the "undergraduate-research inversion" of colleges and universities: education should increase quantity and improve quality
2024-09-18
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□dong fangning (ningxia university)
recently, lanzhou university published a statement that the total number of graduate students will exceed undergraduates in 2024. before that, the topic of "beijing's master's and doctoral graduates surpass undergraduates for the first time" was also on many social platforms. this has caused public opinion to worry about the devaluation of academic qualifications, and even doubt the quality of master's and doctoral degrees. it is true that the number of master's and doctoral degrees exceeds that of undergraduates, which provides society with more highly educated talents, but educational development should not only focus on the increase in quantity, but also pay attention to the improvement of quality.
there are multiple factors behind the phenomenon of "the number of master's and doctoral students exceeds that of undergraduate students". from the perspective of students, the current job market competition is intensifying, and the "stepping stone" of undergraduate education is gradually depreciating. in order to ease employment pressure and increase their own competitiveness, postgraduate entrance examinations to improve academic qualifications have become the only option; secondly, educational resources are more abundant and fair. in 2024, the office of the academic degrees committee of the state council announced that it will add 2,755 master's and doctoral degree programs, which means that the opportunities for postgraduate and doctoral studies will increase and it will be relatively easy; in addition, education has always been a tradition of the chinese people, and the thinking of "only academic qualifications" is still deeply rooted. in this way, the phenomenon of "undergraduate and master's degrees are upside down" does not seem surprising.
however, when the number of graduate students exceeds that of undergraduates, one cannot help but doubt their quality, which will trigger a series of concerns. in recent years, the trend of "graduate entrance examinations becoming like college entrance examinations" has intensified. some universities even offer special courses for graduate entrance examinations during the undergraduate period, but put aside undergraduate professional knowledge. this practice of putting the cart before the horse is not only not conducive to the academic training of students, but also involves them in "involution" early on. once these students fail the graduate entrance examination and enter the job market, they will inevitably find it difficult to develop due to lack of competitiveness. in addition, while expanding the enrollment of graduate students, there is also a question mark as to whether the educational resources of universities can keep up in time. if we only pursue quantitative growth blindly and ignore the corresponding academic training of graduate students, it is also likely to lead to the "bubble" of graduate education.
how to balance the quantity and quality of graduate education in colleges and universities has become a must-answer question. obviously, there is no unique way of thinking and answer, but what is indispensable is the wisdom and patience of long-term problem solving. first of all, colleges and universities should reform the evaluation system of master and doctoral students accordingly, break the past single evaluation index of "for papers" and the academic atmosphere of quick success and instant benefits, consider the personalized development of students, establish a diversified evaluation system, and cultivate innovative talents; at the same time, the education department should also increase the investment in educational resources, increase the number of tutors, keep up with the trend of increasing the number of master and doctoral students, ensure the quality of master and doctoral education, and squeeze out the "water". social employers should also change the view of "only academic qualifications", change the employment orientation, and pay attention to the ability of students themselves.
the “undergraduate and postgraduate inversion” does reflect that in today’s society, everyone has the opportunity to enjoy higher-level and better-quality educational resources, and we should also pay attention to the fact that education itself cannot be too utilitarian, and we should pay attention to improving quality while pursuing quantitative growth. the society should also be more tolerant of this and less anxious about it. after all, according to the current employment situation, the value of undergraduate education also exists.
