Summary of Key Points
The "Degree Law" implemented in January 2025 allows professional degrees to be defended based on practical achievements. This year, several agricultural universities across the country, such as China Agricultural University and Beijing Agricultural College, have piloted this new system for the first time, enabling graduate students in professional degrees to use practical solutions to real agricultural problems in place of traditional academic theses. For example, Zhang Siyu, a graduate student at China Agricultural University, developed a new type of wheat fertilizer suitable for the saline-alkali soil in North China by working directly in the fields and collaborating with enterprises. She ultimately received her degree based on her practical report. This reform breaks the constraint of relying solely on academic theses, allowing agricultural students to move from the laboratory to the front lines of production, solving practical problems and achieving growth from theory to practice.
I. Why Are Agricultural Universities the First to Adopt “Practical Alternatives to Theses”? A Combination of Policy and Disciplinary Characteristics
This reform did not come out of nowhere:
- Policy Support: The 2025 "Degree Law" explicitly states that professional degrees can be defended based on practical innovation achievements, providing universities with more flexibility.
- The Special Nature of Agricultural Disciplines: Agriculture is an applied discipline that is closely connected to real-world problems. Many students spend years working in the fields and with enterprises, producing results such as new fertilizers and breeding equipment that are highly useful for production. However, in the past, these practical achievements were not recognized for graduation purposes. Vice Dean Guo Xin of China Agricultural University said, “It was a pity that the excellent work of students who worked on the front lines could not be recognized as a basis for graduation.”
II. How Exactly Does the Practical Achievement Defense Process Work? Take Zhang Siyu’s Experience as an Example
Zhang Siyu’s experience is a typical case:
- Identifying the Problem: Her research focused on helping a fertilizer company in Anhui solve the problem of wheat not absorbing nutrients in the saline-alkali soil of North China.
- Field Research: After the Spring Festival, she spent two months conducting research at a farm in Dezhou, Shandong, and another six months at a technology institute in Quzhou, Hebei. She talked with farmers and found that the existing fertilizer formula (15-15-15) was ineffective.
- Innovation: Her team decided to add sulfur to the fertilizer. Initially, they considered using elemental sulfur, but it was too dangerous for industrial production. They later switched to “sulfur-coated urea,” which was both safe and effective.
- Presenting the Results: She compiled a practical report that included three years of field research, experimental data, and details of her collaboration with the company, using it as her thesis defense.
III. What Changes Has the Reform Bringing About?
The most noticeable change is in the students:
- A Greater Sense of Achievement: Zhang Siyu believes that applying her fertilizer to the fields was more meaningful than writing a thesis. She said, “The satisfaction I felt after seeing the results of over a thousand days of hard work was indescribable.”
- Improved Skills: Students are no longer just knowledgeable in laboratory operations; they have learned to communicate with farmers and solve practical problems in production, transforming from theoretical learners to problem solvers.
- Better Alignment with Market Needs: Professor Wei Zhan勇 from Beijing Agricultural College emphasizes that practical achievements must be both useful and innovative. They must address real needs (such as the need for better fertilizers) and be novel (like Zhang Siyu’s sulfur formulation).
IV. The Reform Is Not About Relaxing Standards: There Are Strict Requirements for Practical Achievements
Although using practical achievements instead of theses may seem easier, the requirements are actually quite high:
- Solving Real Problems: The research must address a real issue, such as the problem of fertilizer effectiveness in saline-alkali soil.
- Innovation and Feasibility: The solution must include original ideas and be practical, with the potential for large-scale industrial application.
- A Solid Process: Every step of the research and development process must be well-documented. During the defense, professors will ask detailed questions about the methods used (e.g., the rationale for choosing sulfur-coated urea); it’s not enough to just make up a story.
V. The Deeper Meaning of the Reform: Breaking the “Focus on Theses” Paradigm and Promoting Diverse Talent Development
Vice Dean Guo Xin highlights the importance of this change: “This is not about dismissing academic research; it’s about helping students find the right path based on their interests.” In the past, all students, regardless of their major, were required to write theses, leading some applied students to focus on writing for the sake of writing. Now, agricultural students can choose to either pursue theoretical research or practical projects, and both can earn their degrees. For the agricultural industry, such students are better equipped to solve real problems, such as developing new fertilizers and breeding equipment, which directly contributes to industry development.
This reform represents a practical attempt at talent development in agricultural universities, encouraging students to move from the laboratory to the fields and apply their knowledge to real-world problems. For an applied discipline like agriculture, this is indeed a positive development. As for whether this should be adopted nationwide, it may depend on the nature of the discipline. Applied fields like engineering and medicine could benefit from this approach, but for purely theoretical disciplines like philosophy, traditional theses might still be more appropriate. What do you think?