From Chinese Press

Theses have lost their value

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-10 07:54

At a recent university program, Fang Zhouzi, a writer known as "science cop", said there was no need for university graduates or postgraduates to work on theses or dissertations anymore. Many teachers, too, agree that such formalism should be ended, says an article in Xinhua Daily Telegraph. Excerpts:

When doctoral degrees were hard to come by, almost all research was carried out by postgraduates. Hence, it became necessary for them to work on a thesis, and defend it before a panel of experts.

But now, most university graduates or postgraduates are unlikely to pursue a career in research. Thus a thesis has lost its original meaning and importance. Students today enter a university or college basically to get a diploma, not to carry out research.

It is thus impossible for postgraduate students to develop the necessary skills, knowledge and competence to conduct research, especially because experts and guides cannot provide the needed guidance to them that they do to doctoral candidates.

If this is the case, almost every postgraduate will muddle through his/her thesis or even resort to plagiarism.

No wonder, a majority of the theses submitted in China, especially those in humanities, do not measure up to international standards.

Education authorities have to standardize the system and abolish the mandatory thesis system at the postgraduate level. But doctoral candidates would still have to work on their theses according to the strictest academic norms.

(China Daily 05/10/2011 page9)