team Building or Significance of Team Building or the Role of Team Building . . . . . . . . . . 97 7.1.3 Theoretical Tools for Research on Evaluation System and Mechanism of Postgraduate Research Teams . . . . . . . . . 103

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7.2 Policy Texts Related to Graduate Research Team Construction Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 Challenges in the Evaluation System and Mechanism of Postgraduate Research Teams of “Double First-Class” Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.1 Combined with the AGIL Model, the “Adaption”, “Goal”, “Integration”, and “Latency Pattern” Can Be Utilized Under the “Splinter” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.2 The Resource Allocation of Postgraduate Research Teams in China Presents the Characteristics of “Inverted Pyramid” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.3 The Lack of Cultural Construction of Postgraduate Research Teams in “Double First-Class” Universities Is Related to the Formation of Team Ecological Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 Suggestions on Graduate Education Evaluation System and Mechanism in China’s Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.1 The Depth of the Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.2 The Power of Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.3 The Trend of Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Policy Analysis on the Opening Up of Graduate Education in China’s Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools of the Opening Up of Graduate Education in China’s Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1.1 Policy Text and Implementation Data of the Opening Up of Graduate Education in China’s Universities . . . . . . . . 8.1.2 The Belt and Road Initiatives in Universities Across China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 Challenge of the Opening Up of Graduate Education in China’s Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.1 The Talent Cultivation, Curriculum Internationalization, Faculty and Student Mobility, International Research Cooperation, and Administrative Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.2 The “Educational Sovereignty” and “Quality Assurance” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3 Suggestions of the Opening Up of Graduate Education in China’s Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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8.3.1 The Establishment of the International Website Academic Oversight Committee, a Faculty Subcommittee Responsible for Overseeing the Process and Operation of International Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 8.3.2 Focus on Quality, Depth, and Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 9 An International Comparison of Graduate Education Governance Policies: The Case of China and the United States . . . . . 9.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools of Graduate Education Governance Policies in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1.1 Definition of Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1.2 Educational Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1.3 Relevant Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 Policy Text and Implementation Data Graduate Education Governance Policies in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.1 Higher Education Policy in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.2 Graduate Education Policy in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.3 Comparison Between China and the United States . . . . . . . . 9.3 The Challenges of Graduate Education Governance Policies in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.1 China’s Postgraduate Training Policies and Models Need to Be Improved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.2 The Training Mode of Postgraduates at the Master and Doctoral Stage in China Needs to Be Mastered . . . . . . . 9.3.3 The Long-Term Mechanism of “Moral Cultivation” for Postgraduate Education in China Is to Be Constructed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.4 The Autonomy and Enthusiasm of Postgraduate Education in Chinese Universities Need to Be Brought into Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.5 The Current Enrollment Examination System of Postgraduate Education in China Needs to Be Further Improved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4 The Suggestions of Graduate Education Governance Policies in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4.1 Graduate Education Governance from National Autonomy to Global Education Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4.2 The Postgraduate Training in China Should Be Transformed from Subject-Oriented to Application-Oriented . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4.3 The Postgraduate Education in China Should Move Toward the Trinity of Government Regulation, Society Leading, and Institutions Main Body . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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9.4.4 Graduate Education in Our Country Will Move Toward Autonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

About the Authors

Jian Li is an assistant professor in China Institute of Education Policy, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, China. She received her Ph.D. degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS), School of Education, Indiana University Bloomington. Her research interests focus on Education policy studies, World-class universities, Globalization, and Internationalization of Higher Education. She has published over 100 articles and books regarding China’s education policy and comparative higher education studies. Dr. Li currently also serves as think tanker at China Institute of Education and Social Development, Beijing Normal University. Dr. Li general area of scholarship is on the assessment of education policy within education institutions comparatively. Within this general area, she has pursued four themes: The education policy studies, globalization of higher education, higher education policy and management, undergraduate students’ global learning performance assessment, faculty academic innovation perspective within higher education, and comparative higher education development as a framework for institutional research. Dr. Li has published over 60 articles, 20 monographs and book chapters and delivered over 60 workshops and seminars and offered more than 20 keynote, peer-reviewed and invited presentations throughout the United States and in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

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Eryong Xue is a professor in China Institute of Education Policy, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, China. Changjiang scholars (young scholars) awarded by the Ministry of Education in China. He is also a research fellow of the center for science and technology and education development strategy in Tsinghua University. He is also a postdoctoral fellow in the public administration of Tsinghua University. He has published more than 100 Chinese and English papers in the field of educational research. He has produced more than 100 CSSCI and SSCI articles. He has won the seventh award for outstanding achievements in scientific research in institutions of higher learning, the fifth national award for outstanding achievements in educational scientific research, and the award for outstanding achievements in political participation and discussion by the central committee for China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD) for more than 60 times. More than 60 independent or co-authored consulting reports were adopted by decision-making departments or approved by leaders. He has presided over more than 10 national or provincial projects such as national social science fund, natural science fund, ministry of education humanities and social science fund, Beijing philosophy and social science project, participated in 9 national or provincial key projects such as ministry of education philosophy and social science project, and 2 international cooperation projects. The project of national natural science foundation of China was awarded excellent. He has been honored as the advanced worker of summer social practice for students at capital college and technical secondary school, the outstanding talent of Beijing division, the young talent of Beijing social science federation, the outstanding talent of Beijing universities and colleges, and the outstanding talent of Beijing. Main social part-time jobs: Member of the 14th committee of the communist youth league of Beijing, deputy director of the working committee of college students and young teachers, special expert of China education association, China education development strategy society, national academic level office, director of Beijing postdoctoral fellowship (the 20th session).

Chapter 1

Policy Analysis on the National Governance of Graduate Education in China

This chapter explores the policy analysis on national governance of graduate education in China. On July 29, 2020, the National Conference on Graduate Education was held in Beijing. The number of graduate students in China will exceed 3 million in 2020, and China’s graduate education has achieved a historical leap from small to large and from weak to strong, the meeting said. “We should deepen reform and innovation and promote connotation development with improving the quality of postgraduate education as the core”, the meeting said. Taking research as a basic indicator to measure the quality of graduate students, optimizing the layout of disciplines and majors, focusing on classified training, open cooperation, and cultivating high-level talents with research and innovation capabilities. The conference reflected the policy orientation of “attaching importance to quality” and “attaching importance to research” in the future development of postgraduate education. This chapter intends to study the national policy guidance for postgraduate education governance in non-double first-class universities through the analysis of policy texts from 2013 to 2021.

1.1 Literature Review and Conceptual Basis of the National Governance of Graduate Education in China 1.1.1 Overview of the National Governance of Graduate Education in China As for the research status of graduate education governance policies in non-double first-class universities, this paper carries out research from two directions: “graduate education governance” and “graduate education policy”. In CNKI, “Governance of Postgraduate Education” is taken as the search term and the title of the article is © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li and E. Xue, Graduate Education Governance in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2049-3_1

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the search item. The search results are 47 articles published from 1997 to 2001, with a significant increase from 2018 to 2020. With “Postgraduate education policy” as the search term and the title of the article as the search item, 122 articles were retrieved. After screening, 103 articles were determined as related articles, and their publication time distribution was from 1995 to 2021, among which there was a significant increase from 2016 to 2020. Among the monographs on postgraduate education governance and postgraduate education policy, there are social organization behavior in Postgraduate Education Governance and Research on Education Policy for International Students in China. For the policy analysis of postgraduate education governance, domestic attention has been raised in recent years. For graduate education policy research, the current literature is mainly distributed in the development of professional degree graduate education policy change (11), the graduate student JiangZhuXue policy (37), the graduate student quality assurance policy (7), postgraduate education (8), the national policy, the foreign graduate education policy (11), the five topics. From the perspective of distribution, the research on postgraduate policy focuses on postgraduate grant policy and tuition policy from various perspectives. As for the literatures on postgraduate education governance, they mainly focus on the quality of postgraduate education (24 articles), accounting for 50%. Domestic attention to the quality of postgraduate education is high. On the other hand, it can be seen from the specific execution research of non-double first-class universities. In CNKI, “Postgraduate management system” was selected as the search term, the title of the article was retrieved, and irrelevant papers were removed. There were 2 articles for reference. From the perspective of the subject of micro-governance, “Graduate School” was taken as the search term, the title of the article was taken as the search term, and 10 papers irrelevant to the subject were removed for reference. In terms of publication time, most relevant articles were published very early, distributed between 1998 and 2010, and only two articles were published after 2010. There is littleresearch from the perspective of university postgraduate governance at present (Bao & Li, 2020; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yao & Qiu, 2020).

1.1.2 The Overall Change and Development of Graduate Education Policy in China It is concluded that the content of postgraduate education policy in China has gradually changed from extensive planning to precise formulation, always paying attention to “quality” and “reform”, the cooperation between issuing institutions has been continuously strengthened, and the postgraduate education policy has experienced the characteristics of “normative documents first, departmental regulations and local legislation later”. XiaoCan selection is given priority to with graduate education policy documents, statistics of policy text analysis software is adopted to improve the

1.2 The Policy Text Analysis and Policy Implementation Data

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high frequency words and topic words to point to the method of clustering and characteristic analysis, thought the graduate student education policy from the grand narrative to the accurate specific, from one-way education policies to feedback, discourse system coordination mechanism. Scholars have a certain consensus on the overall change of graduate education policy and put forward the existing problems. For the overall study of graduate education governance, this paper analyzes the traditional graduate education governance, and puts forward the matrix model of constructing the graduate education governance system and governance capacity with Chinese characteristics, to interpret the modern governance of graduate education from the strategic perspective. The connotation and reality of social organizations’ participation in postgraduate educational governance activities are pointed out. The way to promote social organizations’ participation in postgraduate educational governance is to improve their own internal governance institutions driven by innovation. To deepen comprehensive reform as the core, strengthen the credibility of social organizations; The relationship between social organizations, government, and training units should be clarified with the goal of separating management from evaluation. We will accelerate the development of laws and regulations based on the rule of law. Some scholars have put forward new views and opinions on the governance of graduate education and believe that the future graduate education will be a government-led and multi-subject trend (Bao & Li, 2020; Li & Eryong, 2020; Xiao, 2021).

1.2 The Policy Text Analysis and Policy Implementation Data 1.2.1 The Basic Data of Governance of Graduate Education In the CNKI, the key word of governance of graduate education is taken as the search term and the research results are 47 articles published from 1997 to 2020, which is a significant increase from 2018 to 2020. A total of 103 articles were determined as related articles in the CNK database and the publication time distribution was from 1995 to 2021, among which there was a significant increase from 2016 to 2020.

1.2.2 The Reform and Development of Postgraduate Education In 2013, the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance issued the Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Graduate Education, and in 2020, the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance issued the Opinions on Accelerating the Reform and Development of Graduate Education in the New

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Era. Textual analysis of the two policies mainly has the following differences: The orientation of postgraduate training is “facing the forefront of scientific and technological competition in the world, the main battlefield of social development, the new needs of the people and the grand strategy of national governance”. In comparison, the orientation of “highlighting service for economic and social development” in the 2013 version is relatively vague. This also reflects the clear orientation of the country for postgraduates, that is, to highlight the cultivation of top-notch talents needed by the country. In 2013, “Effective ways to expand ideological and political education” reflected the state’s ideological and political education for postgraduates at that time, and the specific means were still in the stage of exploration and practice. The “three-integrity education” mechanism emerged in 2020, which reflected the state’s mature grasp of ideological and political work in colleges and universities. In terms of enrollment types, from “Actively developing graduate students for master’s degree” in 2013 to “Vigorously developing Graduate education for Professional degree” and “implementing the Special Enrollment Plan for continuing high-level talent cultivation in key fields of the country” in 2020, the country has more clearly defined social needs. The development of professional degrees and specific fields is the focus of the next transformation of postgraduate training types. In 2020, the quality supervision of postgraduate education will be refined to the quality supervision guidance of “breaking the five principles, strengthening the construction of academic style, severely punishing academic misconduct, and strengthening the post management of tutors”, which reflects the determination of the state to strictly grasp the quality of postgraduate education (Bao & Li, 2020; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yao & Qiu, 2020).

1.3 The Challenges of the National Governance of Graduate Education in China 1.3.1 The Policy Challenges of National Governance From the perspective of existing policies, the state has put forward requirements for graduate education from the whole to specific issues and the direction of the following reform. In 2020, the General Offices of the CPC Central Committee and The State Council issued the Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Educational Supervision System and Mechanism in the New Era and the Opinions on Accelerating the Reform and Development of Graduate Education in the New Era issued by the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance, reflecting the country’s determination to develop high-quality graduate education (Li & Eryong, 2020).

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1.3.2 The Challenges of Postgraduate Development Postgraduate development is faced with opportunities and challenges. The country’s resource preference for double first-class universities brings pressure to the development of postgraduate education in non-double first-class universities. Double firstclass university is a major strategic measure of the country under the new situation. Double first-class university will lead the country’s higher education to the world. The country will carry out various policy trends in the postgraduate field of double first-class university, which is difficult to achieve for non-double first-class university. Compared with the double first-class universities, the postgraduate education of non-double first-class universities will face the problem of lack of resources and system. The state is determined to develop high-quality postgraduate education under the new situation to bring opportunities for non-double first-class universities. The national Postgraduate Education Conference held in 2020 and various development opinions issued by the state have sent an important signal that the state will gradually deploy postgraduate education with ideas and strategies. As the largest number of postgraduate training units, the quality of non-double first-class universities has a great impact on the overall quality of postgraduate education. Non-double first-class universities should have a good understanding of the national ideas and steadily promote the development of postgraduate education (Bao & Li, 2020; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yao & Qiu, 2020).

1.4 Suggestion on the National Governance of Graduate Education in China The development of postgraduate education in non-double first-class universities should combine the actual situation of the universities, formulate short-term goals and long-term plans, thoroughly implement the plan to improve the quality of postgraduate training, and promote the formation of a steady increase in the scale of talent training, continuous optimization of the structure, and both academic and applied training pattern.

1.4.1 Improve the Quality of Process Cultivation Teachers are encouraged to cultivate and apply for exemplary and excellent courses, teaching achievement awards and graduate Education Achievement Awards set up by the National Academy of Academic Degrees and Graduate Education; Actively promote the organic integration of teaching and practice of professional degree graduate students, with teachers as the main body, absorbing experts and graduate students in relevant fields such as industry and enterprises, establish case teaching

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and research teams, closely combine case writing and case research, and develop more high-level teaching cases; To establish and improve the teaching management system of postgraduate courses and strictly manage teaching according to regulations; Strengthen the teaching evaluation of postgraduate courses, establish scientific evaluation standards, and carry out curriculum evaluation regularly.

1.4.2 Improve the Quality of Degree Management Strengthen the subject consciousness of the dissertation, strengthen the quality management in the whole process, continue to carry out the education of academic ethics and academic norms for graduate students; Strengthen the process management of master’s degree application and dissertation, strictly control the quality of dissertation, and strictly control the key links; Improve the relevant system, promote the reform and innovation of talent training, promote the quality of postgraduate dissertations constantly improve.

1.4.3 Strengthen Classroom Synergy Implement the course efficiency improvement project, based on the first class, improve the comprehensive collaborative training efficiency of five classes, including course teaching, innovation and entrepreneurship, practice base, online courses, and alumni network; Deepen the comprehensive reform of curriculum teaching paradigm, encourage teaching innovation, use modern information technology to promote the reform of flipped classroom and mixed classroom, and form an open, interactive and sharing education model; Explore the construction mode of curriculum standardization, and carry out standardization construction for different classes of courses; To construct a practical teaching system connected with theoretical teaching, reform the content and methods of practical teaching, improve the effect of practical teaching, set up compulsory courses of labor education, and gradually form a comprehensive, practical, open and targeted curriculum system of labor education.

1.4.4 Improve Teachers’ Teaching Ability Cultivating high-level teaching team, establishing famous teachers’ studio, introducing incentive and competition mechanism; Improve the basic teaching organization construction and teaching and research office work system, advocate team learning and team teaching research; Improve the evaluation methods of tutors, communication and training methods of tutors, establish the incentive and accountability system of tutors; Strengthen the responsibility education of tutors from the

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three levels of school, training unit and tutor group, and strengthen the consciousness of the first responsible person in the training of tutors. According to the actual situation of each training unit, dynamic management of the tutor position, constantly optimize the tutor team, reasonable allocation of the ratio of students to tutors; Continuous use of modern technology to achieve information management of tutors. As the largest non-double first-class university in China, non-double first-class graduate education is the cornerstone of national graduate education level. Non-double firstclass universities should grasp the historical opportunity to improve the quality of postgraduate education (Bao & Li, 2020; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yao & Qiu, 2020).

References Bao, S., & Li, M. (2020). Research on the policy changes and development characteristics of postgraduate education since the founding of New China: A comprehensive study of policy literature based on bibliometrics and content analysis. Education and Testing, 2020(6), 11–14. Li, J., & Eryong, X. (2020). Unveiling the ‘logic’ of modern university in China: Historical, social and value perspectives. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 52(9), 986–998. Wang, Z., & Qiao, G. (2017). Social organizations’ participation in postgraduate education governance: A case study. Degree and Graduate Education, 20(10), 42–48. Xiao, C. (2021). Discourse orientation and change of postgraduate education policy since the founding of New China. Higher Education Review, 20(2), 12–19. Yao, Z., & Qiu, M. (2020). Research on the governance system and governance capacity of postgraduate education from the perspective of strategic management. Degree and Graduate Education, 20(5), 17–24.

Chapter 2

Policy Analysis of Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China

This chapter examines the graduate education quality assurance in China. Quality is an important proposition for the development of global higher education in the twenty-first century. To construct a scientific and effective quality assurance policy for postgraduate education is a necessary guarantee for the sustainable and healthy development of China’s popular higher education and an urgent need for national macro-management after the adjustment of higher education management system. This paper analyzes the forming background and changing process of quality assurance policy of graduate education by combing relevant literature and applying educational evaluation theory and institutional change theory. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the evolution of graduate education quality assurance policy is not only a process from quality construction to quality assurance, but also a process of constant change and development. In view of the problems existing in the quality assurance policy of graduate education, this paper puts forward the countermeasures to improve the quality assurance policy of graduate education.

2.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools of the Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China The top of the graduate education as a national education system, is to cultivate high-level talents and a major way to release the talent dividend is the important pillar of national talent competition, science and technology competition, is the implementation of innovation-driven development strategy and the core elements of constructing innovative countries, and is the first productive force, talent is the first resource, the innovation of science and technology is the first important point power. Without strong graduate education, there can be no strong national innovation

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li and E. Xue, Graduate Education Governance in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2049-3_2

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system. Since the restoration of graduate education in China, the graduate education policy has been improving day by day, and the graduate education has also made great progress. However, there are still many problems in postgraduate education in China, especially in recent years, such problems as “postgraduate students do not research, doctoral students do not obtain doctoral degrees” have aroused the attention of the state and the public concern. Combined with national strategic and economic and social development needs, always adhere to the graduate student education development road with Chinese characteristics, established a relatively complete degree and postgraduate education system, ensure the basic quality of graduate education, graduate education scale since the childhood, become a graduate student education power, basic realized based on the domestic independent training of high-level personnel strategic objectives. The importance of graduate education and the complexity of the phenomenon highlight the necessity and importance of graduate education research. With the economic construction, social development and postgraduate education reform, scholars have deepened their understanding of postgraduate education policy and made important progress in many fields.

2.1.1 Literature Review of the Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China Challengers believe that public policy is not the design and implementation of a goal, but the value judgment made by human society to social problems or policy phenomena in a specific period. Therefore, the public policy is as text, which is for stakeholders of different policies to read. But as different stakeholders debate policy issues, there are inevitably checks and balances of power. So far, this paper discusses the application of this concept to public policy research and defines policy as discussion. From the above analysis, we can see that policy research has gradually changed from regarding policy as “fact” in the 1960s to “text” and “discussion”, which have promoted the development of policy research more organically. After half a century of development, policy research has gradually established itself as an independent discipline among social sciences, and educational policy research is one of the applied fields. In educational practice, educational policy research plays an increasingly irreplaceable role in educational decision-making and educational policy activities, which greatly promotes the scientization and democratization of educational policy activities. After the birth of policy science and the rise of public policy research, educational policy research benefits from policy and the research results of public policy. Education policy, like policy and public policy, attracts people’s attention because of the emergence of many social problems. Education policy is influenced by the scope of public policy research and is different from educational issues and other social issues, which makes the research of education policy have the characteristics of comprehensive theoretical research and strong social practice research. With the rise of foreign education policy research, China’s

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education policy research also began. The three-stage theory of education policy research, especially since the twentieth century, China’s education policy research has been booming, scholars have called for “toward policy research”. Education policy as a lead of public policy must reflect the general attribute of public policy. The education policy research has experienced three stages: The first stage, the policy explanation and publicity stage; In the second stage, the educational policy research is initially independent, which makes the educational policy research have independent institutions and specialized researchers; The third stage is the cultural exchange stage of educational policy research toward decision-making culture and research culture. In educational practice, educational policy research plays an increasingly irreplaceable role in educational decision-making and educational policy activities, which greatly promotes the scientization and democratization of educational policy activities. In our country, the government and researchers have been acting separately in policymaking and scientific research for a long time. Fortunately, since the 1990s, policy research has gradually occupied a place in China’s academic circles, including the field of higher education, and at the same time, the theory of policy research has been introduced from the West. The education policy without research cannot become a good policy, and the study of education policy cannot become valuable research. The research level of higher education policy in China lags in western countries, and the research on higher education policy is almost limited to international comparative education research, which mostly introduces foreign higher education policy status. With the development of China’s higher education, the policy research on China’s higher education has emerged. Of course, the increase in the total amount of research on higher education policies in China is also a process of gradual development, from one or two papers in the 1980s to a large increase in recent years (Bao & Li, 2020; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yao & Qiu, 2020). As a core component of the internal elements of postgraduate education, postgraduate training is related to the integrity and scientific of the high-end talent training system, and has always been highly valued by the Party, the state, and social groups. Since the founding of New China, the Party and the government have carried out the reform of the talent training system in colleges and universities, attaching great importance to the training and education of postgraduates, putting the recruitment and training of postgraduates on the agenda of educational development, and issuing a series of relevant laws, regulations, and policies. The Outline of the National Mediumand Long-term Education Reform and Development Program (2010–2020) points out that we should vigorously promote the reform of postgraduate education mechanism, implement the postgraduate education innovation plan, and constantly improve the quality of postgraduate education, especially doctoral students.

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2.1.2 Theoretical Tools of the Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China Educational evaluation theory. Any evaluation has its purpose, and its outcome is to develop the most appropriate policy. Graduate education quality assurance policy is not only to understand the status quo and evaluation results of graduate education quality, but more importantly to improve and improve the quality of graduate education through the formulation of policies. The quality of education policy will directly affect the quality of graduate education. Therefore, higher education quality assurance policy itself needs to be evaluated. There is a certain connection between educational evaluation theory and graduate education quality assurance policy. What kind of evaluation value is there, there will be what kind of graduate education quality assurance policy? The theory of education evaluation is the most fundamental basis for the formulation of graduate education quality assurance policy. Without the basis of education evaluation, the implementation of graduate education quality assurance policy is not feasible. Therefore, the establishment process of graduate education quality assurance policy should conform to the law of education evaluation. The views on the evaluation, the evaluation process, and the result in the educational evaluation have direct guiding effect on the quality assurance policy of graduate education. Educational evaluation theory has a restrictive influence on the policy of graduate education quality assurance. Theory of institutional change. Institutional change refers to the change of social rules that govern people’s behaviors and relationships in a certain social environment. From the perspective of the goal and mode of institutional change, institutional change is the replacement of the original inefficient system by the system with wider social benefits. Policy change is a process in which policy subjects replace policies of lower efficiency with policies of higher efficiency according to their own needs. It has two kinds of mandatory policy change and induced policy change. The institutional change of higher education carried out by individuals or voluntary associations is called induced institutional change of higher education. And the change of higher education system carried out by the national government through coercive force is called mandatory higher education system change. The main differences between the two are as follows: First, the implementation subject is different. The implementation subject of mandatory policy change is the state, while the subject of induced policy change is individuals (or groups composed of individuals), enterprises (or interest groups), and the government, among which individuals and enterprises are primary actors or called the first action group, and their decisions dominate the process of institutional arrangement innovation. Governments (or the countries they represent) are secondary actors or secondary action groups. It is also a decision-making unit whose role is to help primary action groups generate income to make institutional arrangements and drive policy change. Second, different implementation mechanisms. The implementation of coercive policy changes has the characteristics of coercive and radical. It is usually imposed from the top-down by the state using coercive force. Induced policy change has the characteristics of profitability, spontaneity,

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and gradual progress, and is a bottom-up, from part to whole policy change process. But in general, some bottom-up influence is not decisive and can only be a kind of induced change. Therefore, the change of higher education quality assurance policy does not exclude induced change, but due to the reasons of management system, the effect of induced change is very limited. The essence of any form of educational system change, whether top-down or bottom-up, is inseparable from the rational calculation of interest subjects. From the perspective of the result of institutional change, it is a process in which the system with higher social benefits replaces the inefficient system. In essence, the two concepts of policy and system are different and related. The scope of policy is smaller than that of system, and the system surpasses the policy. System is a common rule between actors with different purposes, which is mainly concerned with the form of action, while policy or strategy is the action plan, scheme, countermeasure, measure, and method taken by actors to achieve their special purpose. The institution surpasses the policy, the policy is the product of the institution and is also the promotion factor of the institution change. But at the same time, there is an inseparable connection between the two. In terms of the policies and systems of graduate education quality assurance, the first is the common purpose, which is to ensure the quality of graduate education as the ultimate direction; The second is the consistency of tools, which are all important tools and means for graduate education practice to achieve quality goals; Therefore, policy change is the transformation of the name of institutional change. In fact, the government is to make the education system through the education policy activities, to achieve the supply of education system. Educational policy activities rely on existing systems while producing and providing new and more efficient educational system arrangements. Therefore, education policy, education system, and their relationship are the keys to understand how the government’s education administration responds to the new education problems arising from the change of public education power. When studying the influence of institutional change on the quality assurance policy of graduate education, we should pay attention to the multiple processes and mechanisms in the process of institutional change. Institutional change, in its essence, is the result of the game between relevant stakeholders. As a non-profit organization, colleges, and universities, compared with enterprises, are more typical stakeholder organizations, including the government, university administrators, teachers, students, parents, employers, and so on. The demand of higher education development and the pressure from external social and economic development will put forward higher requirements for the existing education system, so the change of education system is universal in the field of education. The establishment and development of graduate education quality assurance policy is a process of internal and external stakeholders, gradually moving toward mutual restraint and balance, and toward common governance (Bao & Li, 2020; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yao & Qiu, 2020).

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2.2 The Policy Text and Policy Implementation Data of the Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China Development stage of graduate student training policies and processes in China, as with all things on the universal law of development, the evolution system of graduate education perspective, postgraduate education in our country has formed a complete system of master’s and doctoral education, the training scale is gradually widely, develop level gradually deepening, the teaching quality and academic level are rising steadily. Postgraduate training policy generally goes through four stages: initial stage, development stage, steady extension and adjustment and deepening.

2.2.1 The Initial Stage (1949–1977) After the founding of The People’s Republic of China, the development of economy, science and technology, education is relatively slow, but the Party and the government attach great importance to postgraduate education, postgraduate training, and recruitment work on the important agenda, postgraduate training policy has become the inevitable choice of the development of The Times. In 1950, the Ministry of Education issued the Regulations on the Summer Enrollment of New Students in colleges and Universities in 1950. The policy initially made a systematic planning for the training process of graduate students in China and made important provisions for the enrollment of graduate students, strictly selecting young people with progressive thinking, excellent learning, research ability, and cultivation prospects. The specific enrollment work is examined by the education departments of each administrative region and submitted to the Ministry of Education for approval. Each training unit is responsible for the specific enrollment work by itself, and the length of postgraduate study is set at 1–3 years. This policy has played a milestone guiding role in the training of graduate students in China. In 1953, the Ministry of Higher Education issued the “Interim Measures for The Training of Postgraduates in Institutions of Higher Learning (Draft)”, which further clarified the task and purpose of the training of postgraduates in China. The length of postgraduate study was revised from the previous 1–3 years to 2–3 years. In 1961, the Provisional Regulations on the Work of Institutions of Higher Learning directly under the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (Draft), approved by the CPC Central Committee for trial implementation, specified the training of postgraduates of different types and levels and stipulated in detail the period of study. If it is stipulated that the postgraduate study period is generally 3 years, and the on-the-job postgraduate study period is generally 5 years. Meanwhile, it is pointed out that the postgraduate should pass the examination of the courses in 1.5 years to 2 years and the on-the-job postgraduate study period in 3 years to 4 years, and the postgraduate qualification should be canceled if it fails to pass. Among them, for the quality of postgraduate training,

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the Ministry of Education in 1963 passed the “Temporary Regulations on postgraduate Training in Institutions of Higher Learning (Draft)”, the policy stipulates that in strict accordance with the requirements of quality assurance, planned training of high-level postgraduate students. However, in the historical disaster period of ten years of turmoil, because of the influence of the theory that it is useless to read and the reactionary thought that more knowledge is more, the postgraduate training work is at a standstill. Since 1966, China has proposed that the graduate system must be thoroughly reformed. The graduate student recruitment has been suspended for 12 years, and it was not until 1977 that the graduate student recruitment was officially resumed.

2.2.2 The Second Is the Development Stage (1978–1986) After the resumption of graduate education in China, graduate education has entered a period of rapid development, and the graduate education has been steadily innovating. In 1978, the Ministry of Education issued the Opinions on the Arrangements for the Enrollment of Graduate Students in Colleges and Universities in 1978, proposing to reform the training of graduate students in China, actively expand the enrollment of graduate students, and pay attention to cultivating many high-end talents who can independently conduct scientific research. In the same year, the CPC Central Committee forwarded the Outline of the 1978–1985 National Science and Technology Development Program (Draft) proposed by the Leading Party Group of the State Science and Technology Commission, which proposed that key universities should gradually expand the enrollment of graduate students and explicitly stipulated that they would train 80,000 graduate students within eight years. In the same year, the Ministry of Education also revised the provisional regulations on the work of institutions of higher learning postgraduate (draft), based on the principle of nothing more decision system of graduate education, since 1978 to start for two, three, four years system mode, the second and third year is given priority to with graduate student class nature, four-year focus is to develop a small amount of high level of graduate students. These policies make the system of postgraduate training in China gradually become standardized and institutionalized. The Academic Degrees Regulations of the People’s Republic of China adopted in 1980, the Principles and Measures of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council on The Examination and Approval of Degree-Granting Units promulgated in 1981, and the Interim Provisions on The Recruitment of Graduate Students for Doctoral Degrees issued by the Ministry of Education in 1982, These degree approval policies on graduate student training mark the development stage of graduate student training system, training level and training structure in China. For example, these policies stipulate that the examination and approval work of doctoral and master’s degree awarding units is divided into two stages: preliminary examination and review. At the same time, the specific conditions for doctoral enrollment and training objectives should be strictly implemented in accordance with the standards, and the admission

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method is specified in detail. In addition, in 1984, the Ministry of Education issued the notice on 1985 recruitment of postgraduate students, which clearly proposed to recommend a small number of outstanding graduates to study for postgraduate students without taking an examination, and gradually promoted the commissioning of pilot projects for training postgraduate students. Therefore, the combination of examination and recommendation has become a new mode of postgraduate training in China, and appointment is a supplementary mechanism of postgraduate training plan. Taken together, this period of graduate student training policy, focus on the period of study for graduate students and graduate training scheme has made the detailed rules and the principle of adjustment, at the same time to the specific requirements of the graduate school and made more explicit entrance examination standard, its content is more maneuverability and conform to the regularity of graduate education (He & Gao, 2020; Wang, 2021; Yu, 2018).

2.2.3 The Steady Extension Stage (1987–2009) In the stage of the steady extension of postgraduate training, there are still many problems to be solved because the postgraduate training system and degree system are just stabilized. To promote the overall development of postgraduates, it is necessary to establish a graduate education system with reasonable discipline structure and scale. The CPC National Education Commission and the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee jointly issued “Several Opinions on Strengthening the Ideological and political Work of Graduate students”, pointing out that the current ideological and political education of graduate students exists a weakened form, which needs to be strengthened and urgently improved. According to the specific requirements of the seventh five-year Plan, the education policy of “ensuring quality and developing steadily” should be carried out in postgraduate education, and the recruitment and training of postgraduate students should be reformed. In the Notice on the Formulation of the Enrollment Plan for 1987, pilot projects were carried out to train several postgraduate students for Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, and minority ethnic autonomous areas. Subsequently, in 1988, the former State Education Commission issued the “Interim Provisions on The Recruitment and Training of Graduate Students in Colleges and Universities”, which proposed that the graduate students in the form of directed training should be clear in the form of a contract that they return to work after graduation, and the training costs should be borne by the state. During this period, emphasis was placed on strengthening the training of graduate students by setting up professional degrees and improving the training quality of graduate students with professional degrees. The Provisions of the Academic Degrees Committee of The State Council on the Granting of Master’s and Doctor’s Degrees to Persons with the same educational attainment as graduate students adopted at the 16th Conference of the Academic Degrees Committee of The State Council in 1998 clearly set out strict provisions on the conditions, qualification examination and degree awarding of applicants with the same educational

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attainment. At the same time, the Opinions on Strengthening and Improving postgraduate Training issued in 2000 clearly put forward the need to deepen reform and actively develop; Classified guidance, according to the needs of construction; Pay attention to innovation, improve quality postgraduate training work basic policy. These policies, to a certain extent, have reformed the training system and mode of graduate students in China and formed a training mechanism conducive to the growth of high-level talents. In 2005, the Ministry of Education issued several Opinions on the Implementation of Graduate Education Innovation Plan to Strengthen the Training of Graduate Students’ Innovation Ability and Further Improve the Quality of Training, proposing that “the implementation of graduate education innovation plan to strengthen the training of graduate students’ innovation ability and further improve the quality of training”. At the same time, to promote the development of graduate education more scientific, in 2009, the general office of the Ministry of Education issued about further notice of the pilot reform of postgraduate cultivation mechanism, encourage the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, choice belongs to train graduate students of institutions of higher learning and scientific research institution reform pilot, emphasizes vigorously adjust the structure type of graduate student training (He & Gao, 2020; Wang, 2021; Yu, 2018).

