40 years of Jiangsu's graduate education
(english.jsjyt.gov.cn) Updated：2019-01-11
Students queue up to check their registration for the post-graduate entrance examination in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, Nov 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]
2018 marks China's 40 years of implementing the reform and opening-up policy, and also the country's resumption of enlisting graduate students for four decades.
On Dec 24, 2018, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education held a conference on graduate education, looking back on former glories while also looking forward to a brighter future.
549,500, a figure implicating the number of postgraduates in Jiangsu in the past 40 years, reflects the dynamic talent capacity the province has generated for all walks of life.
Schools capable of enrolling graduate students have risen from 19 to 31, with the annual admissions climbing by 125 times from 556 to 69,600 and the total enrollment boasting the second largest in the country from 1,170 to 194,600, a direct surge of 166 times.
This has helped lay a solid foundation for the province to cultivate various high-end personnel. Jiangsu accounted seven of the total 88 key universities in China since the honorary title was launched in 1978. 11 local universities were named among the country's Project 211 in 1995, which indicated to successfully manage 100 universities throughout the country for the 21st century. Jiangsu's 15 universities were also selected for China's "double first-class" plan, aiming to nurture an elite group of 137 schools as world-leading higher learning institutions by 2020.
Photo taken on May 2, 2018 shows Chen Tiaotiao with his mower. He is a graduate student in Jiangsu province and said his self-invented mower was a gift for his father, a fruit farmer. [Photo/VCG]
Jiangsu's academic delving has also worked out. 42 local disciplines were included in the country's first list of 416 key disciplines in 1987; 43 were ranked as world first-class disciplines in 2017; and 123 disciplines from 26 schools have entered the top 1 percent in the global rankings set by the Essential Science Indicators (ESI), an authoritative analysis and evaluation tool for measuring scientific research performance.
The talent boom in Jiangsu was also attributed to the province's active exploration of integrating teaching with research since 1983. In 2002, the province infused impetus into curricula upgrading and teaching innovation and developed a group of local brands, such as the summer schools, academic innovation forum, and scientific research competitions.
