On the morning of January 18, 2018, XMU President Zhang Rong arrived at the Graduate School to find out more about the University’s degree and graduate education work. Accompanied by XMU General Office Deputy Directory Song Youliang and Secretary Pu Xiaoye, President Zhang attended a presentation made by Graduate School Executive Vice Dean Jiang Yunbao on the University’s graduate education.

Prof. Jiang first extended a warm welcome to President Zhang. In his presentation, he reported on the Graduate School’s evolution, organizational structure and responsibilities, as well as the enrollment, faculty and features of graduate education. He also touched on several outstanding issues.

According to Prof. Jiang, XMU’s graduate education dates to 1926, making XMU one of the first higher-education institutions in China to offer graduate programs. Accounting for half of the University’s enrollment, graduate students, especially, doctoral students, are a strong force in the University’s scientific research. In recent years, the University has persevered in instilling values and nurturing talent, implemented a stringent graduate program administration system, and made significant headways in linking up bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. Prof. Jiang states that, going forward, the Graduate School would align its work with the University’s “Double First-Class” development initiative and strive for a comprehensive improvement of graduate education quality in terms of disciplinary development, supervisors and talent cultivation modes.

Following the presentation, President Zhang Rong commended the Graduate School for its work. He stated that XMU had won recognition from the Ministry of Education for the quality of its graduate programs and had been designated as one of the 14 pilot universities (C9+5), including Peking, Tsinghua and Zhejiang Universities, for comprehensive reforms of doctoral education. He stressed that graduate education, especially, doctoral education, is the key to the cultivation of innovative talent, and that it is important to reinforce the management of the graduate training process and establish an efficient and effective quality monitoring system. President Zhang also called for stronger efforts to refine graduate education philosophy, define talent cultivation objectives, and produce high-caliber talent needed by the state and society. Finally, affirming graduate education as a systematic project, President Zhang expressed his hopes that the Graduate School would continue exploring the best practices and working closely with the University’s other offices and schools in deepening the reforms of graduate education, thereby contributing to the “Double First-Class” initiative.