2.2.4 The Deepening Stage of Adjustment (from 2010 to Present) In the twenty-first century, China’s postgraduate training policy has stepped into a period of transformation and adjustment, and the postgraduate training mechanism has been continuously innovated to adapt to the changes of the main social contradictions and achieve the strategic goal of strengthening higher education as soon as possible. In 2010, The State Council issued the Outline of The National Mediumand Long-Term Education Reform and Development Program (2010–2020), which clearly pointed out that the reform of postgraduate education mechanism should be vigorously promoted, which also marked that China’s postgraduate education has entered a new development period. With the advent of a new era of graduate student training, in 2013 the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance three ministries jointly issued the “opinions on deepening the reform of postgraduate education”, the same year the Ministry of Education and human resources and social security ministry three ministries and commissions jointly issued “on further promote the reform of professional degree graduate cultivation model of opinion”, It is emphasized that full-time graduate students and part-time graduate students should develop training programs separately. Training units are encouraged to formulate training programs with their own characteristics based on the characteristics of regional economic and social development and their own advantages. The formulation (revision) of the training program

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should be attended by experts from relevant industries (enterprises). To implement the two reform opinions, the Ministry of Education issued the Opinions on Strengthening case Teaching and Construction of Joint Training Bases for Professional Degree Graduates in 2015. In a certain sense, it indicates that the Party and the state pay more attention to the establishment and improvement of the professional degree postgraduate training system with Chinese characteristics. In accordance with the relevant provisions and spirit of The Academic Degree Regulations of the People’s Republic of China, The Higher Education Law of the People’s Republic of China, and Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Graduate Education, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on Coordinating the Management of Full-time and Part-time Graduate Students in 2016. These policies accurately define the similarities and differences between full-time and part-time postgraduate education. At the same time, according to the third plenary session of the 18 to deepen the overall requirements of the comprehensive reform of education field, in 2017 the Ministry of Education issued about doctoral graduate education comprehensive reform pilot work notice policy documents, and to promote the reform and development of doctoral graduate education system in our country, helps to cultivate the graduate student innovation mechanism of the formation. In the same year, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on adjusting the Basic intensive Training for Postgraduate students of the “Highlevel Backbone Talents Plan for Ethnic Minorities” and adjusted the basic intensive training for postgraduate students of the “High-level Backbone Talents Plan for Ethnic Minorities”. In 2018, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued the Administrative Measures on Postgraduate Enrollment for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan in 2019, which clarified the administrative measures and examination and enrollment procedures. To carry out the spirit of the National Conference on Ideological and Political Work for Colleges and Universities, the Ministry of Education has made efforts to build up a team of graduate tutors with ideals and beliefs, moral sentiments, solid knowledge and a benevolent heart, and fully fulfill the responsibility of graduate tutors with moral integrity and cultivate talents. Circular of the General Office of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China on Further Standardizing and Strengthening the Management of Postgraduate Education of the People’s Republic of China in 2019, Several Opinions of the Ministry of Education of the Academic Degrees Committee of The State Council on Further Strictly Standardizing the Quality Management of Academic Degrees and Postgraduate Education of the People’s Republic of China in 2020, Academic Degrees Committee of The State Council The Ministry of Education issued the Program for The Educational Development of Graduate Students for Professional Degrees (2020–2025), the Opinions on Accelerating the Reform and Development of Graduate Education in the New Era by the Ministry of Education, The Opinions on Strengthening the Post Management of Doctoral Supervisors by the Ministry of Education, and the Academic Degrees Committee of The State Council The Circular of the Ministry of Education on the revision and issuance of the Measures for Qualification Assessment of Degree Awarding Points puts forward new requirements for the quality of postgraduate training according to the development of the new era. Therefore, China

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has formed a relatively systematic and perfect policy support system for postgraduate training on the whole level. By combing analysis since the founding of the series of graduate student training policy, found that the decision-making process of increasingly attaches great importance to the national requirements of graduate student training and market demands of sex, goal of graduate education, emphasis on individual achievement and social development value of double guide and quality guarantee system of graduate education, more quality and efficiency of two dimensional forward of the concept of form. Therefore, these characteristics reflect the internal logic of the evolution of China’s postgraduate education policy since the founding of new China (He & Gao, 2020; Wang, 2021; Yu, 2018).

2.3 The Challenges of the Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China 2.3.1 The Main Body of the Formulation of Graduate Education Quality Assurance Policy Is Single The education quality monitoring and guarantee system, which combines government and society supervision with university self-restraint, is the basic guarantee of graduate education quality. Graduate education quality assurance activities appear and develop as the basic means for the government to manage colleges and universities. The government is not only the sponsor of colleges and universities, but also the administrator of colleges and universities, and the evaluator of colleges and universities. To use a book analogy, the government is the team leader, the athlete, and the referee. The decision-making power of graduate education quality assurance is mainly in the hands of the education administration department. Because there are no relevant agencies and departments of postgraduate education quality assurance policy options for influential argument, which is dominated by the government of postgraduate education quality policy, the policy from the outside by the higher education system, is a kind of external evaluation reflects the will of the government, and in essence a complete postgraduate education quality assurance system to internal and external coordination operation of the two systems. However, the single main body of postgraduate education quality assurance policy will inevitably lead to serious asymmetry of evaluation information. This makes the policy lack of scientific and democratic, mainly because of the lack of supervision mechanism for policymaking. Firstly, there is a serious information asymmetry between the policymaking body and the public. The policy process of postgraduate education quality assurance is an internal administrative act of the policy body. The opacity of the policymaking process makes it difficult for the public to effectively supervise the policy process and the policy body. In addition, postgraduate education quality guarantee policy main body basically is given priority to officials by the administrative department of education, which has a strong group of state power over change will be public, in the

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formulation and implementation of postgraduate education quality assurance policy process, the total national power above the social public and unimpeded, rarely in order to obtain information to communicate effectively with the public. This makes the influence of the public outside the policy process even more insignificant. Graduate education quality assurance policy is made by a single higher education policy body. Therefore, every graduate education quality assurance policy seldom reflects the voice of the public and lacks the constraints of the corresponding system on the graduate education quality policy body itself (He & Gao, 2020; Wang, 2021; Yu, 2018).

2.3.2 The Aim Direction of Postgraduate Education Quality Assurance Policy Is Wrong Former Minister of Education Zhou Ji pointed out, “Quantity and quality are always a pair of contradictions, they are opposite to each other, but they are also interdependent. On the one hand, there is no basic quality without a certain quantity. On the other hand, quantity without quality is essentially meaningless. As a result, people have always sought the dialectical unity of quantity and quality”. Policy intention is out of the first law of development of higher education itself gradually, therefore, the policy to a certain extent lost the significance, “the Ministry of Education said that for the first time in conference in the national large-scale enrollment expansion of colleges and universities in 1999 decided to too fast, some schools of landslide caused by expansion of school teaching quality, cause college graduates’ employment difficult”. At present, the policy system of graduate education quality guarantee under modern university system has not been established to adapt to the development of higher education situation, especially the unified policy system of graduate education quality guarantee has become the main reason that restricts the further improvement of higher education quality. In recent years, although the domestic higher education quality assurance has a new understanding and the new understanding, is to expand the research field of postgraduate education quality assurance, but the graduate students education quality assurance is mainly in the form of education evaluation is given priority to, and the standardization mainly attaches great importance to the quality of higher education research, ignoring the quality of graduate education culture research. At the same time, from the external of postgraduate education quality policy system, due to a single policymaking subject, and for a long time under the influence of chemical education quality of higher education, the implementation of quality policy scope mainly ordinary undergraduate education as the only main body, ignoring the college education and graduate education, graduate education to the development of a country plays an important role. However, with the continuous expansion of the scale of higher education, the quality of postgraduate education has also emerged. Therefore, how to establish the guaranteed system of graduate education quality in the new era, so that its healthy and orderly development, has become the need of graduate education quality guarantee policy.

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2.3.3 Lack of Democratic Mechanism of Quality Assurance Policy for Postgraduate Education The quality assurance system of higher education under the current system is an idle system, the formulation of quality assurance standards and quality evaluation is completed by the government, which is difficult to meet the development needs of different disciplines and different majors in colleges and universities and reduces the scientific and effectiveness of higher education quality evaluation. For a long time, the main body of higher education quality assurance policymakers and the public have been in two parallel lines, the government makes the policy, the masses obey the policy. The government in the dominant position of policy has weak service consciousness and its policymaking thinking is in a rigid state under the guidance of government management mode. The academic circles of our country have divided the modes of government management into the following types: ruling administration, management administration, and service administration. Governing administration is similar to mandatory class rule. Administrative administration is mainly the government management to get rid of the attachment to political rule and pursue compatibility and democratic image that permeates all fields of social life. And serving politics refers to an administrative model in which all administrative actions of a government aim at providing good and satisfactory services to the public. Both ruling administration and management administration are subjectcentered and power-centered administration. These two administrative modes from planned economy system to market economy system construction now more and more exposed serious defects. With the emergence of western new public management in the 1980s, the government more and more tends to service administration, under the influence of the new public management thoughts, our service-oriented government construction under way, the administrative department of education are also on service administration and look to our country’s higher education quality assurance policy areas its policy thinking still stay in the level of administrative management. There is a gap between the progress of service consciousness and the degree of social development, and the thinking of policymaking is still single. The more the economy develops, the more distant the distance between the government and the public seems to be, which not only runs counter to the construction of serviceoriented government, but also the top-down policymaking thinking, divorced from the practice of the masses to the masses. The singleness of thinking leads to the lag of methods, and the introduction of policies with eyes upward is inevitably subjective. With the development of market economy, its negative aspects gradually appear. In the formulation of higher education quality assurance policy, it is necessary to carry on the basis of certain evaluation values, especially to understand the educational evaluation view of policymakers, so as to correctly treat and deal with various educational evaluation problems in the policy formulation. In this way, we can formulate policies that accord with the law of education and improve the quality of higher education.

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2.4 The Suggestions of the Graduate Education Quality Assurance in China 2.4.1 Deepening the Reform of the Education System, and Following the Law of Postgraduate Education Development in Policy Formulation At present, China is in an important period of strategic opportunities for great achievements, but also facing challenges posed by many contradictions. In this context, graduate education has been endowed with new tasks and new connotations. Complex reforms involving multiple fields and departments are constantly emerging, increasingly touching all aspects of the current education system. Therefore, symbolic and leading policy measures should be taken to promote the reform and innovation of the education system, and more attention should be paid to the systematization and coordination of postgraduate education reform policies. Through the policies and measures to promote the graduate education reform, improve the quality at the same time, should pay attention to, in addition to the political, economic, and cultural factors behind exist in the policy, such as the law of development of postgraduate education itself for the standardization of the policy, guidance, and effectiveness is of great significance, only in the graduate student education unique inherent logic on the premise of formulation and implementation of policy, is to maintain its independence and characteristics of the fundamental place.

2.4.2 Guide Social Participation, Strengthen the Position of the Industry, and Play a Leading Role in Construction If we only rely on the CPC Central Committee, The State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission, or rely on the Ministry of Education as the leading department to stipulate the functions and roles of relevant departments, it is easy to “go through the motions” and weaken the implementation of policies. Through the analysis of the policy subjects of graduate education reform, it is found that the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the State Post Bureau of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as industry departments, actively carry out the reform of graduate education, and the number of policy texts is significantly higher than other industry departments, and actively play a leading role. Industry sectors play an important role in the rational layout and overall planning of postgraduate education development, which not only reflects the trend of social development in a certain period, but also helps to improve the pertinence and coordination of postgraduate education reform in China to a certain extent, so

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as to ensure the establishment of a comprehensive and scientific educational policy system.

2.4.3 Optimize Top-Level Design and Establish a Diversified Participation Mechanism with Sound Policies For policies involving the vital interests of the public, the government must ensure diversified participation in the decision-making process of education, to improve the public recognition of education quality assurance policies, form efficient higher education quality assurance policies, and promote the steady improvement of education quality. To establish a diversified participation mechanism for policy perfection, on the one hand, the degree of policy democratization should be improved. On the other hand, the government should take various measures to improve the public’s autonomy and policy participation and select policy participants through the election of interest groups. Only by establishing diversified participation mechanism, expanding the public’s right to know and enhancing the public’s participation, can we realize the role of public supervision and form a more effective higher education quality assurance policy. In addition, it can be seen from the existing quality assurance policies of higher education that there is a certain imbalance between the rights and responsibilities of policy subjects. Although the rights and responsibilities of policy subjects are very perfect, their responsibilities are relatively vague. In order to solve the imbalance between the rights and responsibilities of policy subjects, we can start from the following two aspects: On the one hand, policy subjects should improve themselves; On the other hand, a corresponding mechanism of equal rights and responsibilities should be established. According to the current situation of China’s development, the government should formulate a corresponding system of equal rights and responsibilities to standardize the rights and responsibilities of policy subjects. At the same time, it is necessary to establish corresponding supervision institutions, so that the public can effectively supervise the implementation and establishment of policies.

2.4.4 Refine Classified Management and Promote the Coordination and Unity of the Objectives of Postgraduate Education Quality Assurance Policies Since 1990, professional degree education has been established and experimented in China. In the past 20 years, professional degree postgraduate education has achieved fruitful results. Due to the late development of graduate education for professional degrees in China, the national policy has paid more attention to the graduate education for professional degrees, which has gradually formed the situation of paying

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equal attention to academic degrees and professional degrees. To realize reasonable coordination between fairness and efficiency of higher education. Equity and efficiency are important factors to measure the policy objectives of quality assurance in higher education. Equity provides the environment for efficiency, while efficiency provides the premise for equity. Considering the development of higher education in China, the goal of higher education quality policy in China is in the process of transformation from efficiency to equity. Under the coexistence of efficiency and equity, efficiency often makes the implementation of policies deviate from the objective of equity, and further restricts the development and improvement of higher education. Therefore, the government should formulate corresponding policies to realize the reasonable coordination between fairness and efficiency of higher education and realize the equal utilization of educational resources and promote the efficiency of educational resources utilization by integrating the two different value orientations, so as to realize the dialectical unity of fairness and efficiency. Through the dialectical relationship between quality and quantity, we can know that if we want to ensure the quality of higher education, we must keep the quantity of higher education in a proper range and realize the reasonable growth of the scale and speed of higher education. In the rational planning of the present situation of higher education in China, the primary task is to solve the situation of the rapid development of higher education in China. In the process of the continuous expansion of colleges and universities, we should combine the current situation of China’s economic development and the actual investment of higher education funds and ensure sufficient funds before we can carry out the expansion of education scale. At the same time, in the process of expanding the scale of education, the quality of higher education should be effectively guaranteed to meet the needs of social development for talents (He & Gao, 2020; Wang, 2021; Yu, 2018).

2.4.5 Establish a Democratic Operation Mechanism for Higher Education Quality Assurance Policies Accreditation of quality assessment agencies of intermediary organizations. In European and American countries, quality assessment institutions, the social intermediary organizations existing in the field of higher education, have gradually become an important part of the quality assurance system of higher education, and play a key role in realizing the fairness and justice of education quality assessment. At the same time, all countries attach great importance to quality assessment agencies of intermediary organizations and realize macro-control of higher education quality assurance policies by taking advantage of their advantages in education quality control. The quality assessment agency of intermediary organization and the national education authority jointly solve the problems of professional qualification certification and higher education quality assessment and promote the comprehensiveness and efficiency of higher education quality assurance system. At the same time, the quality

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assessment institutions of such intermediary organizations not only accept the joint supervision of the government, society, and colleges but also are responsible for the supervision and management of higher education institutions, which to some extent solves the problems of insufficient energy and interest of education authorities.

2.4.6 Establish Transnational Quality Assurance Institutions Actively strengthen international cooperation, promote exchanges between countries, jointly build a high standard quality management platform, establish transnational quality assurance institutions, realize the unified management of the quality of higher education, effectively solve the problem of mutual recognition of academic degrees and other aspects in the process of international talent flow. Promote exchanges and communication between countries on education quality assurance policies and experience. With the rapid development of information technology, the role of media in quality assurance is gradually highlighted. With the help of mass media, the ranking of the comprehensive strength of colleges and universities is jointly constructed. On the one hand, the ranking of the public can improve the popularity of colleges and universities and lay a foundation for the next development of colleges and universities. On the other hand, colleges and universities have a clear understanding of their own development and make corresponding improvement and improvement in view of their own shortcomings, so as to promote the benign progress of colleges and universities. However, the current university ranking can only provide indirect reference, and its scientific and impartiality need to be further improved.

2.4.7 Establish an Industry Supervision System for Higher Education The establishment of industry supervision system plays an important role in the establishment and implementation of higher education quality assurance policies. On the one hand, the industry supervision system provides external guarantee for the quality improvement of higher education by coordinating and restricting activities among universities. On the other hand, the industry supervision system promotes the reform and improvement of the institutions’ own system by urging colleges and universities to build and implement self-evaluation mechanism, and fundamentally realizes the improvement and guarantee of education quality (He & Gao, 2020; Wang, 2021; Yu, 2018).

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References Bao, S., & Li, M. (2020). Research on the policy changes and development characteristics of postgraduate education since the founding of New China: A comprehensive study of policy literature based on bibliometrics and content analysis. Education and Testing, 2020(6), 11–14. He, W., & Gao, J. (2020). Theoretical explanation of institutional change in the development of higher education. Jiangsu Higher Education, 20(6), 11–19. Wang, H. (2021). The change of China’s college evaluation system and the construction of strategic machine. China Higher Education, 22(5), 11–18. Wang, Z., & Qiao, G. (2017). Social organizations’ participation in postgraduate education governance: A case study. Degree and Graduate Education, 20(10), 42–48. Xiao, C. (2021). Discourse orientation and change of postgraduate education policy since the founding of New China. Higher Education Review, 20(2), 12–19. Yao, Z., & Qiu, M. (2020). Research on the governance system and governance capacity of postgraduate education from the perspective of strategic management. Degree and Graduate Education, 20(5), 17–24. Yu, C. (2018). Modernization of higher education governance facing 2035—Reflection on modernization of China’s higher education governance in the new era. Contemporary Education Forum, 20(11), 11–19.

Chapter 3

Policy Analysis on the Student–Tutor Relationship of Graduate Education in China

This chapter concentrates on the practical analysis of the guiding relationship of graduate education. The mentoring relationship of graduate students is a key issue in the field of graduate education research, which has a great impact on the growth and development of graduate students. Under the background of the gradual maturity of higher education, what are the characteristics of the practice and research on the guiding relationship of postgraduate education in China? How does China’s policy guide the student–guidance relationship? Based on sorting out the existing studies on the guiding relationship, this paper analyzes the policy texts of China in the past 10 years to clarify the direction of the policy, return to the problems and challenges faced by the guiding relationship, and give some policy suggestions from the perspective of pedagogy and student development.

3.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools of the Guiding Relationship of Graduate Education With the help of the Internet, the news that “master and doctoral students in Nankai University were expelled” has been widely circulated on the Internet. The secrets of the ivory tower are increasingly being exposed to the public. “A doctoral student jumped off a building”, “a university graduate student depression”, “drop out”, will study students to make panic, at the same time, will graduate students and teachers to the forefront of the storm. The teacher–student relationship is a core issue in graduate education research. The training of graduate students is different from the standardized and large-scale training methods in other stages. The training of graduate students mainly depends on the tutor’s personalized guidance and carries out the tutor responsibility system. As “apprentices”, graduate students learn from their tutors and become their “research assistants”, gradually stepping into the academic field. Ideally, mentors at graduate level not only guide students in their studies, but also © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li and E. Xue, Graduate Education Governance in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2049-3_3

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provide important advice on career planning, as well as spiritual and emotional leadership and inspiration to students. The research on the relationship between graduate students and tutors focuses on the problems and countermeasures, characteristics, and types, influencing factors and postgraduate tutors.

3.1.1 Graduate Student Learning However, the understanding and expectation of tutors and students to each other’s roles are often different, and the types of teacher–student relationship are also everchanging. Hu Hongbin classified the main types of teacher–student relationship at the present stage as boss-employee type, free-for-all type, and subordinate and dominant type. Xiao xianglong’s survey found that mentoring is a popular relationship model among students, but in reality, the proportion of mentoring in reality is not as high as the ideal proportion. Intimacy and alienation, authority and autonomy, equality and power, emotion and academe are the most intensively discussed topics in the current research in China, while the leadership and style of mentors are more concerned in the research of graduate education abroad. According to the two dimensions of structure and support, Gatfield, an Australian scholar, summed up four types of guidance styles for graduate students: “laissez-faire” with low structural support, in which graduate students conduct research independently with less interference from supervisors; “Pastoral” with low structure and high support, graduate students carry out their own research under the guidance of supervisors; The “guidance type” with high structural support and low level of support, in which graduate students carry out research under the guidance and regulation of the supervisor, and the “contract type” with both high structural support and high level of support, in which the guiding parties express their responsibilities in the form of contract. The “contract mode” is the one that students are most likely to give the highest evaluation to their tutors if they complete their postgraduate degree in high quality and on time. The guiding relationship of graduate students is a complex structure, which includes working relationship, power relationship, social relationship, academic relationship, psychological relationship, leadership relationship, and interpersonal relationship. In such a crisscross and complex relationship structure, there may be dislocation and disharmony in the states of getting along at all levels. Beam clubs such as red scholars respectively from the angle of tutors, students focus on the relationship between the learning guidance, the common problems in teacher’s authoritarian, laissez faire, exploitation of students, students of avoidance, deal with and confrontation, is a bad relationship between learning performance, and the academic confusion about teachers and students both sides, character misconduct mainly depends on individual factors. In terms of the factors affecting the guiding relationship, Zhou believes that the tutor’s academic research guidance and personal support play an almost equally important role in the construction of a harmonious guiding relationship. Feng Rong et al. conducted an empirical survey on 2047 doctoral students from 10 universities in Beijing and found that, from the perspective of tutors, the frequency, mode, concept,

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and scope of tutors’ guidance are the influencing factors of the mentoring relationship. In terms of the construction of guiding relationship, scholars use different theories from different perspectives to explore, such as caring theory, humanistic theory, role theory, team theory, economic relationship theory, covenant spirit, social work theory, and so on (Du & Zhang, 2020; Gan, 2005; Hu, 2021; Liang et al., 2018; Ma & Feng, 2018; Song, 2021; Xu & Zheng, 2007; Zhou & Tang, 2016).

3.1.2 The Graduate Growth and Development From the perspective of graduate growth, the influence of mentoring relationship on doctoral students’ academic enthusiasm, mental health, and dropout rate has also been widely concerned. The greater the intensity of the supervisor’s all-round guidance, the probability of doctoral students’ academic enthusiasm increased significantly, but the probability of doctoral students’ academic enthusiasm decreased significantly, and the time of research activities and independent learning increased significantly. From the global experience, mentoring relationship has received the most attention among the factors affecting the mental health of doctoral students. The supervisor’s support has a positive effect on the students’ coping with academic pressure and enhancing their resilience. The study of Bowie et al. also found that benign mentoring interaction has a significant positive effect on restraining the delayed phenomenon of Ph.D. According to the existing literature at present, “guiding relationship” has been fully discussed in graduate education. However, the turning point of the “old topic and new discussion” lies in the policy guidance in recent years, “three-in-one education” and “moral education” have received sufficient attention, which has put forward a clearer direction and task for postgraduate education through “guided learning” education.

3.2 Policy Text and Policy Implementation Data of the Guiding Relationship of Graduate Education In the Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Improving the Quality of Higher Education in an All-round way issued in 2012, the policy has paid attention to the applicability and important role of the “tutorial system” in postgraduate training and put forward suggestions on the guidance and construction of the tutorial system. Reform the postgraduate training mechanism. We will improve the system of supervisors taking responsibility for scientific research, practice, and innovation. We will improve the system for the selection and evaluation of supervisors, and give supervisors, especially doctoral supervisors, more autonomy in recruitment and funding, considering their ethics, academic and practical innovation. Professional degrees highlight vocational ability training, closely linked with vocational qualifications,

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establish, and improve training, assessment, evaluation, and management system. The supervisor of academic degree should improve the theoretical accomplishment and practical ability of graduate students through scientific research tasks. We will promote joint training between universities and research institutes and encourage interdisciplinary cooperation and guidance. The dual tutorial system will be implemented for professional graduate students, and the establishment of graduate workstations in industrial enterprises will be supported. We carried out comprehensive pilot reforms to train graduate students for professional degrees and masters. Improve the mechanism of postgraduate assessment, appeal, and transfer, and improve the system of postgraduate diversion and elimination in courses of teaching, mid-term assessment, thesis proposal report, pre-defense, degree assessment, and other links.

3.2.1 The Mentor Responsibility System The Opinions of the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance on Deepening the Reform of Postgraduate Education in 2013 once again emphasized the importance of strengthening the responsibility of tutors. “The supervisor is the first person responsible for the training of graduate students, and is responsible for leading the frontiers of disciplines, guiding research methods, and teaching academic norms to graduate students, improve the management and evaluation mechanism of tutors. Fully implement the professional ethics of teachers, improve the level of teachers’ ethics, strengthen the construction of teachers’ style, and give full play to the role of supervisors in the demonstration and education of postgraduates’ ideological and moral character and scientific ethics. If a graduate student commits academic misconduct, the supervisor shall bear the corresponding responsibility”. In 2018, the Opinions of the Ministry of Education on the Full Implementation of the Responsibilities of Postgraduate Tutors stressed the responsibility system of tutors again, to “implement the requirement that the supervisor is the first person responsible for postgraduate training, adhere to the socialist educational direction, adhere to the unity of teaching and educating people, adhere to the unity of words and deeds, adhere to the unity of inquiring and paying attention to the society, adhere to the unity of academic freedom and academic norms, and establish oneself, study and teach by virtue. Follow the law of postgraduate education, innovate the way of postgraduate guidance, concentrate on postgraduate training, educate people in the whole process, educate people in all directions, and become the guide and guide of postgraduate growth”. In 2020, the Opinions of the Ministry of Education, The National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance on Accelerating the Reform and Development of Graduate Education in the New Era emphasized the role of tutors in teaching by word of mouth and by example and encouraged tutors to guide graduate students to grow into talents. “Tutor is the first person responsible for training graduate students. It is necessary to understand and master the ideological status of graduate students, integrate professional education with ideological and political education, and act as both academic

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tutor and life tutor. To take the lead in setting an example, to influence and inspire graduate students with good ideological and moral character and personality charm; We should foster a good style of study for graduate students and strictly require them to abide by scientific ethics and academic norms” (Bao et al., 2020; Feng & Mou, 2014; Liu, 2021; Xiao, 2020; Zhang & Ma, 2020).

3.2.2 The Emphasis on Political Literacy of Teachers Has Also Become the Key Melody of Policy Communication As early as 2012, the Ministry of Education issued several Opinions on comprehensively Improving the Quality of Higher Education, pointing out and stressing the need to strengthen the construction of teachers’ ethics.“Formulate professional ethics standards for university teachers. Strengthen vocational ideal and professional ethics education, vigorously publicize the advanced deeds of teachers’ moral models in colleges and universities, and guide teachers to devote themselves to teaching and educating people. We will improve the teacher ethics evaluation system, make teacher ethics performance the primary content of teacher performance evaluation, employment, rewards and punishments, and implement the teacher ethics one-vote veto system. In teacher training, especially for new teachers, teachers’ ethics education, especially academic ethics and academic norms education, should be strengthened. We will formulate measures to improve the style of study in colleges and universities, improve academic standards for scientific research in colleges and universities, and set up institutions to punish and punish academic misconduct. Any academic misconduct will be dismissed, and teachers’ qualifications revoked in accordance with the law”. In 2018, the Opinions of the Ministry of Education on the Full Implementation of the Responsibilities of Postgraduate Tutors for Moral Education stressed the issue of ethics of university teachers again. “Role models abide by the professional ethics of teachers, are good examples of teachers, love their jobs and work hard, infect and guide students with noble moral sentiments and personality charm, and become inheritors of advanced ideology and culture and active promoters of social progress; Abide by academic norms, abide by academic ethics, and consciously maintain a fair, just and clean academic environment; Scientifically select talents, standardize the enrollment, correctly exercise the power of tutors, ensure the fairness and justice of enrollment; Have a sense of responsibility and responsibility, to ensure enough time and energy to timely inspire and guide graduate students; Have a loving heart, educate people by virtue, and educate people by culture”. Under the task of building higher education with Chinese characteristics and double first-class universities, the political direction of socialism with Chinese characteristics should not be lost. In 2020, several Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Strengthening the Post Managements of Doctoral Supervisors pointed out that political requirements for the post of supervisors should be strictly enforced. “Adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, uphold

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the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and implement the Party’s education policy; He should have a high sense of political responsibility, fulfill his duties as a mentor in accordance with the law, organically integrate professional education with ideological and political education, and be a firm believer, active disseminator and model practitioner of socialist core values”. In terms of the evaluation mechanism of postgraduate tutors, both the 2018 and 2019 policy texts paid attention to this issue. In 2018, the Document “Opinions of the Ministry of Education on The Full Implementation of the Responsibilities of Postgraduate Tutors to Cultivate Talents” pointed out that the evaluation mechanism should be improved. Adhere to moral cultivation, take teaching and educating as the core content of postgraduate tutor evaluation, highlight the evaluation of education and teaching performance, and implement the task of talent training center. The administrative department of education should include Lide Shuren in teaching evaluation and subject evaluation index system, and strengthen the evaluation of the implementation of responsibilities of graduate tutors; Unit should combine their own actual running education of graduate student training and discipline characteristic, develop the postgraduate duty assessment method, which is based on annual appraisal, adhere to the evaluation of the academic committee, the supervision of the teaching evaluation, combining evaluation and mentor graduate students self-evaluation, establish a scientific, fair, fair and open assessment system. Clear recognition and reward mechanism. Graduate training units should take the evaluation results of graduate tutors as an important basis for talent introduction, professional title evaluation, job promotion, performance distribution, and superior evaluation, and give full play to the appraisal, guidance, incentive, and education functions of the evaluation. Strengthen demonstration and guidance. Graduate tutors with outstanding achievements should be commended and rewarded by graduate training units, and the successful experience of excellent tutors and excellent teams should be promoted and copied. Implement the supervision and inspection mechanism. The administrative departments of education and postgraduate training units should bring the implementation of the responsibilities of postgraduate tutors into the scope of teaching supervision and strengthen supervision and inspection. For those postgraduate tutors who fail to fulfill their responsibilities, the postgraduate training unit shall take such measures as interview, recruitment restriction, suspension, and qualification cancellation according to the circumstances; Those who violate teachers’ ethics shall be vetoed by one vote and shall be dealt with accordingly according to law and regulations (Bao et al., 2020; Du & Zhang, 2020; Feng & Mou, 2014; Gan, 2005; Hu, 2021; Liang et al., 2018; Liu, 2021; Ma & Feng, 2018; Song, 2021; Xiao, 2020; Xiong & Yang, 2019; Xu & Zheng, 2007; Zhang & Ma, 2020; Zhou & Tang, 2016). On the construction of the contingent of tutors, as early as in 2017, the Ministry of Education promulgated “the Ministry of Education of the Ministry of Finance on the National Development and Reform Commission issued by the world first-class university and the first-class discipline construction as a whole propulsion measures (provisional)” notice will give full attention to this, “the teachers’ troop construction, teachers’ political quality is strong, the overall level is high, and teaching with great concentration. Teacher morality teacher style excellent; Front-line teachers generally

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master advanced teaching methods and technologies, with rich teaching experience and good teaching effects. There are several first-class experts, discipline leaders, and innovation teams active in the forefront of international academia. The teacher structure is reasonable, the growth environment of young and middle-aged teachers is good, and the sustainable development is strong”. In 2019, it was pointed out in the Notice of The General Office of the Ministry of Education on Further Standardizing and Strengthening the Management of Postgraduate Training that the construction of tutor team should be strengthened. The training units should further improve the understanding of the importance of building a team of high-quality tutors. Teacher training quality is the first to cultivate people in the first, not only to do academic discipline, to guide and inspire the graduate student’s science spirit and original innovation ability, to do more territory, precept guiding graduate students set up the correct world outlook on life values, abide by the academic ethics, strengthen the social responsibility. Training units should focus on implementing the fundamental task of moral education, strengthening the sense of responsibility and dedication of mentors in training talents, and build a solid quality first. Establish and perfect the tutor training system, improve the tutor’s ability to guide and train graduate students. To strengthen the construction of teachers’ ethics, teachers who violate teachers’ ethics and conduct anomie will be vetoed by one vote and will be dealt with accordingly according to law and regulations. We will improve the evaluation mechanism for tutors, and take measures such as interview, recruitment restriction, suspension and disqualification of tutors who fail to perform their duties (Bao et al., 2020; Feng & Mou, 2014; Liu, 2021; Ma & Feng, 2018; Song, 2021; Xiao, 2020). In terms of defining the responsibilities and boundaries of supervisors, several Opinions on Strengthening the Post Managements of Doctoral supervisors issued by the Ministry of Education in 2020 pointed out that the rights and responsibilities of supervisors should be clarified: “Doctoral supervisors are established for the needs of doctoral training, not a fixed level or honorary title in the professional title system. The primary task of doctoral supervisor is talent cultivation, which undertakes ideological and political education, academic standard training, and innovation ability training for doctoral students and should strictly abide by the code of conduct for the guidance of graduate supervisor. The training unit should effectively protect and standardize the doctoral supervisor’s right of enrollment, guidance, evaluation, and management, firmly support the supervisor in accordance with the rules and regulations of strict doctoral academic management, enhance the doctoral supervisor’s sense of responsibility, sense of mission, sense of honor, create a good atmosphere of respecting teachers and valuing education”. In the construction of the tutor team, attaching importance to the training of college teachers has been attached importance and supported by the policy. In 2020, several Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Strengthening the Post Management of Doctoral Supervisors pointed out that the post training of supervisors should be strengthened. We will establish a threelevel training system with national typical demonstration, provincial key guarantee, and full coverage of training units. Establish a training system that combines pre-job training for newly hired tutors, regular training for in-job tutors and daily learning and communication and strengthen the assessment of training process and training effect.

