Although I got all my degrees in China, I do not really understand the postgraduate education system here. Apparently, there are two ways for a graduate to further study as a postgraduate: (1) by recommendations or (2) by the postgraduate entrance exam (similar to the National College Entrance Examination, widely known as the alias Gaokao). Most universities (no idea on how many) have the privilege of recommending their best graduates to enroll in postgraduate study. As the best I knew, such recommendations are based on GPA – the higher, the better. Those who do not have satisfactory grades, on the other hand, have to pass the National Postgraduate Entrance Examination (NPEE), an academic examination held annually in China.
Unlike the system in west countries, a master’s degree is actually an academic step upwards that carries a social assessment tangibly higher than that of a bachelor’s degree in China. Comparison with a bachelor’s degree, the one with a master’s has the advantage in position application as well as salaries, especially in the government service system and in national associations. This is one of the reasons, in my opinion, that the number of students attended NPEE has increased over the years. There are two types of master degrees: academic degree (学术型) and professional degree (专业型). The research activities involving are not distinguishable currently, at least from my observations. However, it is practically easier for a student to apply for a professional degree than for the one to apply for an academic degree, because it is commonly necessary to publish a peer-reviewed paper to obtain an academic degree (And some of the reports showed the NPEE of professional degree applicants is also typically easier).
As a supervisor, I also have to compete with my colleagues for the quota. The competition is generally based on the scientific papers YOU’ve published over the past year, more common, the impact factor of the journals that your papers on (the details for evaluation are very hard to understand, and I relinquished the documents). At the early of the year, the college office informed me that I can maximum have four master students (two for academic degree) this year.
Up to date, three students join my lab.
Jinfang, who is going to complete his bachelor (in Agronomy) from Northeast Agricultural University. Last year, he contacted me for the possibility of master studying in my lab as he got the examination free option. We, thus, organized an interview to him and finally he got the position in my lab.
Congratulations and welcome to you guys. We can’t wait for you to join our group.