Original title: How to think about postponing the doctorate
Meng Wei, a doctoral student at Zhejiang University, has attracted attention on the Internet with part-time food delivery to make a living. Meng Wei is a doctoral student of the Zhejiang University School of Control Science and Engineering. He was once one of the “Top Ten College Students” of Zhejiang University. In September 2014 he was recommended for a direct doctorate. Meng Wei said: “This is not just me at all. It is very difficult for our group to enter the company.” As he said, not many doctors deliver food, but there are many who postpone graduation. Compared to food delivery, the topic of “doing an 8-year doctorate and not graduating” may be more worthy of attention.
In recent years, the deferred graduation rate of Chinese graduate students has continued to rise and deferred graduation has gradually normalized. According to the “National Postgraduate Enrollment Report 2020” published by China Education Online, the postgraduate graduation rate of doctoral students in 2003 was about 46.5% and continued to grow after the graduation rate degree exceeded 60% in 2012. 64%, indicating that over 60% of PhD students failed to graduate in time.
Why are there so many PhD students postponing graduation? The main reason is the failure to meet the degree requirements. My country’s postgraduate education once emphasized “strict entry and indulgent exit”. Once you step onto the deck at a plank, you can practically get a degree certificate. Nowadays, colleges and universities have raised the threshold for doctoral degrees and no longer get their degree as long as they are admitted. In 2019, Shi Yigong, president of Westlake University, once said, “Westlake University’s 334 graduate students will not be limited by graduation years.” This observation once sparked heated discussions. The postponement of the graduation determined by “rigorous entry and rigorous exit” has a positive significance for improving the quality of doctoral students. From this point of view, the sharp increase in the number of graduate doctoral students in my country is not necessarily a negative aspect, it can be said that the doctoral training model has taken a big step forward.
However, postponing graduation is not a panacea to solve all problems: how to improve scientific research and innovation skills in a limited time is the “royal road”. First, postponing graduation means a greater investment in educational resources; secondly, simply expanding the academic system is not the only way to improve the quality of doctoral education. If you simply extend the academic system and don’t focus on scientific research, this will still lead to repeated failures of the article. Due to the pressure of life, some graduate students will spend a lot of time on part-time jobs and looking for work, just like Meng Wei in the aforementioned news. Therefore, for graduate students who are not eligible to continue their studies for a degree, an early diversion should be implemented. Instead of waiting until you’re about to graduate and face the passive, it’s best to plan ahead and clarify your academic and career prospects.
At the same time, we must also put an end to the phenomenon of being forced to postpone graduation when we could graduate in time. In fact, there are in fact tutors who oblige doctoral students who have already met the degree standards to postpone the degree to allow graduates to “serve” them for a long time. In this regard, universities and other scientific research institutes should strengthen the mechanism for supervising and investigating the irregular behavior of supervisors in the breeding process of doctoral students.
Doctoral training takes on the mission of cultivating high-level innovative talents and is an important manifestation of the country’s central competitiveness. As the “spire” of academic education, a PhD shouldn’t be “easy”. How to ensure the quality of graduate students’ training and improve their capacity for innovation in scientific research is the key to solving the problem. (Chen Jinhong）
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