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The newly hired doctoral supervisor must receive pre-job training, and the on-job doctoral supervisor must attend training at least once a year. To political theory, the state education, the rule of law, education, tutor responsibility, ethics, strengthen the graduate student education policy, teaching management system, guiding method, research integrity, academic ethics, academic norms, psychology knowledge as the training content, such as through expert report, experience sharing, learning, research, and other forms, ensure the training effect. For the first time in recent years, the issue of changing mentors has been highlighted in policy texts, which is a good omen. It means that the mechanism of construction of changing tutors will become an indispensable institutional guarantee in the future postgraduate education. In 2020, it was pointed out in several Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Strengthening the Post Management of Doctoral Supervisor that the supervisor change system should be improved. The training unit should make clear the procedures for changing the tutor and establish dynamic and flexible adjustment methods. Both the graduate student and the supervisor can apply for the change of the supervisor due to the doctoral student’s transfer of school, major, research direction, or the supervisor’s health reasons or transfer. In case of conflicts between teachers and students or other situations that are not conducive to maintaining a good guiding relationship, the training unit shall timely mediate in accordance with the principle of protecting the rights and interests of both teachers and students. If necessary, the guiding relationship can be terminated, and the tutor can be re-determined (Bao et al., 2020; Feng & Mou, 2014; Liu, 2021; Xiao, 2020; Zhou & Tang, 2016).

3.3 The Challenges of the Student–Tutor Relationship of Graduate Education in China From the perspective of policy, full attention and emphasis should be paid to the construction of teaching staff, teacher ethics, pre-job training, evaluation mechanism and mentor responsibility system of college teachers. Then, in the reality of college guidance relationship ecology, what other factors affect the establishment of a good guidance relationship?

3.3.1 Pay Attention to the Academic Environment and University Ecology in Which Graduate Students Mainly Participate Under the scientific research management system, teachers need students to help complete scientific research projects, especially in science and engineering. Under the logic of “economic man” hypothesis, there are two unexpected consequences in

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the management of scientific research in colleges and universities, namely “tournament system” in the field of resource allocation and “bureaucratic system” in the field of organizational structure, which lead to a series of institutional dilemmas. China’s scientific research system is highly dependent on the state’s resources and policy supply, so both universities and teachers have “resource dependence” on the state, which forms the government’s external control over scientific research in universities and affects the power arrangement within the organization. Therefore, from the perspective of individual teachers, colleges and universities are also inclined to adopt the action strategy of tournament system competition within their organizations to form a “principal–agent” relationship with teachers. Its main form is various talent titles, scientific research projects, and scientific research achievements competitions, namely “scientific research championship system”. Reflected in the guiding relationship, teachers need students to help complete scientific research projects, publish results, apply for topics, and obtain academic resources to better support the development of teachers and students. It is precisely because of teachers’ control and control of resources that the authority of teachers is self-evident. Under such efficiency logic, students’ individual characteristics and needs as well as research interests are often ignored and serve the whole team or project. The GDP-ism of scientific research was triggered. “The size of scientific research projects is measured by the amount of scientific research funds. Academic papers and works are divided into length, word count and citation frequency, and the level of projects and papers is divided into grades”. This tendency makes the whole process of scientific research must be accompanied by “input–output” calculation, to a certain extent, encourages some researchers to treat scientific research eager for quick success and instant benefits, only superficial atmosphere. The degree of tolerance of supervisors to scientific research and the assignment of students’ tasks are influenced by their own scientific research burden. The guiding relationship between graduate students of science and engineering and their supervisors is based on the scientific research management system. Supervisors not only seek their own development by issuing papers and taking projects, but also teach students how to survive in the academic circle in this way.

3.3.2 Focus on the Living Situation of Individual Teachers and the Construction of Postgraduate Teachers The expansion of enrollment in higher education, especially the expansion of postgraduate enrollment in recent years, has brought great pressure to the guidance of postgraduate supervisors. The ranks of university teachers have not been fully expanded to meet the needs of the changing number of students. From the perspective of personnel composition in the field of graduate students, the source of graduate students is more diverse, many on-the-job graduate students, graduate students after work, and graduate students preparing for the examination for several years. Different

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students have different needs and expectations for postgraduate education. Tutors need to grasp the characteristics of students according to their actual conditions and teach students according to their aptitude, which brings great pressure to postgraduate tutors. From the point of view of teachers’ living situation, the operation logic and environment of the whole university bring important influence on teachers. The organizational structure of academic management and administrative layer system in colleges and universities is easy to produce barriers, which leads to the tendency of “atomization” of teachers. The current scientific research management structure still takes “university-university-department” as the core mode of resource allocation and management and lacks the channels for introducing external resources. There are also barriers between colleges and departments, resulting in “fragmentation”, which restricts the interaction of academic resources. Similarly, this division is also reflected in the division of functions of colleges and universities. Scientific research, teaching, personnel, finance, and other functions go their own way according to the functional boundaries, and teachers need to face bureaucratic pressures in different fields at the same time. In the absence of social support, individual principle impenetrable barriers also lack organization (school, college) of other members of interaction, weak social resource, perceived organizational support, moment face “atomization” and the risk of lack of organizational commitment, will eventually lead to personal development and scientific development of colleges and universities under siege. In addition, China’s college teachers lack the corresponding qualification access system, and lack of pre-job and on-the-job training. On the one hand, it is difficult to select teachers who can be exemplary teachers in addition to their academic level. On the other hand, on-job teachers also lack the corresponding institutional support in educating students. The construction of postgraduate teachers needs not only “quantity” expansion, to cope with the enlarged size of postgraduate group, but also “quality” institutionalization guarantee and improvement. From the perspective of graduate students, in order to strengthen the quality of graduate education, many colleges and universities not only have stricter requirements on the quality of graduate dissertation, but also require graduate students to publish academic papers upon graduation, which increases the pressure of graduate students’ study and employment. This period of graduate students are only children, compressive ability, setback ability is weak, the external pressure and ability of graduate students their own psychological imbalances easily strained relationship between teachers and students, many of the tutor is influenced by traditional Confucian zero ethics, “a day for the teacher, lifelong for father” of the relationship between teachers and students concept is deeply ingrained, it is easy to lead to the lack of equal communication between teachers and students, Influence the construction of equal and harmonious teacher–student relationship. “‘Respect from the influence of the concept of’ teacher way dignity”, many students feel at home when getting along with a mentor and carding, this is due to social distance differences between graduate students and teachers, so you need to graduate from the concept to guide, to get rid of too much fear of “yoke”, also erase the “kochi” filter, Avoid high expectations and too nervous psychology (Du & Zhang, 2020; Feng & Mou, 2014; Gan, 2005; Hu, 2021; Liang et al., 2018; Xu & Zheng, 2007; Zhou & Tang, 2016).

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3.4 Suggestions on the Student–Tutor Relationship of Graduate Education in China 3.4.1 The Evaluation and Reward Mechanism of Teachers Should Be Perfected How much energy mentors put into the construction of guided learning relationships is embedded in the entire academic ecology? The publication of papers, subjects, and monographs is directly related to the professional title evaluation, salary structure, and academic status of university teachers. Scientific research has occupied most of the time and energy of university teachers. The proportion of teaching and student guidance in the evaluation system of teachers is quite low. As teachers, especially young teachers, are often busy with themselves, and teaching and student guidance is quite time-consuming and energy consuming. From system construction, to guide students with outstanding performance to reward teachers can arouse the enthusiasm of college students under the guidance of teachers, and fundamentally, in the evaluation system for teachers, should be two paths, either through outstanding teachers scientific research ability, but can be by teaching and guide the student to obtain the same promotion. Diversified evaluation criteria can not only benefit students, but also relieve teachers’ pressure of scientific research and give play to their rich creativity. In addition, college teachers lack professional training and corresponding knowledge in student guidance. At the college level, seminars and exchange meetings are held for mentors to guide students, mutual aid groups are established, or a frequent interactive exchange group is formed to promote seminars, workshops, and other research mechanisms, and “special funds for guiding exchange platform” is set up. The construction of learning guide exchange bar, teachers and student’s seminar room and other spaces, to create online and offline communication platform, to provide material guarantee for academic exchanges and ideological interaction between teachers and students, to provide support for improving the guidance ability of college teachers from the institutional level.

3.4.2 The Cultivation of Graduate Students’ Self-Leading Ability The self-dominance theory opens a new vision for in-depth discussion of the quality of individual development of master students. The academic achievement brought by graduate education is not only the increment of knowledge and ability, but also the promotion of individual self-development of graduate students, so as to effectively cope with various changes in the future society. In the process of research and getting along with tutors, postgraduates should attach importance to their own initiative and independence and avoid having unrealistic and high expectations for

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tutors. In many cases, the bad thinking habits and tendencies of postgraduates are also important factors hindrance the development of a good teacher–student relationship. Postgraduates themselves need to exercise their self-responsibility ability, correct their expectations of tutors, pay attention to their self-learning ability, and actively communicate with tutors. Supervisors should encourage master students to talk to themselves bravely and rationally and fully express their views, which will promote the development of master students’ self-dominance and reflect their maturity in interpersonal dimension. The tutor plays a more supportive role in the training of graduate students, providing emotional support, instrument support, information support, and evaluation support to a certain extent. From the perspective of interest maintenance of graduate students, diversified and orderly interest appeal mechanism should be actively explored, so as to increase the right of voice of interest maintenance of graduate students and ensure that graduate students have the right to say “no” to rights infringement caused by the alienation of teacher–student relationship in scientific research. At present, the social pressure and the risk of stigma faced by postgraduates in the process of “changing tutors” in China just show the huge gap in the status and power relationship between tutors and students in the academic field.

3.4.3 The Active Participation of Tutors in the Guidance Relationship For example, in the training plan formulation, course selection, qualification examination, selected topic report, such key links as intermediate inspection and final academic report, urge the teacher to the cultivation of the procedural opinions in writing, and school-related functional departments and colleges to explore to establish learning process management and service mechanism, timely grasp every process of graduate student training process data and information, and can effectively analyze. Finally, it forms the basis of dynamic supervision and assessment for both guiding and learning parties. It should be noted that in the construction of the guiding relationship, it should be more from the perspective of support and resource supply, rather than management. The guiding relationship itself is rich and free, which is more conducive to academic innovation and creation, especially in the field of humanities and social sciences. From the perspective of the psychological specificity and maturity stage of graduate students, graduate students have basically entered the adult stage, and should have more freedom and space for self-creation and development in learning and development. Excessive institutional constraints cannot necessarily achieve good management effects. In addition, once the construction of the management system becomes a mere formality, it will bring more troubles to the tutors and students in administrative affairs and cannot help the benign interaction of the

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guiding relationship. When considering the construction of the mentoring relationship between graduate students, it is necessary to consider the tutor and the student. Idealized expectations of the “unlimited responsibility” and “good guidance” of the tutor are divorced from the actual experience of the survival and development of the teacher. There is also tension between teachers’ guidance and the reality of social development. Overall, to strengthen the common value of the tutor and the student, the tutor and the student should reach a consensus on the construction of the guiding relationship, to avoid the situation of misplaced expectations and the accumulation of negative emotions. Attaching importance to communication, improving the evaluation and reward mechanism, building more supporting factors such as teacher mutual assistance platform, improving the system construction of tutor replacement, avoiding stigma and other measures can correctly guide and guarantee the construction of good learning guidance relationship from the concept and system (Bao et al., 2020; Du & Zhang, 2020; Feng & Mou, 2014; Gan, 2005; Hu, 2021; Liang et al., 2018; Liu, 2021; Ma & Feng, 2018; Song, 2021; Xiao, 2020; Xiong & Yang, 2019; Xu & Zheng, 2007; Zhang & Ma, 2020; Zhou & Tang, 2016).

References Bao, W., Zhang, X., & Wu, J. (2020). An empirical study on factors influencing delayed graduation of doctoral students. Jiangsu Higher Education, 20(7), 31–38. Du, J., & Zhang, K. (2020). The characteristics and thematic changes of graduate education research in China: A knowledge graph analysis based on CSSCI (1998–2019) source journals. Journal of Henan University (Social Science Edition), 61(2), 137–145. Feng, R., & Mou, H. (2014). A study on the role of doctoral supervisor in constructing harmonious guiding relationship: Based on a survey of 10 universities in Beijing. Graduate Education Research, 20(2), 54–58. Gan, T. (2005). An investigation into PhD supervisory management styles: Development of a dynamic conceptual model and its managerial implications. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 27(3), 311–325. Hu, H. (2021). Teacher–student development community: A new way to solve the contradictions of graduate student guidance. Graduate Education Research, 20(4), 48–52. Liang, S., Liu, Y., Zhu, W., & Zhu, Y. (2018). Analysis and countermeasures on the perplexity types of guiding relationship. Degree and Graduate Education, 20(5), 50–54. Liu, K. (2021). The dilemma and institutional transformation of scientific research management in universities—Reflections from two theoretical perspectives of human nature hypothesis. Science and Technology of China Universities, 20(4), 23–27. Ma, X. T., & Feng, R. (2018). Research on the construction of harmonious “Guiding relationship” model based on the perspective of positive psychology. Graduate Education Research, 20(01), 67–95. Song, C. (2021). Guiding relationship in graduate education: Influencing factors and countermeasures. Academic Degrees and Graduate Education, 20(3), 9–14. Xiao, X. (2020). Research on satisfaction analysis and promotion of guiding relationship in postgraduate talent cultivation. China Higher Education Research, 20(10), 76–81. Xiong, H., & Yang, P. (2019). Status quo and influencing factors of graduate students’ individual development quality: An empirical study based on self-dominance theory. Education and Academic Monthly, 20(6), 65–76.

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Xu, Q., & Zheng, Y. (2007). Triple reflection: Reconstruction of teacher–student guiding relationship in postgraduate training. Educational Development Research, 20(8), 77–80. Zhang, R., & Ma, J. (2020). Guiding community: A new way to construct the guiding relationship of graduate students. Academic Degrees and Graduate Education, 20(9), 32–36. Zhou, Z., & Tang, S. K. (2016). Key elements of harmonious learning guidance relationship construction from the perspective of doctoral students: Based on students’ self-disclosure data on weibo. Graduate Education Research, 2016(4), 33–40.

Chapter 4

The Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities

This chapter examines the regional layout structure of graduate education in Chinese universities. Graduate education is the commanding point of the construction of education power, and high-quality talents are an important support for the development of education power. With the rapid development of knowledge and social economy, the demand for high-quality and high-level talents in various countries is more and more urgent, which further promotes the development of postgraduate education. Facing the future, those who achieve high-quality development in graduate education will be able to take the lead in high-end talent cultivation in the country and even the world and make greater contributions in serving national economic construction and social development. Therefore, facing the increasingly complex situation at home and abroad, developed countries are consciously expanding the scale and improving the quality of postgraduate education. After decades of development, the quality of graduate education in China has been basically guaranteed while the scale and structure have been continuously expanded and optimized. To meet the needs of social and economic development, industrial structure upgrading and higher education development, graduate education has been promoted to an increasingly important position in China. China’s 13th Five-Year Plan and the Opinions on Promoting discipline Integration and Accelerating Artificial Intelligence Graduate Training issued by the Ministry of Education in February 2020 both make it clear that China will continue to expand the enrollment of graduate students, with the latter focusing on expanding the cultivation of graduate students in artificial intelligence.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li and E. Xue, Graduate Education Governance in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2049-3_4

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4.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools of the Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities Graduate education is an important part of higher education in China, and it is the main way to cultivate innovative high-level talents in China. After twenty years of development, the scale and quality of postgraduate education in China have been improved. Facing the dual needs of the upgrading of China’s industrial structure and the connotation development of higher education, the scale of graduate education in China will continue to expand, and the development of graduate education will gradually step into the next stage. Facing the expansion of graduate education scale in our country, colleges and universities should make adequate preparations for the large-scale development of graduate education, and at the same time, colleges and universities should make preparations in advance in terms of teaching staff and facilities, so as to cope with various practical problems after the expansion of graduate education, of course, the development of postgraduate education in our country entering popular development still needs a certain amount of time, like the development of the undergraduate education in our country, the development of graduate education in China will experience all sorts of problems, it needs the joint efforts of the state, society, and universities, in promoting China’s postgraduate education scale expansion at the same time, constantly improve the raw training quality. Ultimately, it will promote the connotative development of China’s higher education and achieve the goal of becoming a powerful country in higher education.

4.1.1 Literature Review of the Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities The undergraduate course of our country university began to expand to recruit from 1999, our country graduate student also began to expand to recruit from 2000. It can be said that since the expansion of graduate enrollment in 2000, almost every year the number of graduate enrollments has grown steadily, and the scale of graduate enrollment has also been expanding. In 2000, the number of graduate students in China was only 128,500. In 2019, the number of graduate students in China has reached 916,500, and the number of graduate students has also reached 2,863,700. At present, after twenty years of development, China’s graduate education has reached a certain scale. The continuous expansion of the graduate education scale also leads to the graduate education in China began to scale development stage, but in the process of scale development, China’s graduate education has been the development of imbalance and insufficient problems. From 2000 to 2019, the total number of graduate students in China increased by 9.51 times, and the size of graduate students continued to expand, with an average annual growth rate of 12.92%. From the level of higher

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education resources bearing capacity and meet the demand of market perspective, the scale of graduate students beyond the bearing capacity of higher education resources, make the training quality facing a severe test, successive years is mainly manifested on student/teacher ratio increased, resources equipped with velocity and failed to develop scale synchronization, shortage of funds is structural and hardware facilities construction lag. In addition, many researchers in China find that with the expansion of postgraduate scale, the quality of postgraduate training in Chinese universities declines, the ratio of students to teachers in university research is too high, and the training of graduate students for professional degrees and academic degrees converge. These problems are further highlighted with the continuous expansion of postgraduate scale, and the imbalance in the development of postgraduate education in China is becoming more and more obvious. Through the analysis and collation of the information database of master’s registration and admission, some researchers found that with the expansion of the enrollment scale of graduate students in sports colleges, the quality of students is facing a declining trend. In addition, some researchers have found through investigation that current teachers have different evaluations on the quality of postgraduate students recruited in the past five years, believing that postgraduate students are uneven. In addition, under the background of enrollment expansion, the system of promotion and exemption has become an important way to improve the source of high-quality students. However, compared with Beijing, Jiangsu, Shanghai, and other regions, the universities in central and western regions, especially the northwest region, are obviously at a disadvantage. It is difficult to receive the promotion and exemption students from other regions, and it is difficult to retain the students from this region. As a result, all colleges and universities in the region as a whole face the dilemma of serious decline in the quality of students. With the expansion of postgraduate scale, the quality of postgraduate students in China has declined. Of course, with the continuous expansion of postgraduate enrollment, the quality of postgraduate students in China has declined, and the reasons are various. Explanations for the rapid expansion of graduate education are generally believed to be mainly driven by government policies, sustained economic development, and individual demand. Although these theories explain external incentives for the development of graduate education to a certain extent, they are not completely consistent with the actual development track. Taking the government-driven theory as an example, in China with a tradition of strong national capacity, planning is an important mechanism for the country to achieve target governance after the “planning management system”. The government guides the development of postgraduate education through the formulation of five-year plans. For example, it is pointed out in the national education “tenth five-year plan”, “eleventh Five-year Plan”, “twelfth Five-year Plan”, and the Outline of the National Medium- and long-term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010–2020) that by 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020, the number of postgraduate students will reach 600,000, 1.3 million, 1.7 million, and 2 million respectively. The expansion of postgraduate education is not a strict implementation of the planning objectives. In fact, the scale of postgraduate education in China reached 980,000 in 2005, 1.54 million in 2010, 1.91 million in 2015, and 2.73 million in 2019, respectively. Therefore, the target of the five-year plan is usually

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achieved in the middle of the plan, and by the end of the five-year plan the number of postgraduate students will almost always exceed the original plan (Chen, 2017; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Ying & Ye, 2020; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

4.1.2 Theoretical Tools of the Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities The term “academic drift” has existed for nearly a century. As early as 1923, American scholar Joseph Kinmont Hart used this term in his paper, but his specific connotation was not clear. It was not until 1972 that Tyrrell Burgess defined the connotation of “academic drift” for the first time. He defined “academic drift” as a tendency for nonuniversity institutions of higher education to determine their activities and practices in a way that more closely resembles the “face” of a university. Since then, “academic drift” as a research topic in the field of higher education formally entered people’s vision. In the late 1970s, Guy Neave made a detailed analysis of the phenomenon of “academic drift” in Britain, France, Norway, and other countries. He divided “academic drift” into four types, namely “policy drift”, “institutional drift”, “academic drift”, and “curriculum focus drift”, according to the different subjects and forms of control. It refers to the phenomenon that the central and regional administrative departments are not clear about the goal of running non-university higher education institutions, these institutions themselves emphasize academic value, various institutions and teachers within the institutions attach importance to research, and the curriculum content is not closely connected with practical work. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, kay vic (Svein Kyvik) proposed a more novel point of view, he will “academic drift” is divided into six different level, in addition to the policy of “drift” mentioned by neave and school of “drift” (its connotation defined roughly the same), also increased the students “drift”, teachers “drift”, “project drift”, and “drift”. Specifically, “student drift” refers to the trend that students prefer to be enrolled in universities rather than non-university higher education institutions, and that graduates from non-university higher education institutions increasingly want to upgrade their educational level. In this paper, “academic drift” mainly refers to the “institutional drift” and “industry drift” in Kevic’s classification, that is, the various behaviors of non-university institutions of higher education due to the emphasis on the value of academic research, as well as the overall trend of these institutions toward the direction of academic development. However, as Kevic puts it, the layers of “drift” are so intertwined that it is difficult to distinguish them strictly. Therefore, the analysis in this paper may involve the analysis of the motivation of “drift” at other levels. Many explanations of the expansion of graduate education in China focus on the analysis of external needs, ignoring the autonomy of the graduate education system and not from the perspective of internal conflicts of the graduate education system. In fact, due to the influence of multiple historical and realistic factors, the enrollment quota for graduate education expansion in China is a scarce resource

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highly controlled by the government. The education management department has the power to allocate the enrollment quota for the whole country, and the appeals of external stakeholders need to be realized through this official mechanism. When the state determines the scale of postgraduate education, the main pressure felt by education resource allocation departments comes from the direct competition for the quota of postgraduate enrollment plan by local and central universities. Especially since the 1980s, the government has launched the 211 Project, 985 Project, and double First-class construction and other incentive policies, focusing on supporting research-oriented universities featuring scientific research and postgraduate education, thus setting a model for the higher education pyramid system. In addition, the research-oriented evaluation and resource allocation policy design induces a strong academic drift effect. As Lisman said, “The higher education system is like a snake entity… Higher education institutions in the middle always imitate those at the top, and those at the tail imitate those in the middle”. The increasingly strong impetus of academic drift in the higher education system has led to fierce competition among degree authorization points, degree awarding units, and graduate enrollment places, which are symbols of academic reputation (Chen, 2017; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Ying & Ye, 2020; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

4.2 Policy Text and Policy Implementation Data of the Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities 4.2.1 Overall Enrollment Expansion of Postgraduate Education China enrolled 916,500 graduate students in 2019, among which 10.52 were Ph.D. students. 10,000 people, including 811,300 graduate students. From 2000 to 2019, the total enrollment of graduate students increased from 128,500 in 2000 to 916,500 in 2019, and the enrollment of doctoral students increased from 25,100 in 2000 to 105,200 in 2019. The enrollment of master’s students increased from 103,400 in 2000 to 811,300 in 2019. The specific data is shown in the table. During this period, the scale of postgraduate enrollment in China has been expanding, among which, the scale of postgraduate enrollment is much higher than that of doctoral enrollment. The total enrollment of graduate students in China has increased several times in the past decade, and it can be predicted that the overall scale of graduate education in China will continue to expand.

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4.2.2 The Development Process of Graduate Student Scale in China With the continuous expansion of postgraduate scale in China, the number of postgraduate students in China is also increasing. The number of postgraduate students in China has grown from 301,200 in 2000 to 2,863,700 in 2019, a full increase of 2.56 million, a growth rate of 9 times, which is significant in both the number and speed of growth. From the development scale and speed of graduate students in China, we can see the changes of graduate education in China in the past ten years. After more than ten years of graduate enrollment expansion, graduate education in China is no longer a small-scale development trend but begins to show a large-scale development of the “popular trend”.

4.2.3 Expansion of Graduate Enrollment in Different Disciplines Since the enrollment expansion of graduate students in China, the overall scale of development is fast, but for graduate students with different academic backgrounds, there is a great difference. At the same time, with the continuous adjustment of the postgraduate subject catalogue and the change of the emphasis on postgraduate enrollment expansion in China, the scale of postgraduate enrollment expansion in different disciplines in China also presents great differences. The total number of students in higher education of all types in China reached 40.2 million, with a gross enrollment rate of 51.6%. There were 2688 regular institutions of higher learning in China (including 257 independent institutes), 25 more than the previous year, an increase of 0.94%. Among them, 1265 are undergraduate universities, 20 more than last year. There were 1423 vocational colleges and universities, 5 more than the previous year. There were 268 adult institutions of higher learning in China, 9 fewer than the previous year. There were 828 graduate training institutions, including 593 institutions of higher learning and 235 research institutes. The average size of regular institutions of higher learning is 11,260, of which 15,179 are from undergraduate colleges and 7776 are from higher vocational colleges. The enrollment of graduate students is 916,500, including 105,200 doctoral students and 811,300 master’s students. There are 2,863,700 graduate students, including 424,200 doctoral students and 2,439,500 master students. There are 639,700 graduate students, including 62,600 doctoral students and 577,100 master’s students (Chen, 2017; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Ying & Ye, 2020; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

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4.2.4 Distribution of Postgraduate Education in Regular Universities In 2019, there were 2688 undergraduate universities and 576, or 21.43%, had master’s programs. In January 2017, approved by the State Council agreed to, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, National Development and Reform Commission formally announced the world first-class university and the world first-class discipline construction in colleges and universities and construction course list, the first batch of “double top” construction in colleges and universities A total of 137, of which 42 building world-class university colleges and universities (36 A, 6 B), 95 universities with world-class disciplines; There are 465 disciplines of double Firstclass construction (including 44 self-designated disciplines). Therefore, among the 576 undergraduate universities with master’s degree training points, there are 439 non-double-first-class universities besides double-first-class universities.

4.2.5 The Expansion Driven by Local Ordinary Undergraduate Universities The impetus of academic drift is an important force to promote the expansion of graduate education in local universities. In the long run, graduate education shows a trend of extending and spreading down from the top of higher education pyramid. For example, according to the classification of Carnegie Higher Education, The enrollment ratio of intensive doctoral research universities in the United States decreased by 13.6% from 63.3% in 1980 to 49.7% in 2018. In China, the national overall “catch-up” strategy to a certain extent accelerated the diffusion of graduate education to ordinary universities. In 2002, universities directly under the central ministries and commissions accounted for nearly 70% of graduate enrollment, but by 2010, it had dropped by 15 percentage points. In contrast, the number of local universities with degree-granting qualifications increased by 72, surpassing those directly under the central ministries and commissions, and the proportion of graduate enrollment reached 45.6%. After 2010, the expansion rate of higher education slowed down, but local colleges and universities still maintained strong growth momentum. By 2019, the number of colleges and universities qualified to grant graduate degrees reached 525, an increase of 102 over 2010. In 2017, the number of graduate enrollments surpassed that of colleges and universities directly under the central Ministries and commissions for the first time. Most years the growth rate is three times higher. This kind of expansion of graduate education with obvious “late development” characteristics, although it contributes to the expansion of degree and the volume of graduate education in the short term, it also has an unexpected impact on the overall quality and structure of graduate education.

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4.3 The Challenges of the Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities The large-scale development of graduate education in China is mainly based on the influence of China’s graduate enrollment expansion policy. The large-scale development of graduate education in China has a great impact on China’s economy and education. The expansion of postgraduate scale not only alleviates the need for innovative and high-quality talents urgently needed by the society and further improves the talent quality structure of our country, but also will continue to cultivate a large number of high-level talents for our country. At the same time, the expansion of postgraduate scale will further promote the continuous optimization and upgrading of China’s higher education structure and promote the process of connotation development of China’s higher education. In the process of the expansion of postgraduate education scale, the expansion of postgraduate education scale also leads to a series of development imbalance. Since the enrollment expansion of graduate students in China, the development of graduate education in China has been unbalanced and inadequate. Under the continuous expansion of graduate students, these problems will continue and even more deeply affect the quality and level of graduate education in China, resulting in the development of graduate education in China lags the pace of continuous expansion and development of graduate education.

4.3.1 Imbalance Between Postgraduate Enrollment Expansion Scale and Postgraduate Tutor Team Construction Different from undergraduate students who study in class, graduate students’ study and research in tutor. It can be said that postgraduate tutor determines the quality of postgraduate training to a certain extent. Therefore, for graduate students, the mentor is particularly important, but from the perspective of the ratio of graduate students to tutors, the construction of graduate tutor team has not kept pace with the expansion of growth. From 2000 to 2019, China continued to expand the enrollment of graduate students, the size of graduate students increased by 9.51 times, but the size of supervisors increased by 4.2 times. In 2019, the student–teacher– student ratio in China’s research (measured by the time and energy of graduate supervisors invested in teaching and administrative work) has reached 6.20, among which, the student–teacher–student ratio in master’s research is 7.04. The student– teacher ratio for doctoral studies was 3.68. From the above data, seemingly tutor of graduate students and student/teacher ratio in China is not high but is based on the above student/teacher ratio in China, a graduate student and graduate tutor statistical quantity of simple calculation, not deduct tutor in the teaching and administrative work in the time and energy, therefore, is far greater than the actual student/teacher ratio data. In 2009, through empirical investigation, some researchers found that

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the student-to-teacher ratio of graduate students and their supervisors in Chinese universities was far beyond the reasonable student-to-teacher ratio. Among them, the actual student-to-teacher ratio of liberal arts, science, engineering, economics, art and sports (after deducting the time and energy invested by graduate tutors in undergraduate teaching) is 35.15, 31.7, 35.07, 35.85, 22.82 respectively, and the average student-to-teacher ratio of graduate students is as high as 32.12, more than 4 times higher than the reasonable student-to-teacher ratio. Under the circumstance of severe teacher–student ratio, the tutor has limited time and energy in postgraduate training, and the quality of guidance is not optimistic. Under the situation of continuous expansion of postgraduate scale, the postgraduate tutor team is deficient in both quantity and quality, resulting in the imbalance between the expansion of postgraduate education scale and the postgraduate tutor team in China (Chen, 2017; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Ying & Ye, 2020; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

4.3.2 Imbalance Between the Scale of Postgraduate Enrollment Expansion and the Quality of Postgraduate Enrollment The goal of graduate education is to cultivate students’ innovative quality and ability, and graduate education belongs to elite education in nature. In recent years, with the continuous expansion of graduate education, graduate education began to scale development, but at present China’s graduate education is still elite education, so the quality of graduate students is very important. Through the analysis and collation of the information database of master’s registration and admission, some researchers found that with the expansion of the enrollment scale of graduate students in sports colleges, the quality of students is facing a declining trend. In addition, some researchers have found through investigation that current teachers have different evaluations on the quality of postgraduate students recruited in the past five years, believing that postgraduate students are uneven. In addition, under the background of enrollment expansion, the system of promotion and exemption has become an important way to improve the source of high-quality students. However, compared with Beijing, Jiangsu, Shanghai, and other regions, the universities in central and western regions, especially the northwest region, are obviously at a disadvantage. It is difficult to receive the promotion and exemption students from other regions, and it is difficult to retain the students from this region. As a result, all colleges and universities in the region face the dilemma of serious decline in the quality of students. With the expansion of postgraduate scale, the quality of postgraduate students in China has declined. Of course, with the continuous expansion of postgraduate enrollment, the quality of postgraduate students in China has declined, and the reasons are various.

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4.3.3 Imbalance Between the Scale of Postgraduate Enrollment Expansion and the Configuration of University Hardware and Software Facilities The continuous expansion of postgraduate scale in China is not only a development opportunity for universities, but also a severe challenge. China’s graduate enrollment year by year, from rapid growth to stable experienced a long time. With the expansion of postgraduate scale, the resource allocation of colleges and universities in China is particularly inadequate. The number of graduate students increased by 788,000 from 2000 to 2019, with an average annual growth rate of 12.60%. Compared with the higher enrollment expansion rate, the growth rate of higher education resources and facilities in China from 2000 to 2019 is not high. Although the total expenditure of higher education in China continues to increase, the investment in capital construction fluctuates and decreases from time to time. In addition, the growth rate of supporting facilities for higher education is slow. From 2000 to 2019, the growth rate of building area of higher education is only 3.35%, among which, the growth rate of building area of library, classroom, laboratory and practice place, and student dormitory is 4.51, 4.29, 4.60, and 5.80% respectively. This series of data shows that, to a certain extent, the development rate of infrastructure equipment in China’s universities is lower than the growth rate of graduate enrollment expansion. And this year, China’s master’s and doctoral graduate enrollment increase significantly, especially the master’s enrollment as high as 189,000 people, which has been in recent years to expand enrollment within 5% of the growth rate, the pressure caused by China’s universities cannot be underestimated. Therefore, the expansion of graduate enrollment in China has greatly increased, which not only brings opportunities to colleges and universities, but also challenges to their teaching, scientific research, management, and logistics.

4.3.4 Imbalance Between the Target of Postgraduate Enrollment Expansion and the Quality of Postgraduate Training Theoretically speaking, the goal of graduate education is to cultivate students’ innovative accomplishment and ability. Graduate education in China can be divided into academic graduate education and professional graduate education. The academic graduate education mainly trains teaching and research talents for universities and scientific research institutions in China, while the professional graduate education mainly trains high-level applied talents that are in short supply in the market. For the two different training objectives also explained the training program, training links, and other aspects of the difference. The goal of graduate enrollment expansion in China is to cultivate more high-level and innovative comprehensive talents. However, with the expansion of the graduate scale, this goal has not been well achieved, and the

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quality of graduate education in China has been declining. Both academic and professional graduate students are facing the problem of declining training quality. Again, the reasons are manifold. First, in terms of training programs, there is little difference between academic and professional graduate programs in many universities. This is a great problem for graduate students with different training objectives. This kind of training program neither considers the difference between the two, but also leads to a reduction in the training effect and quality of the two. Even though some colleges and universities make clear the differences between them, it is difficult to achieve truly differentiated training in the training process. Secondly, graduate tutor plays an important role in the training of graduate students. Graduate tutors themselves shoulder many responsibilities such as teaching, scientific research, and administration. In addition, they also shoulder the task of guiding and training graduate students, which is not hard. With the enrollment expansion of graduate students, the number of graduate students under the guidance of graduate tutors also increases, and the energy and time of graduate tutors are more and more limited. Therefore, there are many cases that graduate tutors practice “grazing” on graduate students, which also leads to the decline of graduate training quality. The original intention of graduate enrollment expansion is to cultivate high-level talents of different levels and aspects for the society and promote the connotative development of higher education, but in fact, the expansion of graduate scale indirectly leads to the decline of the quality of graduate education, which is completely contrary to the original intention of graduate enrollment expansion (Chen, 2017; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Ying & Ye, 2020; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

4.4 The Suggestions the Regional Layout Structure of Graduate Education in Chinese Universities In view of the needs of China’s social development and the development of higher education itself, the trend of postgraduate education expansion in China will continue for a long time, and the scale and speed of enrollment expansion will continue to develop, and the scale of postgraduate education development will continue to expand. With the expansion of postgraduate scale, how to guarantee and improve the quality of postgraduate education is the most important. The improvement of postgraduate education quality is an important guarantee to cultivate high-level talents. Therefore, while expanding the scale of postgraduate education in China, we must strictly control the quality of postgraduate education so as to cultivate high-quality talents needed by the society. Through the analysis of the development imbalance and other practical problems in the development of graduate education in China, Chinese universities and colleges can make efforts from the following four aspects, so as to improve the quality of graduate education in China and promote the connotation development of graduate education in China.

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4.4.1 Strictly Control the Quality of Students, the Good Postgraduate Access Threshold The quality of postgraduate training depends on the postgraduate himself, the postgraduate tutor, and the school training. Comprehensive effect, but the quality of postgraduate students determines the quality of postgraduate training. Since the enrollment expansion of graduate students in China, the source of graduate students has gradually diversified, the quality of graduate students has gradually become good and bad, which requires universities to strictly control the entry threshold of graduate students, focus on improving the quality of graduate students. Raising the entry threshold for graduate students means that graduate education is no longer the traditional mode of “wide in, wide out”, which is also the first step to ensure the quality of graduate education. For the selection of graduate students, there are two main ways in China, namely, recommendation for study and unified recruitment. For different colleges and universities, we should make good use of these two selection methods to select high-quality graduate students. For the first-class universities in China, it is necessary to increase the proportion of excellent undergraduate students who are recommended to study for master’s and doctor’s degree directly and open up the training path of master’s and doctor’s degree through flexible academic system. For ordinary colleges and universities, it is necessary to strictly implement the unified recruitment system, especially in the process of unified recruitment and re-examination, to comprehensively examine the comprehensive quality of postgraduates such as moral quality, knowledge reserve, practical skills, scientific research potential, and innovation ability, rather than just stay on the superficial examination of students’ academic performance. It is the key to guarantee the quality of postgraduate training to grasp the entry threshold and improve the quality of postgraduate students. Therefore, colleges and universities should pay attention to strictly control the quality of postgraduate students in the selection of postgraduate students, the first key to the quality of postgraduate training (Chen, 2017; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Ying & Ye, 2020; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

4.4.2 Adjust the Training Program to Improve the Quality of Postgraduate Training The improvement of graduate education quality is inseparable from the strict training of graduate students. Different training programs should be carried out for different types of postgraduates. At present, there is no great difference between academic and professional postgraduate training in our country, which affects the quality of postgraduate training to a certain extent. In addition, there are still some problems in the revision of graduate training programs in China. Therefore, in the training process of graduate students, colleges and universities should pay attention to distinguish different types of graduate students, different professional training objectives,

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at the same time pay attention to adjust and improve the training program of graduate students, for different types of graduate students, different majors, should be combined with the actual development of graduate student training program, improve the graduate student training plan. At the same time, according to the training program, strengthen the process supervision and assessment of postgraduate course learning, mid-term assessment, thesis proposal, thesis defense, and other links, to further improve the quality of postgraduate training. Training programs for different types of postgraduates should be oriented by training objectives. Academic postgraduates should pay attention to training them into reserve talents for teaching and research and exercise their ability to master independent thinking and research innovation. In addition to the theoretical knowledge, professional postgraduates should also focus on training their practical skills, so that they can become high-level application-oriented talents proficient in theoretical knowledge and practical skills. In the process of the cultivation of graduate students, the Ministry of Education and bachelor should pay attention to strengthen the evaluation and assessment of the quality of graduate education, at the same time using a third-party education evaluation mechanism, form the diversified assessment system, the appraisal of university graduate student education for all-round evaluation, the use of external forces to promote continuously improving the quality of graduate education in colleges and universities.

4.4.3 Construct a Team of Tutors and a Mechanism for the Construction of Teaching Staff Tutor is the teacher of belief, knowledge, and conduct of graduate students. Only with a high level of teachers, it is possible to cultivate high-quality postgraduates, high level of teachers not only refers to the teaching and research level of teachers, more importantly, the professional ethics and sense of responsibility of teachers. As the backbone of graduate education, graduate tutor plays an important role in graduate education. The key to improve the quality of postgraduate training is to play the role of postgraduate tutor. At present, the reserve of graduate teachers is insufficient, which is very unfavorable for the training of graduate students. In view of the current situation of insufficient tutor reserve and high student–teacher ratio, colleges and universities should take the way of combining “bringing in” and “self-cultivation” and pay attention to training young teachers internally while introducing excellent teachers from outside. In addition, colleges and universities should also focus on constructing and improving the construction mechanism of postgraduate tutor faculty, and pay attention to the cooperation of selection, cultivation, and withdrawal mechanism in the construction mechanism of postgraduate tutor faculty. In the construction of a perfect mechanism for the construction of postgraduate tutor faculty, not only the professional knowledge and academic level of postgraduate tutor should be paid attention to, but more importantly, the ethics of postgraduate tutor should be inspected, and

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the one-vote veto system should be adopted. Postgraduate tutor is the first responsible person for postgraduate training, and the primary responsibility of postgraduate tutor is to establish moral education. Therefore, colleges and universities should pay attention to the selection of teachers with noble ethics and responsible for students as graduate tutors, and guide graduate tutors to invest time and energy in guiding and training graduate students, to improve the quality of graduate training.

4.4.4 Improve the Separation System and Raise the Graduation Standards for Graduate Students During postgraduate training, we should improve the quality of postgraduate training, in addition to ensuring the source of postgraduate students. In addition to quality and the availability of high-level tutors, every training link should be strictly required. At present, there are still many weak links in the training of postgraduates, such as lax assessment requirements and low graduation standards. Therefore, colleges and universities should properly improve graduate graduation standards, and construct and perfect the mechanism of graduate diversion and elimination. For colleges and universities, to improve the graduation standard of postgraduates, we should start from the training process of postgraduates, which means to strengthen the assessment of postgraduates’ training links. The graduation standards of graduate students vary from university to university, but they are inseparable from the course teaching, mid-term assessment, paper publication, and graduation thesis. Therefore, in order to improve the quality of postgraduate training, we should first improve the requirements of postgraduate course teaching, mid-term assessment, thesis publication, and graduation thesis. At the same time, in the process of postgraduate training, colleges and universities should establish and improve the mechanism of graduate student diversion and elimination. For graduate students who cannot meet the requirements of postgraduate mid-term assessment, course teaching and other postgraduate assessment requirements and have difficulties in scientific research, there should be timely diversion or even elimination. Only strict requirements on all aspects of graduate students can fundamentally improve the quality of postgraduate training. In addition, to improve the quality of postgraduate training, the establishment and improvement of postgraduate training quality assessment system is also very important, the postgraduate assessment and evaluation throughout the whole process of postgraduate training. At present, the examination and evaluation of graduate training quality in colleges and universities is too simple and single, unable to investigate and evaluate the real quality of graduate training. Universities, therefore, can refer to the combination of qualitative evaluation with quantitative evaluation, combining the cultivation quality evaluation and condition assessment, combining the process of evaluation and result evaluation, combining static evaluation and dynamic evaluation, evaluation of graduate students and evaluation of teacher evaluation, the combination of history and status quo of evaluating the quality of graduate education, combining

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the evaluation principle. We need to gradually establish a perfect graduate student quality evaluation system, to better evaluate the quality of graduate student training, and further improve the quality of graduate student training (Chen, 2017; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Ying & Ye, 2020; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

4.4.5 Fully Respect the Autonomy of Training Units in Subject Adjustment The key to adjust subject structure flexibly for the change of industrial structure and labor market employment structure is to mobilize the enthusiasm of training units at the grassroots level to participate in postgraduate education management. On the premise of ensuring the quality, we should fully respect the autonomy of training units in discipline construction, structural adjustment, and personnel training, implement school-based management, and pay attention to releasing the vitality of training units while standardizing school-running behavior. From the perspective of discipline construction, training units should take the initiative to adapt to “facing the world’s scientific and technological frontier, facing the main economic battlefield and facing the major national needs”. The new requirements of The Times, properly handle the relationship between basic disciplines and applied disciplines, humanities and social sciences and natural sciences, and establish and improve the discipline early warning mechanism, early warning and flexible withdrawal of disciplines that have been divorced from the social demand for a long time, excess talent training and low educational level. In addition, the establishment and management mode of subject catalogue should be further improved at the national level, and the institutional obstacles of establishing interdisciplinary and emerging disciplines should be broken down.

4.4.6 Give Full Play to the Provincial Overall Planning Function in Postgraduate Education Governance Since the restoration of graduate education in China, the structure adjustment of graduate education with Chinese characteristics has been gradually formed. The whole mechanism, its policy tools include authorization review, catalogue setting, plan preparation, financial allocation, and key construction. These policy tools are mainly under the command and control of the central government, while other stakeholders have very limited autonomy and initiative in the restructuring of graduate education. In particular, the coordination function at the provincial level has been difficult to be effectively played for a long time, resulting in the imbalance between graduate education and provincial economic development. With the continuous improvement of China’s graduate education management system, the management focus is

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gradually moving down, and the time is basically ripe to build a multi-center governance network dominated by two levels of government, based on resource allocation, with clear rights and responsibilities of relevant subjects. It is suggested to further straighten out the relationship between central and local educational management. Specifically, firstly, the central government should exert its ability of reasonable overall control to accurately grasp the direction of the adjustment of postgraduate educational structure. Second, expand the provincial overall planning power of local governments, further implement the local government’s functions of postgraduate education planning, layout, construction, supervision, and service, and enhance the active adaptability of postgraduate education to regional economic and social development (Chen, 2017; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Ying & Ye, 2020; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

References Chen, W. (2017). The influence of the current system of promotion and exemption on the source of graduate students and the development of disciplines in northwestern universities—Based on the data of a province in northwest China. Graduate Education Research, 20(5), 60–77. Hong, D. (2019). Accelerating the building of China into a powerful country in postgraduate education. Academic Degrees and Graduate Education, 29(3), 1–19. Li, M., & Liu, S. (2019). How to return to “moderate scale”—A comparative study on the adjustment mechanism of postgraduate training scale in The United States. Graduate Education Research, 20(6), 82–99. Ying, M., & Ye, L. (2020). Development imbalance and countermeasures of expansion of postgraduate education in China. Heilongjiang Higher Education Research, 20(11), 77. Zhu, Y., & Zhang, Z. (2010). Tian Shuai: The influence of regional economic factors and population factors on the expansion of postgraduate education: An empirical study of Guangdong Province. Research on Higher Engineering Education, 20(4), 44–49.

Chapter 5

Policy Research on the Integration of Science and Education in China’s Graduate Education

This chapter concentrates on policy research on the integration of science and education in China’s graduate education. The construction of world-class universities and disciplines (referred to as “double first-class”) is an important strategic decision made by the CPC Central Committee and The State Council, as well as another national strategy in the field of higher education in China following the “211 Project” and “985 Project”. “Double first-class” universities play an extremely important leading role in cultivating high-level innovative talents, while “non-double first-class” universities’ postgraduate education also plays an equally important social role in serving local economic and social development and cultivating high-level and excellent talents. The integration of science and education is an important innovation of the graduate education and training mode of “non-double first-class” colleges and universities, and an inevitable choice to train builders and successors of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics.

5.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools for the Integration of Science and Education in Graduate Education 5.1.1 Overview of the Integration of Science and Education in Graduate Education We inputted the topic “integration of science and education for graduate education” in CNKI and found that there are only a few articles directly related to “integration of science and education for graduate education”. But input the keyword “science and education integration”, the relevant research on “science and education integration” has achieved relatively rich research results. Through sorting out and summarizing, it © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li and E. Xue, Graduate Education Governance in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2049-3_5

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can be found that the relevant research results are mainly embodied in four aspects: “Concept of integration of science and education”, “importance of integration of science and education”, “status quo of integration of science and education”, and “countermeasures to promote integration of science and education”. The integration of science and education has different profound connotations in different fields. In academic research, the integration of science and education mainly refers to the integration of scientific research and teaching. In the policy text, it also refers to the relationship between science and technology, science, scientific research, and education and teaching. In the domestic theoretical circle, the concept of science and education integration was first proposed, which can be traced back to 2010 when Gong Ke explicitly proposed that the university culture should be characterized by “science and education integration”, believing that science and education integration is the integration of scientific research and teaching. In the February 2012 issue of the Journal of the China University of Science and Technology in the first column set science and education fusion is China’s earliest position of the fusion of science academic discussion. A series of concepts about science and education integration, function mechanism, education mode, such as theoretical research, opens the fusion of science debate. Some scholars have innovatively proposed that “integration of science and education” is not only the mode of running a school and means of education, but also the mode of thinking and spirit of higher education. From the perspective of the policy text, the evolution of the concept of integration of science and education has experienced three stages. The first is the embryonic stage of science and education; Second, the foundation and exploration stage of the integration of science and education; Third, the flourishing stage of science and education integration. From a series of national policies centering on key words such as “science and technology”, “science”, “scientific research”, “education”, and “teaching”, to the integration of science and education appearing in national policies and speeches of national leaders, the integration of science and education has evolved into a complex concept with multiple connotations (Chen, 2017; Li et al., 2012; Lu, 2016; Yan, 2016; Yu, 2021; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

5.1.2 Research on the Importance of Integration of Science and Education The understanding of the importance of the integration of science and education has gone through a long process of practice and cognition. Science and education integration is beneficial to change the current “scientific research, teaching” bad tendencies, the second is dedicated teaching is beneficial to teachers, lay a foundation for cultivating innovative talents, the third is conducive to forming disciplines and specialties and teaching filling, fourth is to cultivate students’ innovation consciousness and innovation atmosphere. The integration of science and education is of great significance to the construction of higher education system, the establishment of a scientific

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and effective higher education reform policy, and the improvement of talent cultivation mode of higher education. The integration of science and education not only plays a role of “entrepreneurship and innovation” in the development of institutions of higher learning, but also acts as a lever to balance the periodical contradictions of institutions of higher learning and an effective way to promote social development and the emergence of high-level talents. Case study is adopted to study the talent training mode under the background of science and education integration, and it is believed that implementing the concept of science and education integration, optimizing talent training programs, and establishing policy incentive mechanisms will be conducive to the cultivation of innovative talents, and thus conducive to the reform and development of higher education in China.

5.1.3 Research on the Reality of the Integration of Science and Education The integration of science and education has experienced the process of separation, combination, and integration of science and education. In the 1980s, there was no great imbalance between teaching and scientific research in Chinese universities, but in the middle and late 1990s, there was a general situation of “attaching more importance to scientific research than to teaching” in Chinese universities. University scientific research subject comes from social practice on one hand, on the other hand from the development of each course in teaching activity logic system, such as found in the process of imparting knowledge, students use creative imagination some illuminating new insights, new problems, prompted us to think or do research organization strength. In quite a lot of teaching links, students’ practical subjects, graduation thesis design, and scientific research work are difficult to distinguish from each other. However, the allocation of teaching and scientific research resources in colleges and universities tends to be inclined to scientific research, and there are varying degrees of imbalance between teaching and scientific research in the thought and practice of university personnel. Compared with teaching, scientific research is more closely related to teachers’ own interests and status, and some teachers are reluctant to engage in teaching, especially undergraduate teaching tasks. When scientific research is faced with some hard and critical moments, teachers must squeeze teaching time or even temporarily give up teaching. Academics at Nanjing University surveyed eight of China’s top research universities and concluded that the university evaluation system is weighted toward research, emphasizing the publication of projects and papers, and has no hard and fast criteria for teaching. In this case, teachers usually pay more attention to scientific research. When there is a conflict between teaching and scientific research, they tend to give priority to scientific research (Chen, 2017; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

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5.1.4 Research on the Implementation Path of Science and Education Integration The idea of science and education integration has been gradually accepted by academic circles and many implementation paths have been put forward. To promote the integration of science and education in universities, government departments should strongly support and subsidize basic research in universities, so as to make universities the source of intelligence for social development and the source of innovative development. Universities should also pay attention to the evaluation of teaching quality and guide teachers to integrate scientific research achievements into teaching. Teachers should integrate scientific research with teaching and pursue the best state of “academic education”. Currently, there are many problems in the integration of science and education in colleges and universities. The reform and reconstruction of the integration of science and education should be promoted by firmly establishing the concept of integration of science and education, scientifically determining the goal of talent training, promoting the deep integration of scientific research and teaching, and promoting the construction of talent training bases. To realize the mutual promotion between high-level scientific research and highlevel innovative talent training, scientific research achievements should be integrated into talent training concept, course resources, students’ innovation ability and talent training mode, and students should be encouraged to participate in scientific research and deepen learning in scientific research. Through the investigation of the identification and practice of the idea of science and education integration of college teachers, it is concluded that the way out for the idea identification of science and education integration to be transformed into practical action is to innovate the management culture of college teachers, follow the interest demands of different college teachers, and establish a policy guidance mechanism for the mutual integration of teaching and scientific research. The integration of science and education has the same objective: To improve the level and quality of teaching and to cultivate talents with innovative ability. While strengthening theoretical research and publicity, the academic community should dare to conduct top-level design and provide operational solutions for practical subjects. The government should consciously practice the theory of science and education integration and guide the practice of science and education integration with policies. Schools should realize that the integration of science and education is not only a standard for running schools, but also a value pursuit. They should reform teacher evaluation tools and strengthen practical teaching with students as the center. Teachers are the practice subjects of the integration of science and education. They should update teaching plans with The Times, give full play to the role of tutors and actively practice the integration of science and education. Foreign research on the integration of science and education mainly focuses on “the relationship between teaching and research”, “influencing factors of the integration of science and education”, and “interactive mode of the integration of science and education”. The interaction between teaching and scientific research is generally positive, and the role of scientific research in promoting teaching is much greater than

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that of teaching in promoting scientific research. At the same time, there is a certain tension between teaching and scientific research. Those teachers with outstanding scientific research achievements spend most of their time and energy on scientific research. They undertake fewer teaching tasks and seldom communicate with students, leading to many inconsistencies between teaching and scientific research. Some scholars have found that the integration of science and education is different among disciplines with different nature and maturity. The closer it is to a conventional discipline, the more difficult it is to integrate teaching and scientific research. Finally, some scholars divided the factors affecting the integration of science and education into two categories: Background factors and resource factors. Background factors include teachers’ teaching and research ability, teachers’ personal professional development goals, external reward mechanisms, restrictions on teaching and research and the ethos of the department, etc. Resource factors include the investment of teaching and research time and participation in teaching and research activities. The main modes of interaction between teaching and scientific research in foreign research universities are as follows: Constructing investigative teaching system. Seminar class can broaden students’ academic horizon, stimulate their interest in research and have more time to communicate with teachers and classmates in an interactive and cooperative learning environment. Through the domestic and foreign research review, it is found that the current research on the integration of science and education has achieved some research results, which has laid a relatively solid research foundation for the related research. However, most of the existing research on the relationship between teaching and scientific research starts from the angle of contradiction and conflict between the two, and do not analyze the relationship and degree of integration between teaching and scientific research from the development trend of colleges and universities. At the same time, the existing research lacks systematic research from the perspective of policy analysis and lacks empirical research on “non-double-first-class” universities, which leaves enough space for this research to explore. How to analyze the current situation and existing problems of science and education integration according to the characteristics of “non-first-class” universities and the characteristics of teaching and scientific research in colleges and universities and provide countermeasures and suggestions for science and education integration of “non-first-class” universities (Chen, 2017; Li et al., 2012; Lu, 2016; Yan, 2016; Yu, 2021; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

5.1.5 Theoretical Tools of the Integration of Science and Education in Graduate Education Based on the policy instrument theory and the policy instrument theory of L.M. McDonnell and R.F. Elmore, this paper makes a statistical collation of the policy texts related to science and education integration at the national level from 1986 to 2020, especially those related to science and education integration in graduate education.

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This paper analyzes and evaluates the policy of science and education integration in higher education of our country at this stage so as to provide the basis for the innovative development of graduate education. The policy instrument classification theory proposed by L.M. McDonnell and R.F. Elmore is widely recognized at home and abroad. This theoretical framework is based on the relevance of policy objectives, alternatives, policy environment, and other factors. Policy tools can be divided into five types: Command policy tools, incentive policy tools, capacity building policy tools, authoritative regrouping policy tools, and exhortation policy tools. In this paper, the collected academic papers are extracted effectively, and the key sentences are analyzed. By classifying and organizing the contents of the literature, this paper summarizes the logic of the development of the idea of integrating science and education in graduate education, summarizes the practical problems existing in the policy of integrating science and education in graduate education, and puts forward feasible policy suggestions.

5.2 Relevant Policy Texts and Implementation Data of Science and Education Integration in Postgraduate Education of “Non-Double First-Class” Universities In this chapter, graduate education, education reform, education quality, etc., were selected as the key words. Through a comprehensive search of national policy data from 1949 to 2021, more than 30 relevant policy documents and leaders’ speeches were obtained. Through reading and sorting out each policy text, more than ten pieces of science and education integration related to this research are screened out. By summarizing the contents of policy literature, it can be found that the formulation of the term “integration of science and education” has undergone a relatively long process, which roughly goes through three stages: “Separation of science and education”, “integration of science and education”, and “integration of science and education”. “Separation of science and education” stage: Scientific research and teaching are independent of each other, and there is no interaction between them. In April 1963, the Ministry of Education issued the Interim Regulations on The Training of Postgraduate Students in Institutions of Higher Learning (Draft), which proposed that “institutions of higher learning should actively carry out scientific research to promote the improvement of teaching quality and academic level” and “teachers are the main force in carrying out scientific research in institutions of higher learning. Teachers should take an active part in scientific research on the premise of fulfilling their teaching tasks. For new teachers and old teachers who start new courses, they are mainly required to do their teaching work well and can participate in scientific research less or not”. College teachers give priority to teaching and completing teaching tasks is their main business. Teachers can choose to engage in scientific research. On March 17, 1992, the State Education Commission and the Academic Degrees Committee of The State Council formulated the Eighth Five-Year Plan for

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Graduate Education and Academic Degrees Work and The Key Points of the Ten-year Plan, proposing that “efforts should be made to build a number of key universities representing the national level throughout the country. To form an institution of higher learning with equal emphasis on undergraduate and graduate students, two centers of teaching and scientific research, and a graveyard for university teachers to further their studies”. On September 4, 2009, the office of the Ministry of Education issued “about further notice of the pilot reform of postgraduate cultivation mechanism, demanding” the cultivation of graduate students must strengthen the scientific research direction, promote work closely with graduate education and scientific research, ensure the graduate student in scientific research to learning, innovation in scientific research. We should carry out the principle of scientific research orientation into the whole process of graduate enrollment and training, improve enrollment methods, revise training programs, optimize curriculum system and improve teaching methods. In July 2010, the Outline of the National Plan for Medium- and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020) mentioned that higher education “should support students’ participation in scientific research, strengthen practical teaching, promote the interaction between research and teaching, and combine with the cultivation of innovative talents”. On March 16, 2012, the Ministry of Education issued the Several Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Improving the Quality of Higher Education in an All-round way, proposing to “promote the interaction between scientific research and teaching, transform scientific research achievements into teaching contents in a timely manner, and open key laboratories and research bases to students”. On March 29, 2013, the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance issued the Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Postgraduate Education. In the guiding ideology of the Opinions, “More emphasis should be given to the combination of science and education and industry and education”. According to the policy text of this stage, it has been recognized that the work of talent training must combine teaching and scientific research, realize the interaction between teaching and scientific research, and give full play to the promotion relationship between scientific research and teaching (Chen, 2017; Li et al., 2012; Lu, 2016; Yan, 2016; Yu, 2021; Zhu & Zhang, 2010). In October 2015, The State Council issued the Plan for Promoting the Construction of World-class Universities and Disciplines, emphasizing that “accelerating the reform of talent training mode, promoting the collaborative education of science and education, and improving the cultivation mechanism of top-notch innovative talents supported by high-level scientific research”. In March 2016, the law of the People’s Republic of China on the 13th five-year plan for national economic and social development outline of fusion is put forward to promote science and education development, promote the colleges and universities, vocational colleges and scientific research institutes to participate in national innovation system, support a number of high-level university and scientific research institutes to form interdisciplinary and comprehensive scientific research team. This is the first time that the term “integration of science and education” has been explicitly mentioned in an important state document. On January 17, 2017, the Ministry of Education and the Academic Degrees Committee of The State Council issued a notice on the 13th Five-Year

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Plan for the Development of Academic Degrees and Postgraduate Education, calling for the improvement of the integration of science and education and the integration of industry and education. To promote the integration of teaching and scientific research practice and establish a supervisor responsibility system and supervisor project funding system with science and engineering technology research as the leading role”. In September 2017, the Latest Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Education System and Mechanism issued by the CPC Central Committee and The State Council emphasized again that “further promoting collaborative education and promoting the institutionalization of collaborative training of talents”. We should deepen the reform of the scientific research system and insist on supporting highquality personnel training with high-level scientific research. On February 23, 2019, the General Offices of the CPC Central Committee and The State Council issued the Implementation Plan for Accelerating The Modernization of Education (2018–2022), proposing to “improve the mode of integrating science and education for postgraduate academic degrees and improve the level of postgraduate education”. On July 29, 2020, the National Graduate Education Conference was held. General Secretary Xi Jinping further emphasized the need to promote the integration of science and education and the integration of industry and education, focus on strengthening the practical and innovative ability of graduate students, and provide more solid talent support for building a modern socialist country. At this stage, the term “integration of science and education” was formally put forward as a whole, which was constantly deconstructed and reconstructed in practice and had rich connotations. The word is no longer a simple sum of “science”, “technology”, “scientific research”, “education”, and “teaching”, but has evolved into a complex concept with multiple connotations. On September 4, 2020, the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance issued by “about accelerating the development of the new age of graduate education reform opinions, put forward” will deepen science and education fusion, the fusion production and education as an important reference factor of degree authorization centers layout “perfect fusion of science education mechanism, strengthen academic degree graduate student knowledge innovation ability training”. At this stage, the relationship between teaching and scientific research changed from the combination of scientific research to the coordination of the two, and then to the realization of the integration of the two. The concept of the integration of science and education was formally written into the policy text, deeply rooted in the people, widely recognized by the academic community and other social circles and became an important measure to cultivate innovative talents.

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5.3 Challenges and Problems in the Integration of Science and Education in Postgraduate Education There are some differences between “non-double first-class” universities and “double first-class” universities in the specific training objectives, training methods, educational conditions, and so on, but they tend to be the same in training the innovative ability of postgraduates. “Non-double first-class” colleges and universities are deeply impacted by the traditional teaching mode, limited to the influence of educational philosophy, and running conditions and other factors, whether the existing postgraduate education mode can adapt to the requirements of the new era of postgraduate education has become an important issue of public concern. The integration of science and education has become the inevitable choice of “non-double first-class” university graduate education, but it is faced with various difficulties under realistic conditions.

5.3.1 The Conflict Between Traditional Concepts and Modern Concepts Leads to the Deviation in Understanding the Integration of Science and Education College teachers have some deviation in their understanding of the idea of science and education integration. In general, most teachers can correctly understand the concept of science and education integration from the connotation and value of “teaching” and “scientific research” in higher education. However, there are still some teachers who have not changed the traditional teaching and scientific research concepts, which believe that the boundaries between university teaching and scientific research are clear and deny the exploration and discovery of teaching in modern higher education, which cannot adapt to the development of modern universities and hinder the integration of teaching and scientific research. As for the compatibility between teaching and scientific research in colleges and universities, some teachers still regard teaching and scientific research as two completely different jobs, ignoring the educational attribute of scientific research and the academic and research nature of teaching. Although teachers hold positive attitudes toward the interaction between teaching and scientific research, some teachers deny the promotion of teaching to scientific research. As for the contradiction and conflict between teaching and scientific research, the understanding of the nature of both is not profound enough, ignoring the stage and development of the contradiction between teaching and scientific research, mistakenly thinking that the contradiction between teaching and scientific research is irreconcilable. Therefore, the correct understanding of the concept of integration of science and education will directly affect and even determine the promotion and implementation of the concept of integration of science and education (Chen, 2017; Li et al., 2012; Lu, 2016; Yan, 2016; Yu, 2021; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

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5.3.2 The Differences in Emphasis on Teaching and Scientific Research Lead to Difficulties in Dealing with the Contradiction Between Science and Education Integration In “non-double-first-class” colleges and universities, teachers are not only faced with great pressure of scientific research, but also faced with greater teaching tasks. The coordination between teaching and scientific research has become the main source of work pressure for college teachers. Due to the different situations and requirements of different schools, the workload and evaluation criteria of teaching and research work are often different, and there are great differences too. As for the coordination of the relationship between the two, there are great differences among schools. In schools with higher scientific research level, there is no great difficulty in coordinating the relationship between teaching and scientific research. On the contrary, in schools with low level of scientific research, it is more difficult to coordinate the relationship between teaching and research. Universities attach more importance to scientific research than to teaching, and scientific research achievements account for a larger proportion in professional title evaluation and post appointment. This is also one of the main reasons why teachers have difficulty in coordinating the contradictions between them. Compared with scientific research, schools should pay more attention to teaching in terms of policies and institutions, so as to facilitate the balance between teaching and scientific research and promote the effective integration of teaching and scientific research.

5.3.3 The Lack of National Policy Documents for the Integration of Science and Education Leads to an Unclear Path for the Integration of Science and Education The term “integration of science and education” has been frequently seen in national policy documents and has gradually been recognized and accepted by college teachers. Although the idea of science and education integration has been externally reflected in teachers’ daily work, the concrete path and mechanism of science and education integration are still not perfect. At present, the relationship between teaching and scientific research in colleges and universities has tended to be integrated, which can bring the thought of science and education integration into teachers’ teaching and scientific research work and integrate the thinking mode and innovative results of scientific research into teaching work, and actively change the traditional teaching mode to adapt to the development goal of higher education personnel training. On the other hand, the essence of teaching is properly integrated into scientific research work, which injects fresh blood and new inspiration into scientific

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research work. However, in terms of the specific fusion methods of science and education, college teachers in the work didn’t fusion path in science and education, lack of fusion on science and education policies and regulations of the state, the lack of standards and policy guidance, science and education in colleges and universities fusion from national level did not form a perfect system to promote the management system of science and education integration mechanism (Chen, 2017; Li et al., 2012; Lu, 2016; Yan, 2016; Yu, 2021; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

5.3.4 Defects in the School’s Internal Management System Lead to Obstacles in the Implementation of Science and Education Integration As is known to all, scientific research is one of the important functions of colleges and universities, and the knowledge production function of scientific research has been paid more and more attention. The evaluation of college teachers reflects the evaluation of their scientific research ability. For example the teacher recruitment, title evaluation, post appointment important work, such as degree of the attention and focus on teachers’ scientific research ability is generally more than teaching ability, it is easy to cause a deviation of the teachers in the work value orientation, investment in scientific research work and pay more than teaching work, thus affecting the quality of teaching. In the evaluation system of teachers’ work in colleges and universities, the quantitative system of teaching work and related achievements is not perfect, which is easy to cause unreasonable evaluation of teaching work. In the work incentive system, the lack of motivation factors from teachers themselves, especially the lack of incentive measures for the integration of science and education, leads to the lack of motivation and desire of teachers. Education evaluation is a baton. Measures and achievements of science and education integration are incorporated into important policy documents and evaluation criteria of schools, to drive the enthusiasm and initiative of teachers for science and education integration with rigid systems.

5.4 Suggestions on the Integration of Science and Education in Graduate Education In July 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping issued important instructions on graduate education, pointing out that graduate education plays an important role in cultivating innovative talents and improving innovation ability. Premier Li Keqiang made the remarks, pointing out that graduate education shoulders the important mission of

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cultivating high-level talents and making innovations, and is an important cornerstone of national development and social progress. “Non-double first-class” universities and “double first-class” universities have the same important social status in cultivating high-level innovative talents. Aiming at the problems existing in the integration of science and education in “non-double first-class” universities, this paper puts forward the following countermeasures and suggestions.

5.4.1 Establishing a Holistic Concept of Integrating Science and Education At present, the understanding of the integration of science and education in postgraduate education is not unified, which leads to many imbalanced, uncoordinated, and unsustainable problems in the introduction of school policies, school governance, education and teaching, scientific research management, and social services. For example, different groups in the school have different understandings of the integration of science and education. As a result, the integration of science and education cooperation goes bankrupt, the integration of science and education concept is difficult to be in-depth, and the integration of science and education is difficult to be implemented in graduate education. Therefore, it is necessary to create an integrated ecology of science and education in graduate education, to reflect the integrity, stability, and internal consistency of the integration of science and education in graduate education, to make the integration of science and education run through the whole process of graduate education, all aspects and all teachers and students, to build a good dialogue mechanism between science and education and promote the formation of consensus. So that graduate education and government standards, social needs, school requirements, teachers, and students expect coordinated development, to achieve a dynamic balance of graduate education development, graduate education collaborative governance ability has to be improved. Especially for the “non-double first-class” university graduate education, we should find the innovation breakthrough in the integration of science and education, cultivate the practice mode of characteristic education, and cultivate advanced innovative application-oriented talents. We should strive to create a strong campus culture atmosphere of science and education integration, regularly hold themed activities of science and education integration, and actively guide all teachers and students to understand the importance and necessity of science and education integration, so as to create a campus environment of science and education integration inside and outside the school (Chen, 2017; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

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5.4.2 Clarifying the Scientific and Reasonable Orientation of Running a School According to the main role of colleges and universities in the society, the degree of integration of blood and scientific research and the type of talent cultivation, the types of colleges and universities in China can be roughly divided into three categories, including research university, teaching and research university, and teaching university. This is not only the reflection of a university in different stages of development, but also the development result of its educational orientation. Due to the different objectives of the three universities, they also have some differences in the degree of science and education integration. The degree of science and education integration is the largest in research universities, followed by teaching and research universities, and the lowest in teaching universities. “Non-double first-class” universities belong to teaching and research universities and teaching universities, which are faced with great teaching tasks. How to combine teaching and scientific research is the key problem for “non-double first-class” colleges and universities to define the orientation of running a school. “Non-double first-class” universities should not emphasize the integration of science and education blindly, let alone the integration of science and education. Instead, they should clarify the relationship between teaching and scientific research at the present stage and formulate relevant measures for the integration of science and education according to the actual situation and the orientation of running schools. On the one hand, we should give full play to the advantages of available scientific research resources and actively serve personnel training. On the other hand, a good teaching environment should be provided to improve the level and quality of teaching, and teachers should be encouraged to carry out teaching research and produce high-level scientific research results, thus providing a strong guarantee for the integration of science and education.

5.4.3 Stimulating the Integration of Science and Education Through Institutional Reform “Non-double first-class” colleges and universities should give full play to the role of institutional traction and stimulate the greatest impetus for the integration of science and education through institutional reform and innovation. First, reform the system of teacher selection and employment. In the job requirements for the recruitment of teachers, the proportion of teaching and scientific research factors should be balanced, and the scientific research quality or teaching ability of candidates should not be overemphasized, otherwise the phenomenon of “attaching importance to scientific research over teaching” or “attaching importance to teaching over scientific research” will be encouraged. Schools should improve teachers’ recruitment index, formulate reasonable position, will be the candidate’s teaching ability and scientific research ability in the equally important position, permeate the ideas of science and education

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integration system, the recruitment of teachers from the teachers’ staff “entrance” strict control, to apply for personnel fusion ability of science and education in all aspects. Second, reform the teacher work appraisal system. A classified assessment system should be implemented for teachers and differentiated assessment standards should be implemented for teachers of different post types. For teachers of teaching posts, teaching work should be the main assessment index, scientific research work as the auxiliary assessment index; For teachers of scientific research posts, the work assessment should take the achievements of scientific research activities as the main assessment index, and teaching work as a supplement to the assessment standard. For teachers of teaching and scientific research, teaching and scientific research should play an equally important role in the assessment system. At the same time, teachers are encouraged to conduct teaching research, and the proportion of bonus points of teaching research in professional title evaluation and job appointment is increased.

5.4.4 Improve the System of Teaching, Research, and Education, and Realize the Synergy of Science and Education The integration of science and education is the synergy of teaching and scientific research in “non-double first-class” universities, and it is an important path to realize double subject education, which requires further expansion of teaching and scientific research and collaborative innovation. First, we should perfect the theoretical teaching system. Each major optimizes talent training programs according to different talent training objectives, lists students’ scientific research accomplishment, innovation ability, exploration spirit and scientific attitude as important training objectives, and incorporates them into talent training programs. Curriculum setting and teaching contents are improved, traditional teaching methods and methods are changed, and experimental teaching is emphasized. To construct a classroom teaching system with discussion type and heuristic method as the main teaching method. Secondly, the scientific research training system should be improved. “Non-double first-class” universities should take the cultivation of scientific research quality as the focus of graduate education, set up special research projects for graduate students, encourage graduate students to apply, and take certain scientific research achievements as an important condition for graduate students to graduate in time. To give full play to the leading role of postgraduate tutor in scientific research and absorb postgraduate students to participate in the research project of the tutor, the postgraduate students are required to participate in at least one research project presided over by the tutor. Finally, establish the interactive mechanism of teaching and research. An interactive platform for teaching and scientific research has been set up in an all-round way, and a series of professional titles of teaching and scientific research have been specially set up to pay attention to scientific research achievements of teaching. Teaching and

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research projects are set up every year, teaching and research achievements are evaluated, and effective integration of teaching and research is promoted through various measures (Chen, 2017; Li et al., 2012; Lu, 2016; Yan, 2016; Yu, 2021; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

References Chen, W. (2017). The influence of the current system of promotion and exemption on the source of graduate students and the development of disciplines in northwestern universities—Based on the data of a province in northwest China. Graduate Education Research, 20(5), 60–77. Li, M., Li, H., & Xue, J. (2012). Integration of UNESCO: The only way to comprehensively improve the quality of higher education—Interview with Professor Zhao Qinping. Science and Technology of China Universities, 20(11), 12–19. Lu, W. (2016). Policy tool selection bias and its influence in China’s current preschool education: Based on the analysis of major policy texts since the outline of National Education Reform and Development Plan for long and medium term (2010–2020). Education Science, 20(1), 77–81. Yan, Z. (2016). Study on source quality, enrollment mechanism and guarantee system of full-time master’s degree students in physical education institutions—Based on data analysis of Beijing Sport University from 2010 to 2014. Journal of Beijing Sport University, 20(6), 33–44. Yu, W. (2021). Implementation approach of science and education integration training based on improving graduate students’ scientific research and innovation ability. College Education, 20(3), 25–28. Zhu, Y., & Zhang, Z. (2010). Tian Shuai: The influence of regional economic factors and population factors on the expansion of postgraduate education: An empirical study of Guangdong Province. Research on Higher Engineering Education, 20(4), 44–49.

Chapter 6

Policy Analysis of the Integration of Industry and Education in Graduate Education

This chapter examines the policy analysis of the integration of industry and education in graduate education. Through extensive literature search, there are various titles related to school–enterprise cooperative education in literature, such as “industry– university–research cooperative education”, “school–enterprise cooperative education”, “industry–university cooperative education”, “industry–university–research combined education”, “industry–education integration education”, and so on. After searching and comparing the database of master’s and doctor’s dissertations in China, in the academic circle, “industry–university cooperative education” and “school– enterprise cooperative education” are mostly used in the research of vocational education, and “industry–university–research cooperative education” is mostly used in the research of higher education, that is, the integration of industry and education gradually appears.

6.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools of the Integration of Industry and Education in Graduate Education 6.1.1 Motivation and Essence of Industry–University–Research Cooperation Universities and enterprises can carry out industry–university–research cooperation in many aspects, but the main interests of both sides are to train talents and develop science and technology. The development of enterprises is inseparable from highquality talents and advanced science and technology, which is the resource advantage of universities. The cooperation between the two sides in science and technology not only enables the university to directly serve the enterprises, but also enables the © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li and E. Xue, Graduate Education Governance in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2049-3_6

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university to obtain the enterprise’s support for personnel training and other aspects. The connotation of industry–university–research cooperation between universities and enterprises is very rich, which includes both cooperative education and scientific research cooperation. The process of industry–university–research cooperation between universities and enterprises is firstly an academic process of industrial activities, and secondly an industrial process of academic activities. As an industrial activity, it has a common character with other industrial activities, but it also has its own character, which lies in the fundamental nature of this industrial activity is innovation. Scientific research and technological development are the academic foundation and premise of industry–university–research cooperation, which promotes technology and leads to innovation. He proposed to understand the nature of industry– university–research cooperation from three levels: First, it is an academic industrial activity as well as an industrial academic activity, which is the unification of academic and industrial nature; Second, it is the unification of scientific research, technological development, production trial production, and marketing. Third, innovation is the core of the network system composed of enterprises, institutions of higher learning, research institutions, governments, and intermediary agencies, the need for active interaction between actors in this system. The author agrees with this statement, but also thinks that the industry–university–research cooperation has a strong educational function, so the industry–university–research cooperation has the characteristics of industry, academia, and education in essence. The innovation motivations of cooperation between universities and enterprises are as follows: First, to improve new efficiency, that is, to increase the value generated by new and high technology and intellectual property rights; Second, the expansion of resource use, that is, the transfer of technology through joint production, joint venture and other forms; Third, reasonable allocation of resources and cooperative innovation between universities and enterprises are conducive to overcoming the unfavorable factors in technology trading (such as information asymmetry and high transaction cost). The industry–university–research cooperation education is the objective need of the interactive development of science and education. First, it is the need of realizing higher education to serve socialist economic construction and science and technology to face the main battlefield of national economic construction. Second, it is not only conducive to improving the quality of talent training, expanding the field of scientific research, and promoting the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into productive forces as soon as possible, but also conducive to the construction of disciplines, according to the social needs and development trend to adjust the disciplines and majors, and promote the reform of the school; Third, it is one of the ways for schools to overcome the difficulties of running schools. Fourth, it is the inevitable trend of the development of higher engineering education. The government in different stages of the process of production, joint training base construction should play different roles: (1) In the preparation stage, the “base” construction in play “chief host”, “rules”, “judge” role, the government should also develop the function of “lay navigators”; (2) In the construction and development stage of “base”, the government should play the role of “coordinator” and “facilitator”; and (3) In the continuous construction and improvement stage of “base” construction,

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the government should play the “coordination” and “supervision” functions as an active bystander, coordinate various interest conflicts and conflicts between the two parties, and supervise the development direction and quality of the whole training base. The above scholars’ dynamic analysis of industry–university–research cooperation is relatively comprehensive. Both companies and universities were considered, as well as the requirements of the external environment on companies and universities. However, these analyses focus on macroscopical aspects and lack microscopical and mesoscopic analysis.

6.1.2 Operation and Realization of Industry–University–Research Cooperative Education A good operating mechanism is an effective guarantee for the combination of industry–university–research. We summarized it as “three sources and four mechanisms”, the so-called three sources: (1) Subject source—universities are the central subject of the combination of industry–university–research, enterprises and research institutes are the structural subject of the combination of industry–university– research, and the government is the coordinating and guiding subject in the combination of industry–university–research; (2) Power source; and (3) Institutional sources. The so-called four mechanisms: Decision-making and management mechanism, guarantee and incentive mechanism, adjustment and restraint mechanism, operation, and development mechanism. It is concluded that the operation mechanism of the combination of industry, university, and research is the result of the interaction between the internal and external relations of the combination of industry, university, and research. Education is the center, and the combination of education and social market is the cultivation of talents. Joint scientific research is the key. It is the internal power of the combination of industry, university, and research; Social service is a two-way requirement between university and society. In terms of educational objectives, industry–university–research cooperative education aims to improve students’ overall quality and comprehensive ability and promote students’ acquisition and application of knowledge. As far as basic principles are concerned, it emphasizes the combination of production, education, and research and the group interaction between teachers and students. In terms of approaches and methods, it combines study with work-study, and takes project research and practical post as the combined point. In form, enterprises participate in the training process of talents, and schools should effectively track the trend of college students’ practical education under the enterprise environment to ensure the training direction and quality of education. In terms of colleges and universities, we can carry out multi-directional cooperation with enterprises according to the needs of talents and science and technology in the market competition. By deepening the reform of education and teaching on campus, we can establish an education and teaching system that meets the requirements of the

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integration of production, learning, and research. Establish effective teaching evaluation system and teaching feedback system. Industry–university–research cooperative education can greatly improve the quality of talent training, improve students’ ability to analyze and solve problems and the team spirit of collective cooperation; To promote teaching reform and the improvement of teachers’ professional level; To achieve mutual benefit between schools and enterprises. He also pointed out that it is necessary to break the traditional curriculum structure and reform the teaching content and teaching methods to promote industry–university–research cooperation education. There are two main ways and forms for enterprises to invest in higher education: (1) All the capital needed to build teaching and living facilities is invested by large enterprises. (2) The form of running a school jointly invested and operated by many joint ventures and sharing profits and risks according to the proportion of capital contribution. And (3) Jointly organized by both parties. Or use another classification method: (1) Give financial equipment and other material aid to the school; (2) Cooperate with the school in teaching and curriculum development to form a consortium of teaching, scientific research, and production. And (3) The enterprise runs schools independently or jointly. The modes of industry–university– research cooperative education mainly include the following: (1) “Sandwich” mode and “alternate” mode. (2) Continuing engineering education model. (3) Engineering research center model. (4) Enterprise postdoctoral workstation mode. (5) The mode of industry–university–research combination on campus. And (6) University science park model. The forms of industry–university–research cooperative education are as follows: (1) The alternate form of work and study; (2) The “311” form of preallocation; (3) Combination form in middle and late period; and (4) Combine the form of the actual task. There are five modes for university–enterprise cooperation to cultivate talents: (1) “Sandwich” mode and “alternate” mode; (2) Dual tutor and dual base training mode; (3) Enterprise-centered school–enterprise cooperation model; (4) School–enterprise cooperation internship base model; and (5) Continuing engineering education model. The foreign cooperative education management types: (1) Centralized management type; (2) decentralized management type; (3) combination of centralized and decentralized type; (4) mandatory type; (5) selective type; (6) with credit type; and (7) without credit type. Chen liberation of east China normal university with the methodology of dialectical materialism and historical materialism as the basis, the social cause of cooperative education, practice, and philosophy principle were analyzed, and the use of historical data and participate in the international exchange of information, the latest development of cooperative education since the beginning of the twentieth century in the United States more than one hundred years after the birth. In particular, this paper analyzes and studies the development and evolution of cooperative education in the past 50 years, from which it seeks and discovers the connotation, characteristics, and development logic of cooperative education. On this basis, combined with the national conditions of our country, the necessity and feasibility of the development of cooperative education in our country are discussed, the problems and constraints existing in the practice and exploration of cooperative education in our country are analyzed, and the countermeasures and measures for further development under the new situation of continuous improvement

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of market economy in our country are put forward. The above research has played an important role in promoting industry–university–research cooperation education, which is worthy of our learning and reference. However, they focus on undergraduate education, junior college education, and secondary vocational education, and lack of research on how to carry out postgraduate training in industry–university–research cooperation. Based on the above research results, this study will study the postgraduate training mode of the combination of industry, education, and research, and to some extent will also make up for the shortcomings of the above research. In terms of the mode of cooperative education, but they all grasp the core of talent cultivation. As the focus of this study is on the graduate student training mode of university– enterprise combination, the author agrees with the classification of lithology more, because his classification relatively considers the training of high-level talents (Bao & Li, 2020; Chen, 2017; He & Gao, 2020; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Wang, 2021; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yan, 2016; Yao & Qiu, 2020; Ying & Ye, 2020; Yu, 2018; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

6.1.3 Dewey’s Theory of Learning by Doing John Dewey, a famous American educator and philosopher, regards the process of teaching as a “doing process”. In his opinion, people’s interest, and impulse to “do” are all human-centered. The source of people’s knowledge experience is basically based on the summary of subject and object experience. Based on this, he stressed that schools should be set up as a place similar to the embryonic society in the process of education, that is, set up all kinds of factories, laboratories, farms, kitchens, etc., so that students can learn the majors and courses they are interested in the “small society” environment of a school. Therefore, he also proposed that the teaching method of practical production scenes should be arranged and created in the teaching process, that is, in the scene teaching, students’ creative thinking should be stimulated, and problems encountered in the scene activities should be solved by starting from the scene activities according to the data strategy. This is the teaching theory of “learning by doing” proposed by Dewey. Based on “education is life”, “education is growth”, and “education is the transformation of experience”, John Dewey, the modern American educator, discussed the relationship between knowledge and action and put forward the world-famous theory of “learning by doing”. Its theoretical essence is to strengthen the cultivation of students’ practical operation ability, cultivate students’ ability to explore and solve problems, and cultivate students’ ability to engage in and adapt to practical work, which is also a kind of theory and an established training goal needed by China’s higher vocational education. But in the fusion of local undergraduate college education training practice in the study of human resources, the depth of the fusion education needs the industry and the real docking teaching and emphasized the “do” and “learning” the importance of combining engineering-type local colleges and universities on the cultivation of the practice of human resources to put the theory and the actual docking, strengthening

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practice, strengthen the student beginning ability. Dewey’s “learning from doing” theory carries out learning from doing and learning from experience, requiring active and experiential active homework to replace the dominant position of traditional textbook. His theory of “learning by doing” is applied to China’s education, which will have far-reaching guiding significance for China’s education management concept, teacher–student relationship, teaching methods, teaching evaluation methods, and so on.

6.1.4 Tao Xingzhi’s Theory of Integration of Teaching and Doing Mr. Tao Xingzhi, a famous modern educator and thinker in China, has the experience of studying in the United States. He studied under the most influential educationists in the United States, such as John Dewey and John Colbert. Mr. Tao Xingzhi put forward three education theories, namely “life is education”, “society is school”, and “teaching and doing integrated”. “Life is education” is a top priority. In Tao Xingzhi’s opinion, if education is separated from life, then education is dead, and school education without life as its center is a kind of dead education. His life education theory played a very important role in the anti-tradition and anti-old education in Chinese society at that time. His theory of “integration of teaching and doing” deeply criticized the shortcomings of education in the old society, and at the same time gave the corresponding concrete solutions and ways to solve the problems. The reform and practice of this teaching concept had a very good effect on the society at that time. At the same time, he stressed that teaching should be combined with the actual way of life, which requires teachers to apply new teaching methods and teach according to the methods of learning. Teaching and learning should be centered on doing so that students can acquire comprehensive knowledge and abilities. Tao Xingzhi’s theoretical basis is also applicable to the mode of integrating production and education to train students oriented by market demand. “Life is education” clearly embodies the concept of synchronizing knowledge structure with market and social development in five words.

6.1.5 Forster’s Theory of Industry–School Cooperation Forster, a famous British scholar and educator, has a very important representative value in modern industry–university cooperation, and his idea of industry–university cooperation is very strategic for the development of education. Forster believes that many current vocational education plans are difficult to achieve because trainees lack the necessary basic theoretical knowledge and basic skills knowledge. Based on this, Forster believes that in the process of industry–university cooperation, we should

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start from the course professionalization design, take the theoretical basis as the entry point, and finally build an employment platform. At the same time, the training of middle and low-level talents in vocational colleges should pay attention to the way of “industry-learning integration”. Based on this, schools should carry out training and reform in the process of various vocational training programs from the following aspects: First, to control the scale of the development of local engineering colleges, on the basis of expanding students’ ability, to combine with the reality of social and economic development. Second, we should reform the curriculum content of local engineering colleges and set up more “sandwich” courses that alternate between work and study. Third, the proportion of students in local engineering colleges should be controlled well, and if possible, the in-service personnel should become one of the main sources of students in local engineering colleges. Forster’s theory of industry– school cooperation has a good reference for the education of developing countries including China. Forster is one of the most influential scholars in the field of vocational education theory. He graduated from the School of Economics, University of London, and served as professor of Education and sociology and director of the Center for Comparative Education at the University of Chicago. Professor and Dean of Education, Macquarie University, Australia; Professor of Education and Sociology, State University of New York, USA. Forster is best known for his essay “The Fallacy of Vocational Schools in Development Planning”. Published in 1965, this paper contains many important ideas about the development of vocational education. Many views of Foster’s vocational education thought have been used for reference by the World Bank and become an important part of policy documents guiding the development of vocational education in various countries today. Especially foster said “for modification of vocational schools, the school road of combining production”, but also a kind of advanced strategic positioning, because the vocational education is different from the research of higher education, it does not need too much advanced theory, but more focused on imparting knowledge, practice skills focus on research, hands-on focus on theoretical thinking. Therefore, it is an eternal theme to pay attention to “industry–school cooperation” and strengthen the cultivation of students’ practical ability in vocational schools, which is also a mainstream understanding of vocational education in the world at present. Forster’s theory of vocational education was mainly based on the practice of vocational education development in several developing countries in Africa at that time, which inevitably had its limitations. The core of its limitations is that it almost completely denies vocational education in the form of school. Forster’s negative attitude toward school-based vocational education is obviously not in line with the reality of our country, and there is no doubt about it. As a basic form of education in China, school-based vocational education has been stipulated by the form of vocational education Law. Vocational schools are still the main body of running vocational education in China. School form vocational education has its irreplaceable advantages. In addition to the scale advantage of talent training, the key is that it is incomparable to other forms of vocational education in cultivating students’ cultural foundation and humanistic quality. Even in developed countries, the school form of vocational education is still the mainstream of vocational education today. Although the vocational education in the form of school

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has its limitations and some defects, it can be made up by reforming the form of running school, curriculum system, and teaching methods. Moreover, in a pluralistic society, people in different countries and different regions of the same country have various demands for vocational education, so diversified forms of vocational education should be advocated (Bao & Li, 2020; He & Gao, 2020; Wang, 2021; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yao & Qiu, 2020).

6.2 Policy Text and Policy Implementation Data of the Integration of Industry and Education in Graduate Education In terms of structure, quality, and level, the supply side and the industrial demand side of personnel training cannot fully adapt to each other, and the “two skin” problem still exists. The report of the 19th CPC National Congress pointed out that “deepening the integration of industry and education, school-enterprise cooperation”. Several Opinions on Deepening the Integration of Industry and Education issued by The General Office of the State Council on deepening the integration of industry and education and promoting the organic connection between the education chain, talent chain, industrial chain, and innovation chain are urgent requirements for promoting the supplyside structural reform of human resources. It is of great significance to comprehensively improve the quality of education, expand employment and entrepreneurship, promote economic transformation and upgrading, and foster new drivers of economic development under new circumstances. We will support and guide enterprises to get deeply involved in the education and teaching reform of vocational schools and institutions of higher learning, and participate in major planning, textbook development, teaching design, curriculum setting, and practice and training of schools in a variety of ways, to integrate the needs of enterprises into personnel training. Implement taskoriented training mode for enterprise real production environment. In principle, the newly established majors of vocational schools should involve relevant enterprises. Enterprises are encouraged to set up industrial colleges, studios, laboratories, innovation bases, and practice bases relying on or in conjunction with vocational schools and institutions of higher learning. We will improve the classified training system for academic and applied personnel in higher education and increase the proportion of applied personnel trained. We will encourage high-quality universities to strengthen the training of innovative and entrepreneurial talents and provide diversified growth paths for students. We will deepen the integration of industry and education, closely integrate the development of first-class universities and disciplines with the promotion of economic and social development and strive to increase the contribution of universities to industrial transformation and upgrading. We will support world-class universities and institutions of higher learning in developing world-class disciplines to strengthen interaction between disciplines, talents, research, and industry, and promote collaborative education, collaborative innovation, and commercialization of

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achievements. We will vigorously support the development of application-oriented universities and colleges with industry-specific features, strengthen practical teaching and improve the training system for application-oriented talents based on the needs of industries. Promote the reform of the training mode of combining professional degree research with production and enhance the ability of cultivating compound talents. We will carry out trials to develop high-quality application-oriented universities, and strengthen the development of practical training environments, platforms, and carriers for integrating industry and education. We will support regular undergraduate universities in the central and western regions to meet the needs of industry, focusing on strengthening practical teaching. The training goal of professional degree postgraduates is to cultivate high-level application-oriented professionals who can undertake professional technical or management work and have good professional quality. They are required to master solid basic theories and broad professional knowledge and have strong ability to solve practical problems. This goal highlights its characteristics and heterogeneity, which is the premise and purpose of industry-education integration. This goal also highlights the necessity of the integration strategy of industry and education for professional degree postgraduate training. Fusion education is an important way to cultivate specialized degree graduate student. Our plan began to form during the period of “much starker choices-and graver consequences-in” basic able to research, the combination of production and education of postgraduate training pattern, in December 2017, The General Office of the State Council on deepening the integration of production and education several opinions but also the fusion education to cultivate talents as a strategic system arrangement. The integration of industry and education accords with the development logic of graduate education for professional degrees and meets the requirements of education essence and all-round development of human beings. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the quality of personnel training, the improvement of educational structure and the development of economy and society through the integration of industry and education. However, the industry–education integration system of professional postgraduate education in China needs to be improved, the management mechanism is not smooth enough, and the education chain is not well connected with the talent chain and the industrial chain (Bao & Li, 2020; He & Gao, 2020; Wang, 2021; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yao & Qiu, 2020; Yu, 2018).

6.3 Challenges of the Integration of Industry and Education in Graduate Education At present, the professional degree education is constantly reformed, the enrollment scale of professional master’s graduate students is constantly expanding, and it is more and more recognized by the society. At the same time, the training units continue to explore and improve the professional master training system according to their own characteristics, and certain results have been achieved. However, colleges and

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universities and related research units cannot bear the expansion speed of professional master blowout, the current professional master training mainly has the defects of unclear training objectives, single training content, unclear training characteristics, boring training form, and so on.

6.3.1 The Government Intervenes a Lot in Schools Looked from the present situation of the education quality assurance, although in addition to the government, colleges, and universities, market and social forces have gradually involved in the quality assurance, but the central government is always holding the absolute influence of quality assurance, the quality assurance too tilted to the central government level, the center of gravity of the other security subject to play BaoZhangLi is not big, also lack enough enthusiasm. China’s management is mainly top-down government administrative management system, has not established the training units to actively adapt to social needs, close cooperation with enterprises, mutual promotion, mutual benefit of professional postgraduate education development mechanism. The sources of funds in colleges and universities are relatively single. The government appropriates an absolute majority of the funds for running schools. In the process of university teachers’ employment, the government controls the planned index. The main reason for this is that the government occupies the dominant position in the evaluation work and the administrative department has too much power. The state education administrative intervention is too much, greatly fettering the independent development of schools, also causes the serious disorder of the internal structure of schools, seriously affects the efficiency and level of schools.

6.3.2 The Main Body of Quality Evaluation Is Single China is a centralized country, professional postgraduate education is the cause of the state, and the government directly manages and adjusts the professional postgraduate education activities. As an important part of higher education management, the educational quality assurance of professional master’s students must be directly led by the government. Therefore, the government is not only the organizer, but also the manager, as well as the quality control and evaluation. The most prominent characteristic of administrative education evaluation is that the educational administrative department is the only evaluation subject, and other aspects of the society seldom participate in the evaluation process substantively. The idea of high centralization formed the unified management of education by the state. This idea not only hinders the transformation of the functions of the educational administrative departments, but also hinders the formation of the multi-evaluation subjects.

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6.3.3 Lack of Quality Awareness Quality is the eternal theme of professional postgraduate education and the “life” and “soul” of professional postgraduate education. The guiding ideology of running schools in some professional postgraduate education institutions is not correct enough. The pursuit of quantity is more important than quality, and the pursuit of economic benefits is more important than social benefits. The continuous expansion of school scale but lack of corresponding investment mechanism to support, thus affecting the improvement of education quality, and even lead to a serious decline in education quality. Some professional postgraduate education institutions do not pay enough attention to scientific research work, lack of awareness, and atmosphere of scientific research in practical work and are only satisfied with the completion of specific tasks, ignoring the theoretical discussion and practical research of education quality assurance.

6.3.4 The Quality Management System Is Not Perfect Scientific and standardized management is an important guarantee to improve the quality of professional postgraduate education. However, in terms of the current status of quality management of professional postgraduate education, there are still some outstanding problems, mainly reflected in three aspects: From the perspective of management system, we still lack standardized and scientific quality management system to adapt to the development of professional postgraduate education; In terms of management practice, there is a big gap between higher education and general education, and the management efficiency needs to be improved. From the perspective of the management team, due to the continuous expansion of professional postgraduate education scale, the management work is heavy, the management personnel cannot update their own ideas in time, lack of management art and management innovation ability, management level still needs to be improved. In recent years, the professional graduate education in our country develops very fast, and the master of professional training institutions and a stark contrast to the rapid growth of the enrollment, the quality problem of the professional education of postgraduate teaching more and more prominent, especially the individual training units in their training objectives, curriculum setting, the understanding of the development direction and so on a series of problems to be improved, The quality of education and teaching cannot be effectively guaranteed. Whether we can properly deal with the relationship between current and long-term, partial and whole, quantity and quality, efficiency and benefit in the development of professional postgraduate education is worth further study.

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6.3.5 School–Enterprise Cooperation Lacks Proper Measures to Guarantee It Professional postgraduate education adopts the mode of school–enterprise cooperation and participation. The enrollment, teaching, engineering practice, and thesis of professional postgraduate education are all completed under the close cooperation between schools and enterprises. Many enterprises have not recognized the importance of their role in professional postgraduate training, which is an important reason for the lack of enthusiasm for participation. In addition, the personnel changes of students are very frequent, and some students even leave their units after obtaining degrees, which is another reason why enterprises are not willing to invest more in the training of professional master’s students. School–enterprise joint training should be the main feature of professional postgraduate education. However, the understanding of enterprises in the training process is still limited to the level of working time arrangement, and few opinions are expressed in the training links such as the height of talent training, curriculum setting, teachers, and student evaluation (Wang & Qiao, 2017).

6.3.6 The Structure of Postgraduate Education Is Not Reasonable Enough and the Degree of Integration with the Market Is Not High From the perspective of professional degree structure, professional degrees in the United States, The United Kingdom and France cover the widest range of disciplines, which are closely related to industry demand, mostly concentrated in law, education, medicine, engineering technology, business administration, and other fields with strong application, with reasonable structure. From the perspective of the scale of professional degrees, although there is a big difference in the statistics of different countries, the proportion of the number of professional degrees awarded by the United States, Britain, and France is far higher than that of academic degrees, and the trend is steadily rising. In Germany, Japan, and South Korea, the number of professional degrees awarded is lower than that of academic degrees, but the trend is still on the rise. At present, the coverage and scale of China’s universities authorized by professional degrees are still too small, the structure proportion is not reasonable, and the specialized categories are concentrated. It is difficult to meet the diversified needs of economic and social development for applied talents, especially the needs of China’s industrial structure upgrading and adjustment. Although professional postgraduate degrees account for more than 30% of postgraduate education in China, it is still far from 60 to 70% in developed countries (the proportion of professional degrees in the United States even reaches 85%). China’s graduate professional degrees are mostly concentrated in Master of Business Administration, Master of Engineering, Master of Public Administration, etc., resulting in the structural imbalance of “talent surplus” in these disciplines and “talent shortage” in other disciplines.

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6.4 Suggestions on the Integration of Industry and Education in Graduate Education The mode of graduate education integrated by industry and education is a new educational mode and a systematic project. Combining with the problems existing in the process of the integration of production and education, this paper tries to put forward some countermeasures and suggestions to promote the further development of the integration of production and education and improve the quality of graduate education.

6.4.1 Strengthen the Understanding of Schools and Enterprises on the Importance of Integrating Education with Industry In today’s knowledge-based economy society, talent is the future of the motherland, but also the future of enterprises and institutions. The competition of national strength is the competition of economy and science and technology, and the competition of economy and science and technology is the competition of talents in the final analysis. Cultivating excellent talents is not only the responsibility of colleges and universities, but also the responsibility of the whole society. First, enterprises should fully understand their responsibilities and obligations in the process of integrating education with industry. If an enterprise wants to achieve its goal of efficiency improvement, cost reduction and product market share, it must have a high-quality staff team. To participate in the guidance and management of practical teaching links, especially the cultivation and training of application-oriented talents, it is more necessary to make extensive use of the strength and conditions of production departments, so that the graduates trained have stronger adaptability. Secondly, it is necessary to improve the understanding of the importance of industry-education integration in all-round quality education. It is necessary to fully realize that under the background of the popularization of higher education in our country, postgraduates are no longer the so-called rare “scarce resources”, postgraduates are no longer the symbol of identity, and their training standards must meet the diverse social needs. Therefore, colleges and universities should constantly reform the training mode of postgraduates. The integration of industry and education for graduate students is to fully absorb the rich industrial resources outside the school, especially the advantages of enterprises, to upgrade the technical problems encountered in the production practice of enterprises to scientific problems with common characteristics, and to provide more opportunities for graduate students to participate in practical scientific research training. Full use of advanced production equipment to improve the research conditions of graduate students must be made; The engineering and technical personnel and management personnel with rich experience in production practice and management are employed as part-time graduate tutors of the university, so as to improve the structure of the

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tutor team, expand the number of the tutor team, strengthen the construction of the graduate tutor team, and guarantee the training quality of graduate students. Finally, efforts should be made to improve students’ understanding of industry-teaching integration education. At present, we do not pay enough attention and research on how to improve students’ understanding and give play to students’ enthusiasm. Students are the participants of industry-teaching integration education and giving play to students’ enthusiasm is one of the keys to do a good job in industry-teaching integration education. In this aspect, we have not paid enough attention to and studied it in the past, which is related to the guidance of traditional education ideology, and the two-way choice of current graduates, to some extent, affects the enthusiasm of students to participate in industry-education integration education. Especially in the global financial crisis, all walks of life in the society cannot withstand its impact, have been laid off to reduce the burden, even production and production, the job provided by the society has decreased significantly, the employment of college graduates has become a universal concern of the country and even the society. If we want to solve the employment problem of college graduates, we must start from the source, from the quality of postgraduate training. The mode of graduate student training integrating production and education is to explore a new mode of graduate student training. The power source of the students, therefore, we cannot ignore the fundamental, students participate in the fusion of the basic dynamic of education production and education from three aspects: First, students can use the advanced production equipment and scientific research conditions, surrounding the bottleneck in the process of enterprise production technical problems, mentor in the enterprise and school teachers under the guidance of scientific research, combining the theoretical knowledge with the production practice of enterprises is helpful to improve their ability to find and solve problems. Second, students can go deep into the enterprise and investigate the actual production process of the enterprise, which is helpful for them to understand the possible working environment in the future earlier, contact with the society as soon as possible, and prepare for the formal work. Third, by applying for the graduate education innovation project, we can win funding from the government, schools, enterprises, and society. Therefore, we should strive to improve students’ understanding, so that they can not only enthusiastically and consciously participate in the industry-education integration education, but also have clear goals in the cooperative education and achieve the expected results (Bao & Li, 2020; Chen, 2017; He & Gao, 2020; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Wang, 2021; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yan, 2016; Yao & Qiu, 2020; Ying & Ye, 2020; Yu, 2018; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

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6.4.2 The University Should Strengthen Its Own Construction and Improve Its Attraction to Enterprises in the Process of Integrating Education with Industry The economic and social situation is the ecological environment for the survival and development of education, and the development of universities must be adapted to the “ecological environment” of economic development and must absorb nutrients from the ecological environment of economic development and obtain the power of development. Therefore, colleges and universities should take the initiative to adapt to social and economic needs, and colleges and universities must rely on their own advantages and characteristics to provide effective services for social and economic construction, which is the important basis and premise of fruitful cooperation education between colleges and universities and enterprises in the new era. Therefore, colleges should attach importance to strengthen their own discipline construction, integration of subject resource advantage, strengthen the teacher’s troop construction, to optimize our discipline team, concise subject research direction, focus on the effective demand for local economic construction, seeking a new growing point of scientific research, and constantly improve our scientific research ability, enhance the leading role in regional economic construction of Shanxi university, give full play to the main role in regional economic construction. Shanxi University, as the only comprehensive university co-built by the province and the ministry, has a clear orientation of running a school—to build a research-oriented university with local exemplary function. This position is to promote our better quality, higher level, stronger connotation, with new achievements to win a new position, to make new contributions to the overall level of China’s higher education. It is a strategic task for the development of Shanxi University to integrate production and education to train graduate students, take the opportunity of serving enterprises and society, make full use of the educational resources of schools and enterprises, cultivate innovative talents with strong practical ability, and realize its own development while adapting to the external environment of the university. In order to enhance the radiating role of Shanxi University in the regional economic construction of Shanxi Province, Shanxi University should enhance its social influence and attract more enterprises to participate in the process of the integration of industry and education in the training of graduate students from the aspects of promoting the construction of professional disciplines, strengthening personnel training and scientific research, and speeding up the construction of teaching staff.

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6.4.3 Explore the Operation Mode Which Is Beneficial to the Integration of Production and Education The mode is different from the traditional mode and the vocational talents. The mode of integrating production and education for graduate students makes full use of the two different educational environments of schools and enterprises, gives full play to the advantages of theoretical resources of schools, scientific research personnel resources and market advantages of enterprises absorbing scientific and technological achievements, and is a beneficial supplement to the traditional training mode of graduate students. Its operation mode mainly includes two aspects: Combination mode and teaching mode. Combination mode School and enterprise are the subjects of two different fields, and the good combination of the two is the premise of the integration of industry and education to train graduate students. In view of the current situation that enterprises are not enthusiastic about participating in cooperative education, the combination of universities and enterprises can adopt the following three modes: (a) The enterprises provide the technical problems encountered in production to the schools, and the schools improve them, boil them down to scientific problems, reach cooperation intention with the enterprises, and form research groups to tackle the problems; (b) In line with the principle of “service first, cooperation last”, university teachers lead research groups to carry out consulting and service work in enterprises, win recognition from enterprises in the process of serving enterprises, and reach cooperation intention; and (c) University teachers and enterprise engineering and technical personnel jointly apply for national major projects and jointly tackle key problems. The teaching mode combining theoretical study and practical learning is a significant characteristic of fusion postgraduate education, students by taking practical learning this process, through the judgment, understanding of the meaning construction of theoretical knowledge, thus to explore the combination of theoretical study and practical study way is particularly important. (a) “1 + 1.5 + 0.5” mode: In the first academic year, graduate students complete the study of basic theoretical knowledge in school; In the third semester, submitted by the students to participate in the fusion of culture education application, with the enterprise through the student, the school meet tutor, two-way choice school teacher and mentor, for sure, and then into the enterprise investigation research production practice, familiar with enterprise production process, and then in the school teacher under the guidance and mentor, determine the research topic, and sign the related responsibility. In the fourth semester and the fifth semester, students will go into the enterprise to practice their posts under the guidance of the tutor and conduct research and dissertation writing. In the sixth semester, students will return to school and select relevant theoretical courses according to their experience during the internship in the enterprise, so as to further improve their theoretical literacy. And (b) “Three semester, a year workstudy alternate” type: Most of the graduate students during the summer vacation will be involved in certain social practice, in order to change the social practice did not appear to be related to their research topic, can begin the summer vacation and the first five weeks of the year the beginning of the term consolidation, as the work

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term, students will be arranged to go to related enterprise practical learning under the guidance of enterprise mentors (Bao & Li, 2020; He & Gao, 2020; Wang, 2021; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yao & Qiu, 2020).

6.4.4 Strengthen Curriculum Construction, Reform and Perfect Curriculum System Curriculum structure is the way in which all elements in curriculum relate and interact with each other. Curriculum function is the efficacy and effect of a specific structure of curriculum in the process of interaction and interaction with the external environment. The contradictory movement between curriculum structure and curriculum function is the main driving force for the development of curriculum movement, curriculum function affects curriculum structure, and the change of curriculum function is the direct basis for the change of curriculum structure. Curriculum function can be sensitive to reflect the influence of various external conditions, and constantly change with the change of various external conditions, which mainly refers to social development, the growth of knowledge and the growth of students. The change of curriculum function inevitably leads to the change of curriculum structure, and the change of curriculum structure can better promote the development of curriculum function. The development of curriculum should meet the comprehensive requirements of social development, knowledge growth, and student growth, which is the fundamental law of curriculum development ➀. The university attaches great importance to improving the participation and satisfaction of enterprises and students in the course construction. Closely related to social and economic development, highlighting The Times and pioneering nature of curriculum construction; Incorporate the professional knowledge that enterprises consider necessary into the core curriculum system; Open more elective courses, expand the scope of students’ elective courses, improve students’ ability to compete in the workplace and the ability to solve practical problems; Invite outstanding experts or management personnel of enterprises to give lectures, hold seminars and actively create scientific research practice conditions for students.

6.4.5 Improve the Organization of Graduate Students for Integrated Education and Production Advanced educational ideas can only be transformed into people’s actions and play their due roles in flexible and efficient organizations. From the perspective of colleges and universities, the characteristics of openness, sociality, and complexity of industry-education integration education require the reform of traditional internal management of schools. Firstly, according to the needs of cooperation content, set up

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a special management organization specifically responsible for the relevant organization, coordination, communication, and other activities, promote the practical development of industry-education integration education. (1) Establish the management Committee of graduate Education Innovation Center, which is chaired by principals of schools and enterprises, and solve major issues of graduate education integration by holding industry-education integration liaison meetings. (2) To establish a postgraduate education innovation center office, responsible for the daily affairs of postgraduate education innovation center management committee, responsible for the school and enterprise communication, internally fully mobilize various departments to comply with the demand of fusion of cultivating postgraduate education reform, integrated resource advantages of each department, taking the research of enterprise’s important technical problems. (3) Each graduate training unit shall establish the branch of the Graduate Committee of Industry-education Integration of Shanxi University, which shall be chaired by the chief administrative officer of the school and jointly composed of teachers’ representatives and students’ representatives. In addition, the graduate coordinator of industry-education integration training is set up, and the teacher of the school concurrently takes charge of the daily management, guidance, and assessment of students when they are engaged in practical learning in enterprises. At the end of practical learning, students are evaluated realistically according to their actual performance in enterprises. And (4) Build an information platform for communication between students, school tutors, and enterprise tutors. Fusion postgraduate education is an important characteristic of two kinds of education environment, in addition to organization specialized academic conference, tutor students, enterprises, school mentor little opportunity coexist one room and so to make use of existing information technology, open special platform for the exchange of information, in order to offer students, school, teacher, and mentor for information communication and ensure the quality of postgraduate cultivation (Bao & Li, 2020; He & Gao, 2020; Wang, 2021; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yao & Qiu, 2020).

6.4.6 Set Up Innovative Education Fund for Graduate Students Integrating Industry and Education To provide sufficient financial guarantee for the cultivation of industry-education integration graduate students, it is necessary to expand the fund-raising channels from various aspects and establish a certain amount of innovative education fund for industry-education integration graduate students. It can be obtained from the following main sources: (1) Relevant government departments should allocate special funds to establish the start-up fund and daily operation fund for industry-education integration graduate innovation education fund to ensure the smooth operation of industry-education integration graduate education; (2) The government should set up innovative graduate education projects centering on hot social topics, encourage graduate students to apply for projects based on their own interests and advantages,

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and provide financial support; (3) According to the technical problems encountered in the production practice, the enterprise establishes the corresponding amount of project funding in combination with the project, and supports the university teachers and enterprise technical experts to form a research group to tackle the project; (4) Universities and enterprises integrate their own resource advantages and jointly apply for national key projects; and (5) The school should make full use of all kinds of social resources, such as the donor community grants, successful alumni donations, etc., postgraduate innovative education special fund, to participate in the fusion of education teachers and students in education support, encourage them to in-depth enterprise, understand business requirements, actively help enterprises overcome technical difficulties, provides the omni-directional service for the enterprise. In the process of serving enterprises, improve the quality of postgraduate training and their own social status.

6.4.7 Establish and Improve the Assessment and Incentive Mechanism to Greatly Mobilize the Enthusiasm of School and Enterprise Mentors According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, human needs are divided into physiological needs, safety needs, communication needs, respect needs, and self-actualization needs. Therefore, motivation can be divided into extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is the earliest recognized and most commonly used incentive method in organizational management, which is called salary model in management. Intrinsic motivation is used to meet people’s high-level needs. The pleasure, sense of value, sense of respect, and sense of cause of work belong to the category of intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the continuous source of working power and the true meaning of life value. Although there are conflicts between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, they are not incommensurable and can be transformed in coordination with each other in many cases. The school should follow the principle of efficiency and make efforts to explore the management mechanism of the employment and assessment of corporate tutors, so as to bring people’s enthusiasm into full play. It is necessary to clarify the responsibilities, rights, and benefits of enterprise mentors during their employment, and mobilize the enthusiasm and initiative of enterprise engineering experts to participate in industry-education integration education from the institutional level, so that they can give full play to their rich experience in engineering practice to guide graduate students. The incentive mechanism of corporate mentors can be explored from the following two aspects: (1) The extrinsic motivation, enterprise engineering and technical personnel during employed part-time tutor for the school, in addition to complete the daily work of the enterprise outside, still have to pay extra labor, guidelines to practical learning and scientific research, graduate seminars on a regular basis to the colleges and universities, held seminars, etc., so enterprises should consider

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mentor of hard labor, combine it with daily work in the enterprise and count it into workload; School teacher’s hard work, to the enterprise according to the quality of pay and how much they give appropriate subsidies, the government should try to explore the integration training postgraduate education experts make special contributions granted its enjoy treatment of medical treatment health cadres and so on, and use this as leverage, mobilize enterprise mentors to participate in the fusion of cultivating graduate students’ enthusiasm and initiative education. And (2) Internal motivation. It is not only a responsibility but also an honor to serve as a postgraduate tutor. The government and schools should strive to create an atmosphere (allowing teachers and excellent instructors to participate in the evaluation), so that corporate tutors can fully feel the fun, sense of achievement, sense of value, sense of respect, and sense of career brought by serving as part-time postgraduate tutors. At the same time, the school should issue corresponding encouragement policies, formulate flexible and diversified assessment and incentive mechanisms, and include the work of teachers leading students to conduct in-depth production investigation and research into their daily workload; Give appropriate travel allowance and meal allowance to them; Include horizontal projects into the annual assessment index system; Include horizontal projects in the index system of promotion title and post classification and so on. Make full use of the platform provided by the government, appointed professional and technical personnel of colleges and universities science and technology correspondent for the enterprise, to the enterprise, go to the shop, to the production line, service enterprises, help enterprises to solve the development problem, engineering and technical personnel, with the enterprise jointly apply for major national science and technology research projects, give full play to the function of colleges and universities to serve the society, and seek support under the service society (Bao & Li, 2020; Chen, 2017; He & Gao, 2020; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Wang, 2021; Wang & Qiao, 2017; Xiao, 2021; Yan, 2016; Yao & Qiu, 2020; Ying & Ye, 2020; Yu, 2018; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

References Bao, S., & Li, M. (2020). Research on the policy changes and development characteristics of postgraduate education since the founding of New China: A comprehensive study of policy literature based on bibliometrics and content analysis. Education and Testing, 2020(6), 11–14. Chen, W. (2017). The influence of the current system of promotion and exemption on the source of graduate students and the development of disciplines in northwestern universities—Based on the data of a province in northwest China. Graduate Education Research, 20(5), 60–77. He, W., & Gao, J. (2020). Theoretical explanation of institutional change in the development of higher education. Jiangsu Higher Education, 20(6), 11–19. Hong, D. (2019). Accelerating the building of China into a powerful country in postgraduate education. Academic Degrees and Graduate Education, 29(3), 1–19. Li, M., & Liu, S. (2019). How to return to “moderate scale”—A comparative study on the adjustment mechanism of postgraduate training scale in The United States. Graduate Education Research, 20(6), 82–99.

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Wang, H. (2021). The change of China’s college evaluation system and the construction of strategic machine. China Higher Education, 22(5), 11–18. Wang, Z., & Qiao, G. (2017). Social organizations’ participation in postgraduate education governance: A case study. Degree and Graduate Education, 20(10), 42–48. Xiao, C. (2021). Discourse orientation and change of postgraduate education policy since the founding of New China. Higher Education Review, 20(2), 12–19. Yan, Z. (2016). Study on source quality, enrollment mechanism and guarantee system of full-time master’s degree students in physical education institutions—Based on data analysis of Beijing Sport University from 2010 to 2014. Journal of Beijing Sport University, 20(6), 33–44. Yao, Z., & Qiu, M. (2020). Research on the governance system and governance capacity of postgraduate education from the perspective of strategic management. Degree and Graduate Education, 20(5), 17–24. Ying, M., & Ye, L. (2020). Development imbalance and countermeasures of expansion of postgraduate education in China. Heilongjiang Higher Education Research, 20(11), 77. Yu, C. (2018). Modernization of higher education governance facing 2035—Reflection on modernization of China’s higher education governance in the new era. Contemporary Education Forum, 20(11), 11–19. Zhu, Y., & Zhang, Z. (2010). Tian Shuai. The influence of regional economic factors and population factors on the expansion of postgraduate education: An empirical study of Guangdong Province. Research on Higher Engineering Education, 20(4), 44–49.

Chapter 7

Policy Analysis on the Reform of Graduate Education Evaluation System and Mechanism in China’s Universities

This chapter explores the policy analysis on the reform of graduate education evaluation system and mechanism in China’s universities. Graduate research team is a new force of scientific research innovation, which contains strong vitality and explosive force. The direction of graduate education evaluation is the baton of the development direction of graduate research team and has become one of the key issues in the study of education policy. In the process of the reform of postgraduate education evaluation system and mechanism, the construction of postgraduate scientific research team is faced with many problems, such as the unstable foundation of the team, obvious homogeneity development, lack of cultural implication, and so on. This chapter attempts to explore graduate student scientific research team of the construction of the policy guidance, the practical difficulties, such as analysis, in order to “graduate student scientific research team evaluation system mechanism reform path breakthrough” as the breakthrough point, to explore the mechanism reform of graduate student scientific research team evaluation system in our country the barriers and difficulties, for graduate students in China as reference path mechanism reform of scientific research team evaluation system.

7.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools for the Research on the Evaluation System and Mechanism of Postgraduate Research Teams Especially for graduate research team, it is the new force of scientific research innovation, which contains strong vitality and explosive force. The reform of graduate education evaluation system and mechanism is the baton of the development direction of graduate research team and has become one of the key issues in education policy

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li and E. Xue, Graduate Education Governance in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2049-3_7

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research. This paper attempts to explore the barriers and difficulties in the reform of the evaluation system and mechanism of postgraduate research teams in China by studying the reform of the evaluation system and mechanism of postgraduate research teams in “double first-class” universities, to provide paths for reference for the reform of the evaluation system and mechanism of postgraduate research teams in China.

7.1.1 Literature Review on the Evaluation System and Mechanism of Postgraduate Research Teams Postgraduate research teams bear the important mission of knowledge production, discipline construction, and talent training. In knowledge production mode, the direction of discipline construction, personnel training idea of major changes were age, graduate student scientific research environment has been a major shift team construction, the construction of traditional pattern already cannot adapt to the requirements of the new era, we must use new ideas, new ideas, new pattern to view the development and change of graduate student research team. Therefore, there are a lot of studies on postgraduate research teams. There were 25,600 articles searched on CNKI under the topic of “scientific research team”, covering a period of 99 years from 1922 to 2021. However, before 2000, there were few research papers on the topic of scientific research teams. Until 2000, the number increased sharply and kept rising, and reached the peak in 2015, when the number of published papers was 2092. There are great differences between the research status of team building in China and abroad. Domestic team research focuses on team management, team spirit, team performance, team evaluation mechanism, and other research fields. Research on scientific research teams has been increasing since 2008, focusing on the management mode of scientific research teams, innovation and development of scientific research teams, first-class scientific research team construction, cultural construction of scientific research teams, and other fields. The preliminary research on scientific research teams in China mainly focuses on the preliminary exploration of the organizational mode of scientific research teams, mainly analyzes the deficiencies of the formation mode of scientific research teams, and discusses the path of innovative team construction, including the culture, cohesion, collaboration, and characteristics of scientific research teams. In recent years, research on research teams in China has shifted to empirical research, which focuses on the formation and operation of research teams, team leadership competence, team knowledge sharing, team cooperation and conflict, team performance and evaluation, postgraduate research ability, etc. In China, when focusing on the formation and operation of scientific research teams, most research focuses on the theoretical level, mainly analyzing the deficiencies and causes in the formation and operation of scientific research teams and putting forward reasonable suggestions. When focusing on team leader competency, the characteristics of leadership competency, leadership style, leadership structure

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of team leader, and the influence of leadership competency on team effectiveness are more considered. When paying attention to the value and benefit of team knowledge sharing, the team’s knowledge management level, the relationship between knowledge sharing and innovation performance, the influencing factors of team internal knowledge sharing, and the influencing factors of team knowledge sharing intention are considered more. When paying attention to team cooperation, more attention is paid to the theoretical significance of team cooperation, the causes of team conflict, the construction of team culture and internal balance, etc. When paying attention to team performance, more consideration is given to the influencing factors of performance, performance evaluation indicators, etc. When paying attention to postgraduate research ability, scholars mostly use empirical research, mainly focusing on the structure of postgraduate research ability and the influencing factors of postgraduate research ability. Foreign scholars on the research of the scientific research team started earlier, had emerged in the early twentieth century to the study of “community” and “small group”, in the 1950s, the “team” and the concept of “team” have been proposed, foreign to the team at the beginning of the study, a large number of research results show that the team cooperation will help the performance of ascension and the cultivation of innovation ability. Different from domestic research, there is no scientific research team in foreign countries, but more commonly seen in “professor’s laboratory”, “research institute”, “laboratory”, “project”, and so on. The research on team in foreign countries is mature and systematic, which plays a reference role in the research on team in China. When foreign researchers focus on team performance, they generally take ABC (Antecedents—Behavioral Process—Consequences) in the field of organizational behavior as the research idea. Based on IPO (Input— Process—Output) team performance model, research team research is carried out. When focusing on team innovation, team leadership style and team personality characteristics will be considered. When focusing on efficient team collaboration, knowledge sharing behavior and team cultural atmosphere will be considered. In addition, domestic research on research team mention research ability, while foreign researches pay more attention to similar concepts such as self-efficacy and research competence. When focusing on graduate students’ research competence and research selfefficacy, the correlation between self-efficacy and research results will be considered. Most of the existing research competency literature focuses on the development of competency measurement tools and the definition of competency structure elements.

7.1.2 The Characteristics of Team Building or Significance of Team Building or the Role of Team Building The most popular years of this kind of research articles were from 2010 to 2016, and the research peaked in 2016 with 32 articles in total. The subsequent years showed a downward trend. The literature sources are widely distributed, and the

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top three are examination weekly, Science and Technology vision, and education and teaching forum. The distribution of literature mainly concentrates on higher education subjects. It only emphasizes the single understanding of scientific research personnel’s cooperation to tackle key problems, work together, carry forward the collectivism spirit, and so on. It thinks that these are the necessary conditions of the team, but these requirements are not unique to the scientific research team. The main point of this paper is that whether a scientific research group can be regarded as a scientific research team is more important than whether members of the scientific research team can complement each other’s advantages, whether there is an academic democratic atmosphere within the team, and whether the leader of the team has a strategic vision and strong coordination and organization ability. The paper holds that the concept of “team” and “group” should be accurately distinguished. The form of team has its specific ideological connotation and cannot be equated with the general group. The analysis of team characteristics includes five elements: Direction, characteristics, culture, leaders, and achievements. The characteristics of a research team should include distinctive research direction and clear research objectives. It should be a scientific research community whose members complement each other’s strengths; It should be a research community whose members respect and trust each other and can fully develop academic democracy. The leader of the research team should have strategic vision and strong coordination ability and be able to make the whole team operate harmoniously and orderly. It should be an efficient research community that continuously produces new results, especially important scientific and technological achievements. For the summary of team characteristics, “Connotation, Characteristics and Types of University Scientific Research Team Construction”, the article has been cited 68 times and downloaded 1321 times. This paper gives a clear definition of scientific research team in colleges and universities, that is, a team composed of several technical researchers with complementary skills who are willing to take responsibility for the common scientific research purpose, centering on the common vision and aiming at scientific innovation. This definition is relatively consistent with that of other relevant literature. He believes that the main body of activities of university research teams are part-time teachers with little market awareness and relatively independent, and the main direction is basic research and applied research. So, the scientific research team in colleges and universities has both common team goal, knowledge sharing, benefit dependence characteristics, also has its own uniqueness, its type according to strategic goal, vertical process of scientific research, disciplines the research covers, attributor, flexible degree of connection, and number of team members are classified. He denied the construction method of team building accomplished in one move and held that any rash action in the construction of university scientific research team will bring great waste of resources, especially the confusion of basic theoretical problems will seriously affect the effect of university scientific research team building. However, the theoretical discussion on the construction of scientific research team in colleges and universities needs to be further deepened. “An Empirical study on the Impact of Industry-University-Research Institute Cooperation on academic team Building – Test of the Moderating Effect of Team

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Characteristics Difference”. This article has the highest “relevance” among the research on team building characteristics on CNKI, with 1176 downloads. From the dynamic perspective of core competence construction of academic teams, this paper uses the data of academic teams in colleges and universities in Guangdong Province to study the mechanism of the impact of industry–university–research cooperation on core competence of academic teams from the two dimensions of the breadth and depth of industry–university–research cooperation. The moderating effect of team characteristics, such as research preference and complementarity, on this effect is deeply analyzed. This paper discusses the heterogeneity of the characteristics of academic team and holds that the reason why academic team can become one of the new organization modes of science and technology exploration is because of the interdisciplinary integration and the mutual infiltration of science, technology, and society. For the team to form core competence, and thus provide reference for academics grasping of the features of the team and the basis, the article thinks the cultivation of core competence, high-level academic team is a team building with a large number of academic research practice process, namely the academic team by integrating internal and external access to funds in the flow of resources, knowledge; Team research conditions are improved, team management is increasingly standardized, and effective knowledge sharing and creation among team members is formed. This view from the angle of the team’s core ability training for our review team features provides a main line, the team as an open organization, how to realize the mining, transformation and application of knowledge assets and eventually produce new knowledge, is the key to the academic team to enhance their core competence, so the analysis of the team characteristics should revolve around the core ability to think. In the measurement of team characteristics, the selected indicators are the leadership style and characteristics of team leaders, the complementarity of team members’ discipline background and knowledge structure, the functional positioning and ability level of team members, and the research preference of team members. From the existing research literature, the research on core competence construction of academic team is mainly to reveal the core competence composition of academic team based on the endogenous resources of the team, or to analyze the evolution of core competence of academic team based on the life cycle theory, supplemented by stage model or static model. Or based on the analysis of the essential characteristics of academic team, put forward the problems in the process of team construction and management. However, there is a lack of targeted research on how academic teams realize team functions and embody team characteristics through industry–university–research cooperation. Other representative viewpoints include: “Building a world-class engineering discipline: The vision of ‘double top’ colleges and universities and the challenge”, 2019, analyzes the constituent elements of the first-class discipline group, the views with the other scholars point of view is consistent, representative, think that the team must first have an outstanding leadership of academic leaders, not only academic attainments are generally endorsed, more important is that he have strategic vision, able to set reasonable goals for discipline development and integrate resources to achieve goals. Secondly, there is a need for a number of active academic backbones, who are engaged in cutting-edge knowledge production in different directions of a

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discipline and are the leaders of a discipline. Third, we need a large number of young scholars with academic potential, who generally have doctoral degrees from international universities, active thinking, and are able to engage in high-level knowledge production. Fourth, we need many excellent students at home and abroad, who are the inheritors of the academic torch and the key to the endless growth of a discipline. The first-class discipline team is made up of the best teachers and students. “The Generation logic and Construction Path of World-class Disciplines – Based on the Investigation of the Growth history of Two First-class Disciplines in Chinese and Foreign Universities”, 2019 proposed the concept of “self-organization” of teams, believing that teams are an academic community spontaneously assembled and formed based on the exploration of a certain knowledge field since the day of its birth. Therefore, as the carrier of the existence and operation of the discipline organization, the discipline team should be highly conscious of “self-organization”, rather than passive and blind “other organization”. From the point of team building significance, Chinese knowledge network literature, enter the theme of “team building” in search of the literature, download the highest number of articles for the period of phase such as Lin of the significance of the teaching team construction project, the construction of connotation, construction goal, and the content of interconnected—one of the teaching team construction research and practice be brought up to 14 times, it was downloaded 1309 times. The paper summarizes the significance of teaching team suggestions more concretely and holds that team building is the forerunner and guarantee. Without a high-level faculty, there will be no high-quality teaching, high-level scientific research, high-level graduate education, high-level laboratory, and discipline construction. Among 18,600 papers with the theme of “team building”, this paper was cited 379 times and downloaded 4650 times. This article has a unique point of view. It compares the management mode of teaching team with that of teaching and research office through analyzing the problems of teaching organization. On this basis, it puts forward the suggestion significance of teaching team, which is more convincing and of reference significance. Based on the analysis of relevant national policy documents, the paper holds that teaching team building is one of the important contents of quality project construction in the Opinions on the Implementation of Undergraduate Teaching Quality and Teaching Reform Project jointly issued by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance in early 2007. (Investigation and Analysis of the Current Situation of Humanities and Social Science Academic Teams in Colleges and Universities—Based on the Investigation Report of Wuhan University, 2016.) Investigated the current situation of teams and explained the significance of team building from the perspective of the relationship between team and discipline construction. Consensus has been reached that team building plays an important role in building a world-class university (88.8% of respondents think it is necessary). As a breakthrough to promote academic innovation in humanities and social sciences, team building has received widespread attention from scholars. Respondents are highly consistent in their willingness to participate in interdisciplinary academic

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teams (70.6% of respondents think it is urgent or desirable to participate in interdisciplinary academic teams), which reflects the urgency of accelerating the construction of academic teams (especially interdisciplinary team construction) and meeting the needs of scientific research. (Exploration and Practice of First-class Teacher Team Construction under the Background of “Double First-class”, 2019.) Analyzed the significance of team building from the perspective of discipline development. Think top discipline team construction is not only to school discipline ability of the team, also, to the promotion of school talent team construction quality can play of interdisciplinary knowledge skills complement each other, can also inspire through collaboration between team members generate innovative ideas and results, helps to comprehensively promote the echelon talent double improve skills and achievements. Firstclass discipline teams should be the ones that break through the difficulties, whether as the first-class discipline team required by the cultivation of excellent talents for the ultimate purpose of university development or as the scientific research in the era of great science. (For “double top” high-level talent team construction of university organization model empirical research—in south China university of technology, for example, 2018.) Summing up the experience of discipline construction of south China university of technology and engineering talents, thinks that the construction of high-level talent team to push forward the world first-class university and the firstclass discipline construction with support of direct action. Wang Lijie (Measures for Cultivating and Promoting Scientific and Technological Innovation Ability of Colleges and Universities in Henan Province, 2010) analyzed from the perspective of the effect of interdisciplinary integration on discipline team building. It is believed that the goal-orientation, core cohesion, teamwork degree, and collaborative solving power of a team with complementary skills are far higher than those of dispersed individuals, and its special organizational charm—team spirit, is even more incomparable to dispersed individuals. The breakthrough of contemporary major scientific and technological achievements fully shows that the performance level of the team is far higher than the sum of the performance of individual members. It is rare to find in-depth analysis of the characteristics and significance of team building, and the citation rate and download rate are very low, with consistent views. All of them remain in a relatively macro analysis level, and it is difficult to form the analysis of data and examples. However, this does not mean that there is insufficient literature on characteristics and significance. On the contrary, many views on characteristics and significance are summarized in the form of a certain paragraph or chapter in articles on discipline construction and team building, so as to become the analytical basis for research on discipline construction or team building. Some articles even believe that only based on a full understanding of the definition, characteristics, and components of team building, the research materials formed can be more valuable for reference and research significance. Researches on the characteristics and significance of team building mostly exist in the field of first-class discipline construction, which provides an important basis for the “internal relationship between first-class discipline construction and team construction” involved in this study. It is generally believed that first-class discipline team construction is an important part of first-class discipline construction. The construction of first-class disciplines must focus on the

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construction of first-class team, and should develop together from mechanism assessment, resource allocation, discipline leader selection, team culture construction, and other aspects to promote the construction of first-class discipline team and achieve the goal of “double first-class” construction. It can be seen from the existing literature that most scholars’ discussions on team characteristics are based on the analysis of team elements. Although there is no unified standard answer to the characteristics of team construction, the research results all point to the following point: Team is different from “group” (Eryong et al., 2019; He & He, 2020; Hou, 2001; Hou & Wang, 2008; Li, 2004a, 2004b; Li et al., 2020; Wu, 2004; Xuan, 2018; Xue & Li, 2021; Xue et al., 2019). Although scholars have different directions to discuss the significance of team suggestions, they all point to positive significance and effect. It can be seen from the literature that scholars’ understanding of the significance of team often focuses on “problem orientation”, that is, team is an organization of knowledge sharing and creation, which ultimately cannot be separated from the purpose of knowledge production and talent cultivation, and major problems related to knowledge production and talent cultivation can be solved by team. From the macro point of view, the significance of team is to reform the system and mechanism, and it is considered that team is an effective way to solve the malpractice of the current grassroots organization management system in colleges and universities in China. The thinking mode of team building is the basic construction mode required by first-class discipline construction. From the middle view, team refers to the motivation of teachers and the development of colleges and universities, and it is considered that team is an important way for teachers and colleges to make breakthroughs in their own development and the breakthrough of academic innovation. Through team building, the quality of education and teaching can be improved, and problems such as lack of innovative talents and insufficient results can be solved. From the micro point of view, team is oriented to individual development, and it is believed that team can effectively stimulate the enthusiasm of teacher education professional development, construct teachers’ teaching practice knowledge, and expand the learning resources of teacher education professional development. In a word, the team performance level is far higher than the sum of individual member performance, first-class discipline team has become a breakthrough point of scientific research and the growth point of knowledge innovation in the era of big science. To sum up, scholars generally believe that teams are an effective way to solve major problems in the era of big science. Due to the characteristics of team problem orientation and plasticity, scholars place great expectations on the value and role of team, and even consider team as the core element of university development, which makes the research significance of team construction more prominent. The research on team characteristics is the key to explore the development path of first-class discipline team, and also the basis to find the root and source. The author believes that the team itself has the attribute of knowledge production, and the knowledge production mode changes with the trend of scientific research, so the characteristics of the team will also change in the corresponding period. However, the meaning of team has been given a core role in all literature, just in the way of expression or degree, pointing to the direction of positive

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effect without exception. The author believes that the change of meaning in a team by the knowledge production mode, the influence of the policy subject construction, talent cultivation idea transformation, due to the advent of the era of big science, the team are endowed with the meaning of the breach, has become the people know more will go deep into the team as the breakthrough, break the layers of barriers in the development of education high quality, become the key to the development of the higher education quality (He & He, 2020; Hou, 2001; Hou & Wang, 2008; Li, 2004a, 2004b; Li et al., 2020; Wu, 2004; Xuan, 2018; Xue & Li, 2021).

7.1.3 Theoretical Tools for Research on Evaluation System and Mechanism of Postgraduate Research Teams Parsons AGIL model is the theoretical tool used in this paper to study the evaluation system and mechanism of postgraduate research teams. This model is an important symbol of the maturity of structural functionalism. In particular, the AGIL model, the core of the theory, is highly abstract and general. Graduate student research team building this action system belongs to the cross field of social action system and cultural system, is the subsystem of team building system, parsons functionalism theory adapt to and optimize the function of the team building system has explanatory power, can reveal the team building system four big functions to adapt to the internal mechanisms, to give full play to the functions of system function. It is of practical value to better realize the strategic goal of graduate research team construction. Therefore, this paper will draw lessons from Parsons’ functionalism theory to analyze the “AGIL” model of team building. That is, Adaption, Goal flush, Integration, and Latency pattern maintenance. From the perspective of function adaptation and optimization, this paper explores the general rules of evaluation mechanism system of graduate research team construction and provides some ideas for the reform of evaluation mechanism system of graduate research team.

7.2 Policy Texts Related to Graduate Research Team Construction Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to the development of higher education and made the strategic decision to accelerate the building of world-class universities and disciplines. In 2015, 2017 countries have issued the “push forward the world first-class university and the first-class discipline construction overall plan” (guo fa [2015] no. 64, hereinafter referred to as the “overall scheme”) and the push forward the world first-class university and the first-class discipline construction measures for its implementation (provisional) (the research [2017] no. 2, hereinafter

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referred to as the “double top”) such as file. The overall Plan clearly states that we should take first-class disciplines as the entry point of building first-class universities, adhere to the discipline as the foundation and take first-class as the goal, and further promote the pace of building world-class universities and disciplines in China through the reform of the development plan of higher education in the new era. The proposal of “double first-class” development strategy is the improvement of the party and the country after summing up the past experience and lessons, which is of great significance to improve the quality of higher education in China, accelerate the higher education to enter the international track, and promote the good and fast development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. On December 15, 2020, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the “construction of” double top “effect evaluation method (try out)”, file first-class goal should focus on connotation construction is put forward, adhere to the Chinese characteristics and the world first-class, adhere to the correct direction of running, insisted on the connotation of the construction drawing of basic task. With a focus on talent training, team building, scientific research contributions and institutional innovation, China aims to become the world’s first class or front rank in comparable fields. In recent years, China attaches great importance to team building, and several documents issued have mentioned team building to varying degrees. In 2018 the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued by the “about institutions of higher learning to speed up the construction of ‘double top’ guidance” to create high levels of discipline team has carried on the special instructions, points out that to gather talent, motivate the team vitality, build to the leader as the leader, outstanding talents as the backbone, supported by outstanding young talent, orderly and well-structured talent teams and echelons, focusing on cultivating team spirit and strengthening teamwork. Issued by the Ministry of Education of the institutions of higher learning basic research Everest plan offered to form a world first-class innovation team, cutting-edge scientific issues, for traction, facing the world gathering first-class talent team, to establish organization depends on the frontier science center, the new mechanism of important scientific research tasks, constantly forming cluster advantages, exercise cultivate a batch of strategic scientists and high-level team. The Opinions on Comprehensively Deepening the Reform of Teacher Team Construction in the New Era issued by the CPC Central Committee and The State Council proposed that efforts should be made to build innovative teams, cultivate and introduce a number of internationally influential discipline leaders and young academic talents. In 2019, China’s Education Modernization 2035 proposed to build world-class innovation teams for teachers in institutions of higher learning. The Opinions on Strengthening Educational Scientific Research in the New Era issued by the Ministry of Education put forward that great importance should be attached to the construction of educational scientific research teams, encourage the construction of interdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research and innovation teams, and commend and reward those teams and individuals who devote themselves to educational research (teaching and research) for a long time. In 2020, the “Plan for Strengthening basic Research from zero to one”

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proposed that the strategy of talent priority development should be thoroughly implemented, and attention should be paid to the cultivation of young talents and innovative teams. In 2021, the 14th Five-Year Plan and the Outline of the Vision and Goals for 2035 call for training more world-class strategic scientific and technological talents, leading scientific and technological talents, and innovation teams. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to team building. At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, he pointed out that many world-class strategic and leading scientific and technological personnel, young scientific and technological personnel and high-level innovation teams should be trained. On May 28, 2021, Xi Jinping, the general secretary at the Chinese Academy of Sciences academician twentieth meeting, conference on 15th academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, China Association for Science and Technology, delivered an important speech on the tenth national congress stressed that to play both as international academic leading role, the key core technology research and innovation personnel training, solve the problem of significant original scientific; We will explore the “no man’s land” of innovation, make breakthroughs in key and core technologies that hinder development, and find, train and gather a group of high-quality talents and high-level innovation teams. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), stressed that “more attention should be paid to the training of young talents, efforts should be made to cultivate a number of top scientific and technological talents with global influence, and a number of innovative teams should be steadily supported” (Eryong et al., 2019; He & He, 2020; Hou, 2001; Hou & Wang, 2008; Li, 2004a, 2004b; Li et al., 2020; Wu, 2004; Xuan, 2018; Xue & Li, 2021; Xue et al., 2019).

7.3 Challenges in the Evaluation System and Mechanism of Postgraduate Research Teams of “Double First-Class” Universities In recent years, the research on postgraduate research teams has become more and more profound. Mattingly believes that the obstacles to the construction of postgraduate research teams mainly come from the administrative nature of research organizations, so there is no motivation for organizational reform and no effective operation of postgraduate research teams. Liuzhou et al. believe that there are no laws and policies for the construction of postgraduate research teams in China, and there is still a lack of effective management of postgraduate research teams. Some teams are spontaneously formed or temporarily built. The graduate research teams have not received due attention, mainly because of conceptual barriers and institutional barriers, including people’s overemphasis on individual autonomy in the team and the current evaluation system. The root of the problem of postgraduate research team construction from the misunderstanding of postgraduate research innovation team in practice and believed that some teams have strong utilitarian thoughts in the construction process and diluted the development of team construction. From the

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perspective of team cohesion, the situation of team fighting alone still existed, and the limitations of research platform, lack of integration among members, and other reasons brought certain obstacles to team building. Furthermore, the lack of harmonious team atmosphere and the unfairness of team mechanism led to the internal contradictions and conflicts in graduate research teams.

7.3.1 Combined with the AGIL Model, the “Adaption”, “Goal”, “Integration”, and “Latency Pattern” Can Be Utilized Under the “Splinter” From the analysis of the construction of graduate research team in “double first-class” universities in China, the graduate research team in China shows an obvious “path dependence” phenomenon, including utility-driven path, administrative intervention path, instrument value path, etc. It includes the following three aspects: First, the foundation of postgraduate scientific research team is not stable, and disorderly competition still exists in team construction; Second, the homogenization phenomenon is obvious. The heterogeneous construction of the diversity of postgraduate research teams is hindered, the track of administrative intervention is obvious, and the “natural growth” ecosystem of postgraduate research teams has not been formed. Thirdly, the cultural implication of postgraduate research team is missing. Team construction still focuses on the value of utensils, and the exploration of “cultural inheritance and innovation” and team spirit led by team culture needs to be strengthened. The “path dependence” phenomenon of graduate research teams in “double first-class” universities comes from the problems existing in the mechanism system of graduate education evaluation, which is embodied in three fractures in the system and mechanism construction of graduate research teams. The first is the rupture between the favorable policies of postgraduate research team building and the enthusiasm of team building. Graduate research teams still face numerous obstacles and difficulties in the construction, and do not really enjoy the dividend of national policies. The encouragement of national favorable policies has not really stimulated the team’s enthusiasm for struggle and research power. The guidance of national policies on the construction of postgraduate research teams still needs to be deeply rooted in the public and is truly rooted in the construction of postgraduate research teams itself. However, the rupture between the two is caused by the unsmooth system and mechanism of postgraduate scientific research and the unbalanced allocation of resources (He & He, 2020; Hou, 2001; Hou & Wang, 2008; Li, 2004a, 2004b; Li et al., 2020; Wu, 2004; Xuan, 2018).

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7.3.2 The Resource Allocation of Postgraduate Research Teams in China Presents the Characteristics of “Inverted Pyramid” Quality team holds the absolute high-quality resources of options, resources focus on the part of the team will be because of the existence of its virtualization scientific research team, the lack of internal demands and the development of the shared mission of scientific research, scientific research and the construction of the team members motives tend to be more reasonable, more convenient to get and possession of high-quality resources, not all involved in team building itself. As a result, the order of resource utilization is relatively chaotic. The original orderly investment brings irrational possession and disorderly utilization of some research teams, making it difficult to realize centralized and efficient resource utilization and transformation process, and disturbing the ecological environment of graduate research team construction. The second is the rupture between the theoretical understanding and practical exploration of the cultural construction of graduate research teams. The academic research on “team spirit” and “team culture” appeared earlier, and the keyword “team building” was entered into the “CNKI” to search, and the keyword “team culture building” ranked high among them. Although the academic circle has long reached a consensus on the importance of team culture construction, the research results of literature and materials show that graduate research teams in “double firstclass” universities still neglect cultural construction and lack of cultural implication in team construction. This is related to the strong profit-seeking mentality of research teams in “double first-class” universities. Excessive competition makes it difficult for graduate research teams to really settle down and concentrate on research, and they prefer to get short-term reports as soon as possible, rather than pay back too long.

7.3.3 The Lack of Cultural Construction of Postgraduate Research Teams in “Double First-Class” Universities Is Related to the Formation of Team Ecological Environment Team building is always carried out in a multi-dimensional nested environment system, so is the postgraduate research team. The research team building system of graduate students is a complete and dynamic ecological chain, trees, butterflies, and other organisms are the research team ecosystem, institutions and policies, economic, political, cultural, and scientific environment are the external resources of research team building, and soil is the resource platform of research team building. The graduate student team is an integral part of the natural environment, completing energy exchange with nature. Through the intake and consumption of resources (human,

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financial, and material resources), output results to society (talent training, social services, and scientific research results). With the gradual deepening of the theoretical understanding of research team construction, it has become a consensus that different research teams have different connotations in different research fields due to the different nature of disciplines, knowledge production mode and function performance, among which cultural construction is also included. However, in the practice of team building, there is still the phenomenon of homogeneity of action strategies, the understanding of diverse symbiosis of team building is still being explored, and the “natural growth” state of scientific research team ecology has not been formed. Although research teams can realize that team building is not an overnight process, but a complex and long-term construction process, due to the eager pursuit of construction results, the diversity of postgraduates’ research teams and the heterogeneous growth path are hindered. The team culture is stereotypical, without diversity at all, and has naturally lost its original charm and attraction. The third break is the break between team construction achievement and team value sense of “double first-class” university. Every team in the beginning of establishing good hope to build the team, especially for the graduate student research team group, especially in the beginning of building confidence, “double top” university graduate student is often with a passion for scientific research career to join the team, also has a lot of graduate student research team fighting day and night, for the scientific enterprise dedicated efforts, but there are few teams can become a banner, to be able to make China’s voice heard on the world stage. This fracture prevents the achievements of scientific research team from being successfully transformed into social value. The value of postgraduate research team, like the value of life, includes two aspects, namely social value and self-value. Social value team aiming at the social problem of “their” in great demand and the reality, to reveal its value, and self-value, is a scientific research team of reiki, including social given to the team’s sense of honor and pride and sense of worth, including discipline evaluation, performance inspection activities such as feedback to the team’s recognition and respect, this is teaming the realization of self-worth (He & He, 2020; Hou, 2001; Hou & Wang, 2008; Li, 2004a, 2004b; Li et al., 2020; Wu, 2004; Xuan, 2018; Xue & Li, 2021). For “double top” the policy guidance of university graduate student scientific research team evaluation systems and mechanisms are often limited to scientific research, personnel training, resource platform, the teacher’s troop level, objective oriented more attention to the function of team, the current policy of indexing, and when we have a soul and aroma of life framework in cold data, the freedom and thought of the value of life no longer exist, and life is not life in the real sense. And if we in the mechanism of system of graduate student scientific research team evaluation policy, can the team organization is regarded as a “flesh and blood”, living organisms, the polymerization is a common dream of team members, the development of self, the pursuit of value, so, our policy guidance for graduate research team can turn to a new path, namely the objective and the fusion of life. This integration can be regarded as one of the breakthroughs in the reform of the evaluation system and mechanism of postgraduate education from the perspective of releasing the thoughts

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of postgraduate scientific research. The postgraduate research teams of “double firstclass” universities should not only complete scientific research, but also nurture team development and devote themselves to the mission of talent training. First, in terms of the goal of personnel training, emphasis should be laid on the cultivation of “superdisciplinary” thinking and ability, so as to realize the transformation of personnel training structure from “T-shaped” structure to “comb shaped” structure and cultivate “super-disciplinary” compound talents with comprehensive basic knowledge and indepth knowledge of multiple cross-disciplines in the era of “big science”. Second, in the content of training, the transformation from “subject-centered” to “problemcentered” should be realized. Third, in terms of learning methods, teachers and students should pay more attention to project-based, experiential, inquiry-based, and individualized learning. The AGIL model can be combined with the “Adaption”, the Goal “flush”, the Integration and the Latency pattern maintenance. The policy guidance for the reform of the system and mechanism of graduate research teams can be considered from the following three dimensions, namely, the depth of the foundation: The vitality of the downward rooted graduate research team—“Chinese characteristics” is the “life source” of the downward rooted graduate research team; The power of growth: The vigorous power of the upward growth of the team— the team mentor lays the foundation for the growth of the team life and guides the direction of the common vision; Continuous trend: Outward expansion of team synergy—cross integration is the “flowing water” for postgraduate research teams to have a dialogue with the world (Hou, 2001; Hou & Wang, 2008; Li, 2004a, 2004b; Wu, 2004; Xuan, 2018).

7.4 Suggestions on Graduate Education Evaluation System and Mechanism in China’s Universities 7.4.1 The Depth of the Foundation The reform of the evaluation system and mechanism of the foundation of the postgraduate research team of “double first-class” universities can include two aspects: The foundation of “Chinese characteristics” and the cultural foundation of the research team. The foundation of “Chinese characteristics” means that postgraduate research teams should highlight “Chinese style” and “Chinese position”. The foundation of the “team culture” of graduate research teams is that high-quality development teams should support each other like precision equipment, and “clench” together. In the team, there is almost no main force, sub points, no matter who rushed up can be alone. The members of the postgraduate research team form a strong cohesion by supporting each other. If the postgraduate research team is regarded as a complete living body, then the root of the team’s lifeline is the most critical factor. A team without lifeblood cannot have vitality. Only a team rooted in China can have sustained nutrition supply and take root in China. The downward rooted vitality comes from

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the graduate research team’s confidence in the road, the return to the original aspiration, the self-consciousness of the team’s growth, the pursuit of scientific research life, and the adherence to the research dream. Every graduate research team must form its own unique connotation, structure and explicit form from gestation, startup, development, formation, generalization, and ecological development, and these looks come from the grinding and tempering of the core spirit of the graduate research team. Therefore, the development of the team must return to the original intention, focus on the main line, and continue to do “through-through” research.

7.4.2 The Power of Growth The policy guidance of the evaluation system and mechanism of postgraduate research teams in “double First-class” universities should not be to beat the fast beast, but to introduce an incentive and compatible mechanism to stimulate the sense of honor and pride of the team, so that postgraduate research teams can blossom and release their charm in accordance with their own research genes and life growth rules. Incentive compatibility mechanism is a mechanism to achieve the goal consistency between mechanism designer and mechanism demander. It is the fundamental principle that determines the effectiveness of a mechanism. Mechanism design must be clear about the behavioral basis and pattern of mechanism demander. In team building, no one can maximize his own interests by damaging the collective interests of the team. Individual interests and collective interests are consistent, and everyone in the team works hard to achieve their own interests, and the result is the maximization of the team’s collective interests. The same is true of graduate research teams. In the process of upward growth, the postgraduate research team is bound to encounter collision between personalities and conflicts of interests. The upwardly growing team spirit can effectively resolve conflicts or find common ground in conflicts. Therefore, in the policy guidance of graduate research team evaluation system and mechanism, the position and role of team supervisor should not be underestimated. Team supervisor’s leadership through the role of its own constraints and to the team leadership affects the formation and development of postgraduate research direction, including constraints on its own code of conduct, to their own academic career planning, the requirement for the ideological stance and power constraints, the team culture, exploration of team construction practice, the influence of academic values for the team lead, etc. The supervisor of the graduate research team is the soul of the team, whose academic authority and moral prestige are enough to guide the research team and turn the tide, enabling and guiding the team to grow up vigorously (Eryong et al., 2019; He & He, 2020; Hou, 2001; Hou & Wang, 2008; Li, 2004a, 2004b; Li et al., 2020; Wu, 2004; Xuan, 2018; Xue & Li, 2021; Xue et al., 2019).

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7.4.3 The Trend of Stretching The postgraduate research team of the “double first-class” university, as a living body, cannot be completed in accordance with established movements and routines. In graduate student scientific research system under the background of knowledge cross, any graduate student research team needs to merge with other teams, implement scientific dialogue, more to dialogue with the world in the world stage, Chinese graduate students scientific sound, the sound contains the graduate student research team to the call of the creation, wisdom, and development, contains the life in scientific research and the value of a good society, is the power of graduate research team to achieve high-quality development. The continuous strength of the postgraduate research team of the “double first-class” university comes from the team’s courage to break through the barriers of disciplines in the process of scientific research. When the team can break the traditional disciplinary barriers in scientific research, then, under the moderate sunshine and rain, its vigorous force of publicity or introverted is the most beautiful team posture. At the same time, when the graduate research team is constantly extending and forming a continuous trend, it also finds the best state of collaborative operation, and establishes an important support and growth point for the graduate research team to complement each other’s knowledge and skills and produce excellent scientific research results. Graduate research teams in the traditional sense tend to be more “problem driven” research, while the current team is an extension of the traditional sense of interdisciplinary research, manifested as “vision driven”. It emphasizes a high level of integration of ideas, methods, and technologies among members of graduate research teams, as well as a common perception of vision and goals in complex situations, and the common concepts and discourse systems developed in team research. In the graduate research team, each discipline field is a professional module of convergent research, and the various professional modules converge and integrate into a larger organic whole. This whole provides a new research framework for the generation of new ideas, new methods, and new creations, giving full play to the “multiplier effect” and “spillover effect” of professional modules. Therefore, the postgraduate research teams of “double first-class” universities need to operate in the mechanism system of team evaluation featuring diverse convergence, inclusive cooperation, and innovation. This has also put forward higher requirements for the reform of postgraduate education evaluation system and mechanism. With the change of the construction concept of postgraduate research team, the mission and responsibility of the team have also changed. Team development needs a transcendent perspective to maintain and judge the growth interests, which is also the long-term and comprehensive interests of a team. This determines the focus of postgraduate research team construction and the transfer and expansion of team growth concerns. To sum up, the path guidance of the reform of the graduate research team system, mechanism and policy of “double first-class” universities can be reflected in two aspects: The graduate research team shows a high quality and vigorous development momentum with the cooperation of its members, and the graduate research team gives feedback to the happiness of its members in the vigorous development.

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Therefore, the upward growth of graduate research team should uphold the development concept of “adult as their own”. The vigorous force of the upward growth team is not the pursuit of lofty blindly, but “awakening” life consciousness. The vitality of postgraduate research team comes from the understanding of team research life and the efforts of team practice. This kind of “awakening” is inseparable from the thinking of “Chinese characteristics”. Graduate research teams must highlight team characteristics and highlight team style to rise abruptly in team construction in order to improve the collaborative combat ability among members, reflect team tension and attract more outstanding scholars. Characteristic construction is like the source of energy and living water, which continuously provides ideas and gathers strength for team building and attracts more members to join in team building. The reform of the evaluation system and mechanism of postgraduate research teams in “double first-class” universities should guide the teams to realize effective communication and collaboration, common goals and visions, and common value identification, etc. The generation of these elements does not appear out of thin air but can be formed slowly through “conscious” construction. This process needs to rely on the guidance of the reform direction of the evaluation system and mechanism of graduate research teams, so as to achieve the internal empowerment of the team. To sum up, the postgraduate research team itself is a complex body, and the reform of the postgraduate research team system, mechanism, and policy of the “double first-class” university is also faced with various complicated problems. The process of team building is not a simple formula of 1 + 1 = 2, which contains too much human wisdom. Only by eliminating the false and preserving the true and simplifying the complex problems can we find the true problems, seek the true methods, and explore the true path, and finally enter the fast track of high-quality development of the construction of the graduate research teams of “double first-class” universities (Eryong et al., 2019; He & He, 2020; Hou, 2001; Hou & Wang, 2008; Li, 2004a, 2004b; Li et al., 2020; Wu, 2004; Xuan, 2018; Xue & Li, 2021; Xue et al., 2019).

References Eryong, X., Fu, W., & Jian, L. (2019). Problems and countermeasures of teacher team construction in China. Chinese Teachers, 201(11), 11–19. He, G., & He, Z. (2020). Achieving a complete university—The historical and realistic significance of Xi Min Na. Education Research, 20(2), 41–49. Hou, H. (2001). Review and reflection on the introduction of education in China in the first half of the 20th century. Educational Research, 20(12), 19–27. Hou, H., & Wang, X. (2008). The sinicization of pedagogy—The exploration and dream of Chinese educational scholars in the past century. Education Science, 20(12), 23–29. Li, M., Xue, E., Pi, J., & Li, J. (2020). The connotation, function and path of national unity and progress education in the new era. Research on Ethnic Education, 20(11), 11–19. Li, Z. (2004a). On the significance and basic path of the creation of Chinese pedagogy school. Education Research, 20(1), 11–19. Li, Z. (2004b). On the significance and basic path of the creation of Chinese educational schools. Educational Research, 20(1), 23–29.

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Wu, K. (2004). Where does the “meaningful” educational thought come from—A reflection triggered by the phenomenon of “respecting” western discourse in the educational circle. Educational Research, 20(5), 19–27. Xue, E., & Li, J. (2021). Educational planning in the new era: Challenges and tasks. Journal of Chinese Education, 20(3), 23–29. Xue, E., Liu, M., & Li, J. (2019). The development of educational equity in China. Educational Research, 40(5), 19–22. Xuan, Y. (2018). University capacity building: A major task facing China’s higher education in the new era. Research of Higher Education, 20(5), 14–23.

Chapter 8

Policy Analysis on the Opening Up of Graduate Education in China’s Universities

This chapter investigates the policy analysis on the opening of graduate education in China’s universities. The active participation in global education governance will be an important point for China to participate in the construction of international education system. This means that China’s theory, experience, path, and model of education development will provide Chinese solutions to the problems of world education development. It indicates that China’s education will enter the world with a more confident and open attitude and promote global education governance into a new era with a more positive and responsible attitude. The opening of postgraduate education cannot be separated from the promotion of postgraduate education policy. Policy is “a process, not a product, that involves negotiation, competition, or struggle between different groups that may not be part of the formal mechanisms of official policymaking”.

8.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools of the Opening Up of Graduate Education in China’s Universities Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China more than 70 years ago, the policy of graduate education in China has been improving day by day, and the graduate education has made unprecedented progress and development. At present, China has entered the big country of graduate education. The China’s postgraduate education policy has experienced “taking Su as the teacher”, which is closed and single; Fully recover and move toward openness and pluralism; Rapid development, the pursuit of quality and quantity coordination; Practical orientation, pay attention to the training of applied talents; Deepen the reform, optimize the quality of the five stages of change. In August 2018, issued by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, National Development and Reform Commission on institutions of higher learning to speed up the construction of “double top” guidance, it was explicitly © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li and E. Xue, Graduate Education Governance in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2049-3_8

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pointed out that, through the “deepen the international cooperation and exchanges, vigorously promote the international cooperation and exchanges in high level material to become the world’s higher education reform of the participants, promoters and leader”. “Double first-class” is an important strategic decision made by the CPC Central Committee and The State Council to enhance the comprehensive strength and international competitiveness of China’s higher education. “Double first-class” plays an important role in accelerating the modernization of higher education governance system and capacity and promoting the connotation development of China’s higher education. In April 2016, Shanghai, China, the world first-class university President BBS published the Shanghai declaration, initiative, the height of the global community of innovative university stood in human destiny, is committed to innovative research, cultivate innovative talents, promote the innovative thinking, pragmatic cooperation with more open attitude, for the first-class innovative university construction and contributions to the progress of human society. Jiang Sixian, party secretary of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said at the forum: “Openness is a characteristic of a first-class university, as well as innovative development. As the world enters an era of innovation-driven development, major innovation can no longer be achieved alone. Some institutions of higher learning should not close their doors to the rest of the world. They should open their doors to the world and actively exchange and cooperate with other institutions”. The new demand and cognition are bringing about a new revolution in global higher education, and whether they can lead the trend and seize the initiative in this revolution has become an important strategic choice for many universities to realize their own leapfrog development. In his report to the 19th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping described a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, saying: “China is moving closer to the center of the world stage and making greater contributions to mankind”, and “becoming a leading country in comprehensive national strength and international influence” has been included in China’s development goals for the middle of the twenty-first century, which further describes the development blueprint of the role of a leader. China will continue to expand the opening of education, more deeply into the world education trend. Moreover, given the “discourse and agenda-setting and policy pressures of globalization”, the authority of the state is greatly challenged by neoliberal globalization, neoliberal ideology, and its institutions. Educational policy is considered to be a social and historical process, with power and politics deeply embedded in this text. As the world’s largest developing country and the world’s second largest economy, China’s politics, economy, diplomacy, culture, and education have gradually moved to the center of the world stage along with the process of reform and opening up. The internationalization of postgraduate education is not only an essential part of the education opening strategy, but also an important carrier to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation. The “double first-class” construction should focus on “world” and “first-class”. In order to achieve the world first-class, it is necessary for domestic universities to face the world, promote international exchanges and mutual

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learning, strengthen substantive cooperation with world-class universities and wellknown academic institutions, and effectively improve the international competitiveness and discourse power of China’s higher education through international collaborative innovation. The internationalization of postgraduate education is an important content and fundamental approach for universities to construct first-class universities and disciplines, whether from the perspective of the evolution logic of higher education itself or the development process of world-class universities. Jane Knight defines “internationalization of higher education” as “the process of integrating an international, cross-cultural or global dimension into the goals, functions (teaching, research, services) and provision of higher education”. At present, the world’s higher education is increasingly showing the characteristics and trends of internationalization. Graduate education, as an important part of higher education, plays an important strategic role in promoting national innovation and development. The internationalization of graduate education refers to the construction of an education system that is both in line with the world and adapted to its own development based on drawing lessons from and absorbing advanced experience of foreign graduate education. The core of this system is to cultivate talents according to international standards so that China’s graduate education can reach the international standard (Bai & Qin, 2015; Chen, 2020; Chen & Fan, 2018; Jie & Di, 2021; Ma & Yue, 2015; Min, 2020; Wei & Qin, 2019; Wu & Zha, 2018; Yan, 2021; Zhao, 2016).

8.1.1 Policy Text and Implementation Data of the Opening Up of Graduate Education in China’s Universities In a globalized society, time and space (spatiotemporal) are compressed. As early as the late 1980s, McLuhan proposed the concept of “World Village”. Transnational real-time communications and interactions are becoming more common and frequent among national citizens within and outside the nation-state. New communications technologies have accelerated all kinds of cross-border communications and these technologies have raised awareness of openness in the area of higher education policy. In China, the internationalization of higher education postgraduates is an important carrier to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, and a part of the higher education opening-up policy. In the process of internationalization, the national characteristics and national characteristics cannot be ignored. National identities are shaped by many factors, such as geographic location, changing global geopolitical positioning, demographics, history, political systems, culture, and other traditions. The policy of opening postgraduate education to the outside world is based on the past policy in a path-dependent way. China has been committed to building world-class universities for more than 40 years since its economic reform and opening up in 1978. “Internationalization” is increasingly seen as an important indicator of creating world-class universities and enhancing China’s national competitiveness and international influence. In its early stages after 1978, the international

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education movement mainly followed an inward-looking internationalized approach, focusing on selecting and sending students abroad, primarily to the United States and the United Kingdom. During this period, the movement of Chinese students to study abroad was almost entirely driven by the government’s policy of deciding what and where to study abroad. The Chinese government also encourages universities to work with international partners to develop cross-border bridging programs to internationalize Chinese higher education. Until the early twenty-first century, a huge gap between inbound and outbound students led to a serious brain drain from China. As the largest source of international students for many host countries, the flow of students between China and the rest of the world remains at the heart of internationalization today, some scholars believe. By 2017, the higher education enrollment rate of Chinese students for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries reached 23%, or 860,000 students. By studying the changing international discourse in China’s national policies, some scholars have argued that the shift in discourse is internationalization with Chinese characteristics: “Walking on two legs” refers to the country’s initiatives to attract Chinese and international talent to work in China and promote the Chinese model and values globally. In 2017, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, National Development and Reform Commission issued “push forward the world first-class university and the first-class discipline construction measures for its implementation (provisional)” (hereinafter referred to as the “interim measures”), the interim measures “proposed that by 2020, a number of universities and a number of disciplines into a world-class, in the lead of the world first-class disciplines several disciplines”. And clearly stated: “In terms of international exchanges and cooperation in China, attracting overseas high-quality teachers, scientific research team and strong ability of students, and the world highlevel university student exchange, mutual recognition of credits, joint training effective, and the depth of the world high-level universities and academic institutions have academic exchanges and research cooperation, deeply involved in the international or regional major scientific planning, science and engineering, Participate in the formulation of international standards and rules, and have a strong international influence”. Each year, QS ranks the world’s universities based on six performance indicators: Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Faculty/Student Ratio, Citations per Faculty Ratio, International faculty Ratio, and International Student Ratio. The global higher education sector is already seeing the ripple effects of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As the “21st Century Silk Road”, the initiative includes a “belt” of overland corridors and a “road” of sea lanes, connecting countries and regions across the globe, and cooperating on a range of infrastructure and construction projects. This initiative will drive growth and development, create new business and trade opportunities, and promote foreign investment. As far as higher education is concerned, Chinese institutions have reaped huge benefits from the Belt and Road initiative, and the ripple effects are being felt across industries around the world. The Belt and Road Initiative has boosted demand for quality higher education in several unique areas. As the number of infrastructure and construction projects continues to rise, the demand for skilled graduates in engineering and other related disciplines has increased dramatically. In addition, the demand for local skilled workers leads to a

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further demand for investment in higher education. China hopes to address this gap by retaining domestic students and attracting international students to its higher education institutions. Over the years, the Chinese government has launched a series of initiatives to inject investment into Chinese universities with the aim of developing their educational products and improving their international competitiveness. The 211 projects, for example, aims to strengthen about 100 institutions of higher education across the country, improve higher education, set national quality standards, cultivate staff capacity, invest in scientific research, and streamline institutional efficiency. This was replaced by the 2017 “Double First-class” University Plan, which aims to improve Chinese universities and grow significantly in global rankings. This investment is reflected in the latest QS rankings, which show that China now has 19 of the world’s top 200 research universities, up from 12 in 2016. To further complicate this, the Chinese government has also introduced the C9 League, an elite group of nine top Chinese universities that aims to rival the traditional Ivy League. The changes are likely to encourage international students to choose Chinese universities over traditional Western ones. In addition, it could help retain domestic Chinese students who typically seek prestigious study opportunities overseas (Bai & Qin, 2015; Chen, 2020; Jie & Di, 2021; Ma & Yue, 2015; Min, 2020; Wu & Zha, 2018; Yan, 2021; Zhao, 2016).

8.1.2 The Belt and Road Initiatives in Universities Across China Previously, the 985 Project aimed to build and establish 39 first-class universities across the country. This was replaced by the double first-class university plan. Under the plan, the 39 existing universities of Project 985 have been identified as having the potential to develop into world-class universities. This also includes the three universities in project 211. China is growing its market share in higher education by investing in new universities and encouraging domestic students to study at home. The Belt and Road Initiative also encourages Chinese higher education institutions to form partnerships with international universities. For example, the UK–China National Education Partnership initiative was recently announced. Designed by the British Council and China’s Ministry of Education, the multilateral Education Programmed provides seed funding to UK universities, in partnership with Chinese institutions and BRI countries. This helps Chinese universities improve their academic reputation, develop world-class universities, and retain and attract students. This not only affects the status of Chinese universities, but also affects the international recruitment opportunities and strategies of Chinese higher education. On August 8, 2018, to implement the party’s 19 big spirit, accelerate the construction of “double top”, according to the State Council issued by the world first-class university and the firstclass discipline construction as a whole propulsion overall plan “and the Ministry

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of Education, Ministry of Finance, National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued by the world first-class university and the first-class discipline construction as a whole propulsion measures (provisional)”, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission have formulated the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of “Double First-class” In Institutions of Higher Learning (hereinafter referred to as the Guiding Opinions). “Vigorously promote high-level substantive international cooperation and exchanges, and become a participant, promoter and leader in the reform of world higher education”, the guideline said. Strengthen substantive academic exchanges and research cooperation with high-level universities and top research institutions abroad and establish joint laboratories and research centers for international cooperation. We will promote mutual learning between Chinese and foreign models of quality education, innovate joint education systems and mechanisms, and increase exchanges between visiting scholars and students. Under the guidance of the Belt and Road Initiative, efforts will be made to train bilingual or multi-lingual international professionals. We will further improve the system of recruiting, training, management, and service for international students, constantly optimize the mix of students and improve the quality of students. We will actively participate in the Belt and Road Education Initiative and China—foreign cultural exchange programs, and further play the principal role in the construction of colleges and universities in promoting the construction of Confucius Institutes. The excellent students, young teachers, academic leaders to exchange high-level university, institution of visiting foreign countries, actively promote outstanding graduate students traveled abroad, its outstanding graduates to support as the international practice, we recommend college talents in international organizations, academic institutions, international journal for a part-time job. By grasping the spirit of the Guidelines, Nanjing University takes root locally and internationally, helping students to inherit traditions, communicate with the world, and integrate into society. We will further implement the “Happy Reading Classic Plan” to promote students to understand the essence of human civilization and excellent traditional culture by taking ancient, modern, Chinese, and foreign classical texts and the “happy Reading” curriculum system as the carrier and create a campus reading and learning culture that combines reading, thinking, and action. We will comprehensively promote the “International Partnership Program”, strengthen dialogue and cooperation with world-class universities, and enhance students’ intercultural communication ability and future international competitiveness. The “Second Class Students Ability Improvement Plan” is carried out to promote the in-depth integration of the first and second classes, and guide students to truly grow into inheritors of Chinese fine culture, leaders of international development and players of social responsibility (Bai & Qin, 2015; Chen, 2020; Ma & Yue, 2015; Min, 2020; Wu & Zha, 2018; Yan, 2021; Zhao, 2016).

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8.2 Challenge of the Opening Up of Graduate Education in China’s Universities 8.2.1 The Talent Cultivation, Curriculum Internationalization, Faculty and Student Mobility, International Research Cooperation, and Administrative Cooperation For Chinese research universities, internationalization is manifested in talent cultivation, curriculum internationalization, faculty and student mobility, international research cooperation, and administrative cooperation. Many Chinese research universities invest in high-paying international professors and offer courses in English as the language of instruction (EMI), on the assumption that these will produce student talent with an international perspective. Tsinghua University, for example, has created more than 200 EMI courses for college students. However, teaching English will not automatically lead to more international understanding. In addition to hiring international professors, many Chinese universities have introduced the latest original English textbooks from US universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This creates tension between internationalization and localization and may negate localized knowledge in China. Another important issue for internationalization concerns regional disparities within China and between different types of universities. For example, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, and Jiangsu usually attract the most international students, while remote regions (such as Qinghai, Ningxia, Guizhou, and Shanxi) may receive fewer than 500 students a year. In a study of 1264 students from 39 institutions of higher learning in Beijing, researchers found that students from “Project 985” universities (China’s top research universities) had more opportunities to participate in international activities, such as student mobility, international courses, and research collaborations with other universities. They point out that participating in international activities helps to improve students’ cross-cultural abilities. Intercultural competence and cultural awareness courses must be an integral part of the language curriculum. Due to concerns about students’ language skills, a major challenge for foreign universities offering courses in China is how to maintain the quality of education while offering joint courses in China. In efforts to internationalize Chinese students, English-only teaching has not always been successful. The use of English textbooks, team teachers from Chinese partner schools and bilingual teaching can help students understand course materials, classroom participation, and performance. The University of Indianapolis and its partner schools in China have recommended and implemented language enhancement programs in the past. The results of these programs need to be systematically evaluated (Ma & Yue, 2015; Min, 2020; Wu & Zha, 2018; Yan, 2021; Zhao, 2016).

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8.2.2 The “Educational Sovereignty” and “Quality Assurance” The issue of “educational sovereignty” and “quality assurance” is at the heart of the curriculum assessment. Different government roles (political background) and accreditation systems make courses consistent, so it is difficult to meet the requirements of double degrees. Overlapping political backgrounds and cultural differences often become a stumbling block to international cooperation. Effective communication and mutual respect are key to project success. Dealing with China’s Ministry of Education’s international cooperation policy is also a challenge for foreign universities involved in joint projects. It is almost impossible for foreign universities to send 6–8 faculty members to China each year to provide direct credit courses. Foreign universities are not only financially unviable but also find it difficult to send qualified faculty to China. Team teaching method may be the ideal alternative teaching method to meet the requirements of the Ministry of Education. In addition to these problems, there are other socio-cultural and financial challenges that Chinese–foreign cooperation must address. Here are some of the challenges in China and the United States. General cross-cultural and communication issues remain the core challenges of any international cooperation. Partners must include cultural and global competency programs, including Chinese language courses, as well as international cultural events for students and teams (various academic and non-academic units on campus) to promote mutual understanding and effective communication. Although internationalization is a common goal of contemporary higher education institutions, significant obstacles remain. When internationalization is understood as a process of institutional transformation, a paradigm shift is required to change the assumptions, values, and practices of institutional stakeholders from a short-sighted, inward-looking perspective to a broader international perspective (Chen & Fan, 2018; Ma & Yue, 2015; Wei & Qin, 2019).

8.3 Suggestions of the Opening Up of Graduate Education in China’s Universities 8.3.1 The Establishment of the International Website Academic Oversight Committee, a Faculty Subcommittee Responsible for Overseeing the Process and Operation of International Collaboration The term “first-class university” refers to a university that achieves and/or maintains world-class competitiveness in its pursuit of excellence. In the context of higher education, a world-class university is ranked in the top 100 in the field of teaching and research at a first-class university. In addition, a first-class university is regarded as an

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institution of higher education to implement and disseminate knowledge and provide research-based quality teaching. According to Pillay, higher education institutions are knowledge providers that promote economic growth and progress. Higher education is characterized by institutional inertia budget constraints and mature human capital. Policy circles criticize higher education for not providing the human capital needed for the market. As a result, there is pressure from communities and governments to reform education at all levels and to respond to technological changes and market demands. In addition, in the digital age, technology enables higher education to innovate with new business models and pedagogy. Open source and e-learning are disrupting the traditional model of higher education. The response has been to strengthen organizational innovation in higher education institutions to enhance competitiveness, and to adopt new standards and targets with first-class universities as key performance indicators. Recognizing that national competitiveness is measured by human capital and the quality of higher education, policymakers are setting goals to include the creation of first-class universities as part of a differentiation strategy. This means a shift in the culture, structure, process, and strategy of higher education. In addition, the new goal of becoming a “first-class university” calls for new business models, new partnerships with industry and communities, and new roles for higher education. China’s higher education opening to the outside world is one of the national goals, which is a moving and developing process. The government directs strategic planning and priorities for the internationalization of higher education to achieve the national goal of making Chinese universities world-class. Exchanges and collaborations with other countries (research, teaching, and double degree program) will continue to play a role. After returning home, they will have a profound impact on China’s modernization and globalization. People pay more and more attention to the development of an international way with distinctive Chinese characteristics. Emphasis will be placed on the quality of institutions of higher learning and the overall quality of the higher education system. The Chinese government is eager to import Western resources. One example of this is the new policy requiring western partner universities to send more faculty members to China (Ma & Yue, 2015; Min, 2020; Wu & Zha, 2018; Yan, 2021; Zhao, 2016).

8.3.2 Focus on Quality, Depth, and Sustainability Best practices in cross-cultural understanding and mutual respect. Planning, implementing, and evaluating an international project requires a concerted effort. Open communication between partners is critical to the success of cooperation. As Huisman concluded, universities around the world occupy a higher position in the plans and agendas of many stakeholders around the world. It should have highly ranked research, excellent facilities, highly ranked research, a name that transcends local boundaries, and a culture of excellence. In addition, some generalizations in defining a “world-class university”: “Rich resources”, “high concentration of talent”, and

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an operating environment that stimulates managerial independence and “innovation”. A number of “generic but informative characteristics” to provide guidance and advice to agency leaders. The pursuit of world-class universities depends on the globalization logic of universities, which is manifested in competition encouragement, effectiveness and performance, excellence, and high rate of return. It is also important to bring into the discussion “how education and economic policy work in the university system” and present the results of the discussion to higher education governance and academia. The benchmarking and international collaboration, academic autonomy, governance, government subsidies, university management, autonomy, and independence as factors in achieving world-class universities. The top international students and excellent faculty, funding sources, and the degree of academic and managerial autonomy of a university are the factors that contribute to the construction of a world-class university. Some of the characteristics of world-class universities include academic freedom and an intellectually stimulating environment, excellence in research, internal autonomy, and adequate funding and services. Besides, “everyone wants a world-class university. No country thinks it can do without one”. Although the goal of world-class status is clear, the description of world-class status remains unclear. World-class universities are committed to creating and disseminating knowledge across a range of disciplines and fields; Providing elite education at all levels; To serve national needs and promote international public interests. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the characterization of a “first-class university” throughout the university academic community, and in particular those within the university who have the capacity to evaluate the structure of university performance. In addition, it will allow policymakers to develop plans to guide all university resources for continuous improvement toward the goal of creating a “first-class university” (Bai & Qin, 2015; Chen, 2020; Chen & Fan, 2018; Jie & Di, 2021; Ma & Yue, 2015; Min, 2020; Wei & Qin, 2019; Wu & Zha, 2018; Yan, 2021; Zhao, 2016).

References Bai, X., & Qin, X. (2015). International geochemical exploration of postgraduate education in China. Journal of Changchun Normal University, 20(4), 34–39. Chen, J., & Fan, G. (2018). A study on the changes of China’s education policy in the past 40 years of reform and opening up—Based on the perspective of national role. China Higher Education Research, 201(9), 24. Chen, S. (2020). On the triple logic of the internationalization of graduate education in the new era. Contemporary Education Science, 20(6), 75–76. Jie, Z., & Di, K. (2021). State formation and higher education (HE) policy: An analytical review of policy shifts and the internationalization of higher education (IHE) in China between 1949 and 2019. Higher Education, 20(8), 18–22. Ma, W., & Yue, Y. (2015). Internationalization for quality in Chinese research universities: Student perspectives. Higher Education, 70(2), 217–234. Min, H. (2020). A comparative study of the internationalization of higher education policy in Australia and China (2008–2015). Studies in Higher Education, 20(4), 768.

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Wei, J., & Qin, Y. (2019). Analysis on the change of graduate education policy in the 70 years since the founding of the PRC—Based on the perspective of historical institutionalism. Graduate Education Research, 20(6), 1–8. Wu, H., & Zha, Q. (2018). A new typology for analyzing the direction of movement in higher education internationalization. Journal of Studies in International Education, 22(3), 259–281. Yan, G. (2021). Internationalization of Chinese higher education: Is it westernization? Journal of Studies in International Education, 20(2), 11–18. Zhao, X. (2016). Analysis of Yunnan’s higher education opening-up policy towards Southeast Asia. Journal of Yunnan Agricultural University (Social Sciences), 20(2), 11–19.

Chapter 9

An International Comparison of Graduate Education Governance Policies: The Case of China and the United States

This chapter offers an international comparison of graduate education governance policies. The United States is a powerful country in higher education in the world, and its policies and practices in postgraduate education governance are the object of learning and reference for other countries. By studying and comparing the policies and practices of graduate education governance in the United States, we can promote the process of graduate education governance in China in the new era. This paper analyzes the higher education policy of the United States, especially the policy impact and practical measures on graduate education. Combined with the governance practice of graduate education in China, it analyzes the challenges of graduate education in China: Graduate education policy and mode need to be improved; The training mode of postgraduates in master’s and doctoral stage needs to be mastered. The long-term mechanism of “moral cultivation” for graduate education needs to be constructed; The autonomy and enthusiasm of colleges and universities need to be brought into full play. The current enrollment examination system of postgraduate education needs to be improved. On this basis, the development direction of graduate education in China is discussed: Graduate education governance to global education governance; The training of postgraduates has changed from “discipline” to “application”; Graduate education is moving toward a trinity of government regulation, society leading, and institutions main body. Graduate education will move toward college autonomy; In graduate education, we will establish a financial support system for graduate awards and grants.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li and E. Xue, Graduate Education Governance in China, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2049-3_9

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9.1 Literature Review and Theoretical Tools of Graduate Education Governance Policies in the United States University education around the world, especially postgraduate education, is facing the challenge of globalization of higher education. As a powerful country in higher education in the world, the education governance of the United States and its educational governance policies are an important object for other countries to learn and draw lessons from when making their own graduate education governance and policies. The postgraduate education governance and policy research has become an important research content in the new era to comprehensively promote modernization. Graduate education in the United States has experienced a complex historical evolution process, and the research and practice of graduate governance structure and its policy started earlier. The experience and reform process obtained from it can provide a new perspective and reference results for the reform of graduate education mechanism, problem governance and policy research in China. For example, “government role positioning, government-university partnership, theory and practice of joint governance, etc.” In recent years, China has made strategic and adaptive structural adjustment to adapt to economic globalization and political, economic, and social development by guiding graduate education from traditional management to modern governance and promoting the convolution development of graduate education. In the process of graduate education development, on the one hand, the Chinese government actively draws lessons from the graduate education experience of developed countries, on the other hand, according to its own national conditions, constantly explore and improve the graduate education, and initially formed a graduate education model with Chinese characteristics.

9.1.1 Definition of Concepts We first interpret the meaning of the word “governance” from the etymology. The word “governance” originally comes from the Ancient Greek word kubernan. In Ancient Greek, “governance” meant piloting or driving a boat. Plato extended it to mean the rule and management of people, from which came the corresponding Latin “gubernare” and “gubernantia”, and later the English “govern”, “government”, and “governance”. And the French terms “gouverner”, “government”, and “governance”. The basic meaning of these words is to govern and govern, but “governance” in particular refers to the art or manner of governing and governing. In its later evolution, it gradually became “government-related”, referring to an institutional system. With the globalization of the world, especially after the United Nations put forward the concept of “good governance”, “governance” has become a frequently used word in the field of politics and management. In China, people have been used to use the word “governance” to express the dual meaning of governance and management

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and treatment and renovation, which is easy to cause confusion in practical application. Especially in the field of education, people usually refer to governance for general issues in education management, such as education fees and school environment, which is far from the connotation of “governance”. Therefore, we try to understand the concept of governance from the connotation of “governance” and make a preliminary discussion on the scope of educational governance.

9.1.2 Educational Governance Compared with “education management”, “education governance” is a new educational administrative mode that brings all subjects in the field of education into the administrative category, gives full play to their initiative, and constantly improves the goals and means on the basis of continuous coordination and guiding parties to reach consensus. “Education governance” is generated from consensus, and the realization of “education governance” is to pursue a real, correct (legitimate), and sincere “education consensus”. In order to reach “education consensus” and promote “education governance”, the key is to build a new relationship between government, school, and society. The breakthrough is to transform government functions, and the key is to establish a systematic, scientific, standardized, and effective system, forming a pattern of clear functional boundaries and “co-governance” by multiple subjects. How to make the boundaries of government, school, and society clear, operate independently, communicate and consult with each other, support each other, separate from each other, improve comprehensively, and finally promote and realize the modernization of education governance system and governance capacity? Since the second decade of the twenty-first century, the rapid development of information technology has had a significant revolutionary impact on every field of society. Supported by these new technologies, educational informatization also provides indispensable conditions for the pursuit of “educational consensus” and the promotion of “educational governance” (Chen, 2017, 2020; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Liu & Shang, 2014; Yan, 2016; Ying & Ye, 2020; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

9.1.3 Relevant Research Relevant studies were searched on CNKI and the keyword “education governance policy” was entered in the search bar. Only 362 results were retrieved on July 31, 2021, with the overall number of articles increasing year by year. 112 results were retrieved by the keyword “graduate education governance”, while only 2 journal papers were retrieved by the keyword “graduate education governance policy”. There are no journal articles on the governance policy of graduate education in the United States on CNKI. This article will review the literature on the governance of graduate education in the United States. For the governance policy of graduate education in the

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United States, it will be searched on the website of the State Department of Education or the state department. Domestic scholars have conducted multi-dimensional and multi-angle studies on the governance of postgraduate education. Based on summarizing the characteristics of government power in the public governance of higher education in the United States, we made a deep consideration of the “personality” and “commonness” of the “state-school relationship” in the public governance of higher education in the United States, and then concluded that the hand of government power should be appropriately involved in the autonomy of universities. This paper empirically compares the educational equity in several countries and focuses on the educational policy system of promoting equity in the United States. He divides policy tools into legal tools, economic tools, and administrative tools, analyzes the effectiveness of different policy tools on educational equity, analyzes the problem flow, policy flow, and political flow when the policy window is opened, and analyzes the internal process of education policy decision-making. This paper constructs four dimensions of moral cultivation in postgraduate education from four aspects: Ideal and belief, style of study and morality, physical and mental health, and social practice. Graduate student education management model to understand the policy agenda setting, and from the origin, policy origin, political origin from three aspects, to explore the developing predicament of graduate student education, reshape the graduate cultivation mechanism of scientific value orientation, clear pluralistic governance body of graduate student training mechanism, to optimize the design of the system of graduate cultivation mechanism of content, Standardizing the supervision system of postgraduate training mechanism should be the key measure to realize good governance of postgraduate training mechanism.

9.2 Policy Text and Implementation Data Graduate Education Governance Policies in the United States 9.2.1 Higher Education Policy in the United States In the United States, the federal government’s role in education is limited. Thanks to the Tenth Amendment, most education policy is decided at the state and local level. The federal government’s mission in education is to “promote student achievement and readiness for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal opportunities”. American higher education has long been a leader in the global higher education system. However, since Trump took office, a series of policies with strong anti-intellectualism, anti-globalization, and anti-pluralism have exerted a very negative influence on the development of American higher education. Therefore, Biden put forward the “Plan For Education Beyond High School” (Plan For Education Beyond High School) in his election campaign, emphasizing that financial support For higher Education should be strengthened to promote the prosperity of American higher Education again. The Obama administration attaches great

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importance to the development of community colleges and has proposed the “American Graduation Initiative” to help revitalize community colleges in the United States. America’s higher education system is unique, very different from that of China and continental Europe. This has a lot to do with the extreme decentralization of American politics (Chen, 2017, 2020; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Liu & Shang, 2014; Yan, 2016; Ying & Ye, 2020; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

9.2.2 Graduate Education Policy in the United States American graduate education has made important contributions to the economic prosperity and national security of the United States. More than 20 prestigious universities in the United States, especially their graduate schools, are the best places in the world dedicated to research and training of researchers. The GI Bill of Rights, passed by congress in 1944, was both a reward for honoured service members and a way to replenish the nation’s pool of educated citizens, prevent unemployment and promote educational institutions. In 1947, the Commission on Higher Education of the United States issued the report “Higher Education in a Democratic Society in the United States”. The overall goal of the report was to expand educational opportunities and move toward mass higher education. In recent years, the US government has launched a series of economic and scientific policies to promote the development of graduate education. In August 1994, the US government issued “Developing Science for the National Interest”, which positioned the goal of graduate education in line with the national strategic development goals. The mode of graduate education also developed from the combination of education and scientific research to the combination of education, scientific research, and production. The ability of graduate schools to attract the best international and domestic talent has declined in recent years, and there has been much criticism of doctoral education. To this end, the US Commission on National Security 2001 notes: “In recent years, the United States government has significantly underinvested in basic scientific research. This is a greater threat to national security than any conventional war we can imagine. America’s leaders should understand the threat that America cannot sustain its global leadership if we fail to strengthen our investments in science, technology and education and rebuild our strength”. In 2005, The Council of Graduate Schools published White Paper NDEA 21: A Renewed Commitment to Graduate Education. The white paper analyzes the current situation of Graduate Education in the United States in various aspects and discusses in detail how the Federal Government’s National Defense Education Act supports the principle of Graduate Education. For example, more financial support is proposed for Ph.D. students in the sciences (including social sciences that promote competitiveness and security), technology, engineering and mathematics, and languages and cultures that promote international understanding. In 2007, Graduate Education—The Backbone of American Competitiveness and Innovation report was published by CGS. Reaffirming the importance of graduate education in America’s participation in international competition and

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innovation, and emphasizing that universities, government, and private industry all contribute to national security and innovation. For American colleges and universities, to attract the best and most promising students to study in the United States, we must further improve the postgraduate training mechanism and improve the quality of postgraduate training (Chen, 2017; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

9.2.3 Comparison Between China and the United States The United States is a highly decentralized system, the federal government legislation can only tell universities what they need to do but cannot specify what universities should do; The purpose of legislation is for social development, not for the development of higher education; The Pell Scholarship program, which allocates money directly to students, objectively led to the marketization of American higher education. Congress has no direct appropriations power. The research on the relationship between state government and public universities has always been the focus of higher education research at home and abroad. In the existing studies, scholars mostly explore the relationship between the two from the law of higher education, but it is worth acknowledging that scholars are not satisfied with the single perspective of higher education in their studies. From numerous Chinese and foreign literatures, related studies from the perspectives of public administration, politics, and law are gradually increasing. This provides necessary discipline nutrients for discussing the relationship between state governments and public universities in the framework of public governance. The relationship between government and university is essentially a public governance problem outside higher education. As the first higher education country in the world, the public governance outside higher education in the United States is undoubtedly typical. Although the relationship between the American government and universities is also a “power relationship” in essence, namely a restricted relationship between specific forces and an unequal relationship between two subjects of will, the public governance of American higher education surpasses the binary opposition of government control and university autonomy in the operation of power. This “transcendence” is worth reciting and has a certain reference significance for the construction of “double first-class” universities in China under the background of “decentralization of regulation and service”. The government’s power to intervene in university personnel affairs and academic affairs is the most important and weightiest power in the public governance of higher education. The development of American graduate education is the result of the interaction of university, government, and market forces. The important regulating role of market to universities is not only valued by universities, but also by government and social organizations. The federal government does not have the power and organization mechanism to directly manage universities. However, the federal government attaches great importance to regulating universities by using market regulation mechanism. The government consciously plays the role of market leverage and guides universities to participate in the competition to improve the quality and efficiency of graduate education.

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The principal responsibility system under the leadership of the board of directors is carried out in most colleges and universities in the United States. Compared with other developed countries, graduate education in China started a little later, which was formed on the basis of learning and learning from foreign graduate education models and constantly adapting to the reality of China. Therefore, the degree system and postgraduate education in the modern sense of our country are the result of the mutual influence and integration of western higher education and Chinese traditional education. For a long time, China has carried out a highly centralized and unified planned economic system, in which universities are managed by the government and run schools in a unified mode. The laws and regulations of postgraduate training are uniformly formulated by the state, which does not well highlight the characteristics of the market and the characteristics of each training unit. Therefore, the social supervision and adjustment of graduate training quality and professional development of the market role is small. But because of the centralized system in our country, the Ministry of Education has the right in aspects such as policy, management, security requirements, in recent years in our country in education quality improvement, postgraduate scholarships and grants management, the quality of postgraduate education reform, graduate admissions tutor evaluation and education management, education, supervision, and so on many aspects are put forward detailed guidelines and requirements. Standardizing the management of postgraduate education according to national standards can reduce the randomness of management. In general, the quality standard of postgraduate education is an organic combination of diversity and unity. Our government has made a lot of efforts in the aspect of education quality and has achieved certain results. The study of the relationship between universities and government in the United States will provide more direct and valuable experience for the establishment of modern university system in China (Chen, 2017; Yan, 2016; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

9.3 The Challenges of Graduate Education Governance Policies in the United States 9.3.1 China’s Postgraduate Training Policies and Models Need to Be Improved The United States regards graduate education as the foundation of national competitiveness and innovation. It always promotes educational innovation in the form of legislation and vigorously strengthens graduate education to maintain its leading position in the world. Comparing the management of postgraduate education in the United States, China should critically learn and draw lessons from the effective experience of the United States in the aspects of training mode, education policies and regulations, enrollment system, curriculum, teaching form, funding system, tutor system, quality assurance and so on, and localize it, which is in line with China’s

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actual national conditions. The traditional postgraduate training is mainly aimed at universities and scientific research units, and the work is mainly focused on theoretical teaching and discussion, which is more suitable for the postgraduate training mode designed according to the discipline system. However, this training model cannot meet the requirements of all walks of life for innovative talents. In order to adapt to the increasing pressure of market competition, all walks of life must carry out technological innovation and cultural innovation, thus calling for a large number of innovative talents. These people are able to innovate because they have research capabilities. However, this kind of research ability is not empty theoretical research, but with practical problems combined with the application of research. And that talent is still in short supply. This leads to the structural contradiction between the supply and demand of graduate education, which can only be solved by the reform of graduate education model. Traditionally, the mode of postgraduate training in China was to learn from the Soviet Union, but it was interrupted after the “Cultural Revolution”. After the reform and opening up, graduate education began to recover in China. Although there were some references for the graduate education modes of other countries at this time, it was still dominated by the Soviet Model, which was still focusing on theoretical learning. In this model, the systematic characteristics of subject knowledge are considered more than the needs of practical application and solving practical problems.

9.3.2 The Training Mode of Postgraduates at the Master and Doctoral Stage in China Needs to Be Mastered In China, postgraduate education is divided into two stages, master’s and doctorate, which are relatively independent and do not form a coherent system. Moreover, there is no obvious differentiation between master’s and doctor’s training, and it is still a “unified” mode, which is difficult to meet the needs of the society for diversified research-oriented talents. In recent years, China has tried out a variety of postgraduate training methods, such as the combination of postgraduate and doctoral studies, the addition of professional degrees, joint training, and so on, but still cannot jump out of the traditional single in practice theoretical postgraduate training model. This observation is related not only to the management system of graduate education in China, but also to the way of evaluation of graduate education. In other words, the university needs to be separated from the society, which is the fundamental reason why it is difficult to break away from the single training mode of postgraduate education.

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9.3.3 The Long-Term Mechanism of “Moral Cultivation” for Postgraduate Education in China Is to Be Constructed In the graduate education of our country, the graduate tutor is the main body and the key force of training graduate students, they shoulder the important task of training high-level innovative graduate talents. Our country attaches great importance to the construction of postgraduate tutor team, aiming to build a postgraduate tutor team with ideals and beliefs, moral sentiments, solid knowledge, and benevolence, and fully fulfill the responsibility of moral education of postgraduate tutor. To this end, the Ministry of Education issued the opinions on comprehensively implementing the responsibilities of graduate tutors to cultivate talents, strengthening the basic quality requirements of graduate tutors, clarifying the responsibilities of graduate tutors to cultivate talents, improving the evaluation and incentive mechanism of graduate tutors, and strengthening organizational guarantee in 2018.

9.3.4 The Autonomy and Enthusiasm of Postgraduate Education in Chinese Universities Need to Be Brought into Play Graduate education in the United States follows the principle of cultivating perfect people, advocating the unique research spirit of graduate students and the educational concept of serving the country. In the formulation of graduate education regulations, the autonomy of states and universities and the macro-control of the government are emphasized. This kind of management system and guiding ideology is conducive to giving full play to the autonomy and training advantages of colleges and universities. The cultivation mode based on market regulation is conducive to giving full play to the enthusiasm and creative spirit of each institution of higher learning, and to keeping the inner vigor and vitality in the competition of survival of the fittest. For a long time, China’s universities have had no autonomy in running schools because of the highly centralized and unified planned economic system in which they are managed by the government and run schools in a unified mode. The laws and regulations of postgraduate training are uniformly formulated by the state, which does not well highlight the characteristics of the market and the characteristics of each training unit. Therefore, the social supervision and adjustment of graduate training quality and professional development of the market role is small. Therefore, China’s graduate education should learn from the experience of the United States in the management form, training institutions, management process, and other aspects, and give full play to the autonomy and enthusiasm of colleges and universities (Chen, 2017; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

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9.3.5 The Current Enrollment Examination System of Postgraduate Education in China Needs to Be Further Improved Drawing lessons from the graduate enrollment system of the United States and combining with the national conditions of graduate education in China, the graduate enrollment examination system in China needs further reform and improvement. The reform of the graduate enrollment system should expand the autonomy of college enrollment and give academic teams and instructors more administrative power. The competent administrative departments of education of the state may, in accordance with the needs of the economic, political, and cultural development of the state for high-level talents, formulate the annual postgraduate enrollment plan as well as the corresponding management system and specific provisions. To guide, regulate and supervise the whole process of graduate enrollment. The graduate student enrollment unit should determine the scale of graduate student enrollment according to its own school-running conditions and school-running ability, such as the source of students, social needs, and the hardware and software facilities of graduate student training. Establish a comprehensive and merit-based postgraduate admission system. Draw lessons from the common “recommend system” of foreign colleges and universities, must have two experts to recommend person’s practice ability, start work ability and special skill to make assessment above all. Then, the preliminary examination focuses on the investigation of professional knowledge structure, judging whether the examinee has the ability of creative work with the professional knowledge of the discipline, especially should strive to reflect the comprehensive quality of the examinee in the limited examination questions. Finally, in the second round of the examination, colleges and universities should combine their own actual conditions to assess the professional knowledge and basic skills they need to master in the comprehensive professional test and pay attention to the selection of candidates with good professional foundation, strong practical ability, and development potential of scientific research. For doctoral students, the examination should emphasize the examination of examinee’s personal views on the frontier academic issues of the discipline, allow the diversity of examination questions, give full play to examinee’s personality, so that examinee with their own advantages to participate in the competition (Chen, 2017; Yan, 2016; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

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9.4 The Suggestions of Graduate Education Governance Policies in the United States 9.4.1 Graduate Education Governance from National Autonomy to Global Education Governance With the globalization of world politics, economy, and culture, graduate education governance and its policies will be influenced by global education governance. The economic, political, ecological, and other problems facing mankind are increasingly global and require the joint efforts of the international community. Global governance conforms to this inherent requirement of the development of world history. The same is true of global governance in education. Global education governance is a process in which various actors in the international community participate in the management of global education by means of coordination, cooperation, and consensus establishment, so as to establish or maintain an ideal international order. The effective implementation of global education governance depends on the maturity and development of various governance bodies on the one hand and the emergence and cultivation of mature and innovative governance mechanisms on the other hand. In fact, as the leading force in global education governance, UNESCO has recognized this challenge and historical mission, and has continuously carried out active exploration and practice.

9.4.2 The Postgraduate Training in China Should Be Transformed from Subject-Oriented to Application-Oriented On the whole, the training mode of postgraduates in China is subject-oriented, that is to say, specialty setting, and teaching arrangement are carried out according to the disciplinary differentiation system. It pays less attention to specific problems in practice. Can say. This kind of training mode is the inevitable outcome under the specific conditions in the initial period of the discipline and is also the direct result of the planned training mode. But with the continuous expansion of postgraduate education scale and the intensification of the demand for practical talents in the development of market economy, the disadvantages of the traditional postgraduate training mode are becoming more and more real. By contrast, graduate education in the United States is applied. Its graduate education is built on the basis of solving practical problems, thus taking a technical route. That is, their real direction of efforts is not to establish the so-called discipline system, but to reflect the actual needs, so it is very prominent practical application direction. Like this. Research problems are based on reality and solved in a factually honest way. Finally, research can promote the development of things and gain academic recognition.

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9.4.3 The Postgraduate Education in China Should Move Toward the Trinity of Government Regulation, Society Leading, and Institutions Main Body In the United States, the relationship among government regulation, social dominance, and institutional subjects is organically unified under the principles of law and policy system, professional authority and service, and independence. The government plays the role of law and policy, while the social third-party organization determines its leading role by using professional prestige and specialized service. Institutions exercise their will and quality assurance through independence. Organic unity of the three, forming a resultant force, one is indispensable. Modern American graduate education has developed into government macro-control, indirect intervention, and social market regulation. The graduate education system with direct participation and full autonomy of universities has taken shape and matured over the past hundred years and has exerted a profound influence on higher education all over the world. American graduate education evaluation and quality assurance system is a long-term accumulation of historical, cultural, and political factors, and a consensus gradually formed around improving the quality of graduate education. Its characteristics of autonomy, the combination of scientific research and teaching, the role of macro-control by the government, and the active participation of civil institutions are of theoretical and practical reference value to the current graduate education system in China. Based on these experiences and references, the graduate education in China should move toward the trinity of government regulation, society leading and institutions leading, and further improve the quality of graduate education in China.

9.4.4 Graduate Education in Our Country Will Move Toward Autonomy University autonomy has a long historical tradition. Modern higher education developed from universities in the Middle Ages. Medieval universities maintained a high degree of independence from government and church control through scholar autonomy and student autonomy. In modern society, higher education has moved from the edge of society to the center of society, playing an increasingly important role in promoting national and social development, and relying on the government and society for resources. In short, as higher education and society become more connected and integrated, universities can no longer maintain their role as a distant ivory tower from society. On the one hand, from the standpoint of social and national development, the government gradually strengthens the intervention and control of higher education and puts forward various requirements for the development and function of colleges and universities. But on the other hand, autonomy is one of the foundations of the existence and development of universities, and universities need

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to retain the necessary space of autonomy. Drawing on the experience and process of the United States, China is also improving the participation mechanism, optimizing the policymaking process, and promoting the autonomy of colleges and universities, so that colleges and universities can fully express their own interests (Chen, 2017, 2020; Hong, 2019; Li & Liu, 2019; Liu & Shang, 2014; Yan, 2016; Ying & Ye, 2020; Zhu & Zhang, 2010).

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