一、Training Objectives

The basic training purposes of doctoral students：

1.Have firm ideals and beliefs, abide by the law, have good character, and rigorous style of study；

2.Have a firm and comprehensive grasp of basic theories and profound and systematic specialized knowledge；

3.Have the ability to undertake scientific research independently and creatively；

4.Have an international perspective,be able to use foreign languages frequently for international academic exchange.

According to The Basic Requirements for the First Level Disciplines of Doctoral and Master's Degrees, all disciplines should combine the characteristics of the disciplines and the training conditions to propose specific requirements for the basic qualities, basic knowledge, structure and basic abilities of doctoral students. 

二、The Basic School System and the Length of Schooling

The basic school system of doctoral students is 4 years, and the duration of doctoral students cannot exceed 6 years .（including suspension and retention of student status；People who suspend schooling start up business.Their duration can be extended for 1 year.）；The basic school system of students who take a successive postgraduate and doctoral program is 5 years.Their duration cannot exceed 7 years. Doctoral students who fail to complete their courses or dissertations within the longest period of study will be treated as graduation, completion or dropouts and will no longer retain their school roll.

三、Training Methods

The training of doctoral students is mainly based on scientific research and especially cultivate their ability to undertake independent  scientific research.

The doctoral students’ instruction methods adopt tutorial system and encourage to establish a collective steering group led by doctoral tutors；The tutor is the prime principal who responsible for the training of doctoral students.They should fully fulfill the duties of enhancing morality and fostering talents, be responsible for the formulation and implementation of the training plan of doctoral students,  guide them to complete the course study，training sessions and thesis research on time, actively fund their overseas visit or participate in international and domestic academic conferences , and provide opportunities for scientific research in conjunction with other high-level research institutes.We should Strengthen the education of doctoral students' ideological and political quality, academic ethics and social responsibility, pay attention to the considerate care of doctoral students, emphasis on cultivating their academic innovation ability , and comprehensively improve the quality of the training.

At the graduate stage,the graduate training program will be implemented for students who take a successive postgraduate and doctoral program.And at the doctoral stage,the doctor student training program will be implemented .

四、The Basic Training Requirements

Doctoral students in natural sciences should complete at least 20 credits during their doctoral studies, and at least 22 credits in social sciences. And the course credits of natural sciences are 13.（15 credits for social sciences）（Include 4 credits for compulsory courses, at least 4 credits for professional compulsory courses, and at least 4 credits for professional elective courses（6 credits for social sciences），at least 1 credit for public electives），7 credits for compulsory part（Include 1 credit for literature reading and report review , 1 credit for comprehensive level discipline examination, 2 credits for academic activities, 1 credit for opening speech, 1 credit for mid-term assessment, 1 credit for practical activities）.The basic requirements of the training links are as follows：

1．Develop a personal training plan

The training plan is the basic of guiding doctoral students to carry on course study and research work, and is also the basic of graduation and degree conferment of doctoral students.The personal training plans includes the course study plan and the thesis research plan: according to the requirements of the discipline training program, the doctoral students formulate course study plans under the guidance of the tutor within 1 month after enrollment.After being audited by the tutors, the doctoral students submits from the graduate management information system.The thesis research plan includes thesis topics , the arrangement of opening report, the main content of each stage of the thesis ,and  the deadline of completion, etc.,which are generally formulated and submitted in the second semester. Once the training plan is determined, it must be strictly implemented.In the implementation process, if the objective conditions change , it can be modified.But it must be approved by school officials and informed to the graduate training office .

2．The Course Study and Requirements

The doctoral courses are set up according to the first-level disciplines and are divided into compulsory courses, elective courses and supplementary courses.The curriculum should focus on the classics, literature reading, classic case studies, frontier progress reports, lectures and other forms of teaching.The doctoral students should be cultivated to master the firm and comprehensive grasp of basic theories, research methods and knowledge systems , and be trained to have abilities of knowledge acquisition and academic identification.

（1）Public Compulsory Courses(2 courses, 4 credits)

①Political Theory Course：Chinese Marxism and Contemporary Era，36 hours，2 credits

②Basic foreign languages：40 hours，2 credits

Note:Those who meet one of the following conditions before entering the school can apply for exemption from the basic English , directly recognize the credits, and the scores are register as “excellent”：①Passed the PETS-5 and scored 60 (3) points；②Being sent to a foreign country where the primary language of instruction is English for study or research work for one year or more；③Before entering the school, have taken abroad English tests and the results have reached the acceptance line (period of validity :three years).

Doctoral students studying in China can substitute general knowledge of China and Chinese for political theory courses and first foreign language courses in public compulsory courses.

(2) Major Compulsory Courses (no less than 4 credits)

They are general courses for the first-level disciplines , which not only reflects the forefront of disciplines and its advantages, but also has a complete scientific system of professional basic courses and tool courses.

（3）Specialized Elective Courses（no less than 4 credits in natural sciences,no less than 6 credits in social sciences）

They are characteristic courses of systematic expertise grasped mainly in the direction of secondary disciplines as well as interdisciplinary or cross disciplines.

(4) Public Elective Courses (no less than 1 credit)

It mainly includes academic paper writing and publishing, scientific and technological application writing, intellectual property rights, ethics research, information retrieval and utilization, cross-cultural exchanges, mathematical statistics and Humanities literacy courses, which are offered by graduate schools.

(5) Supplementary Courses

Those doctoral students admitted by the same academic level or interdisciplinary level should make up 3-5 main courses in graduate stage in this discipline before the mid-term assessment. The courses are determined by the discipline itself, and no credit is counted.

3. Compulsory Links and Relevant Requirements

(1) Literature Reading and Review Report (1 credit)

Doctoral students should determine the direction of thesis research as soon as possible under the guidance of their tutors, and read the relevant research literature of the discipline at home and abroad extensively before the thesis proposal demonstration. The amount of literature should be determined by each discipline according to the degree awarding standard. At the same time, students should write more than three literature review reports, which should be approved and signed by the tutors and then submitted to the college for future reference.

（2）Comprehensive Level Discipline Examination（1 credit）

The comprehensive level discipline examination is a theoretical comprehensive level examination organized by the colleges before the doctoral students enter the opening speech.It is important to examine whether doctoral students have a solid and basic theory and systematical expertise, and whether they have the basic academic ability to do research independently.Those who pass the exam can enroll in the dissertation proposal; if they fail to pass the exam, they can retake it once; if their make-up examinations are still unqualified, they should repeat the grade.

(3) Academic Activities (2 credits)

During the period of study, doctoral students should take the initiative to participate in various academic exchanges, such as listening to academic lectures, making academic reports and attending international and domestic academic conferences,foreign short-term visits and Sino-foreign joint training projects. They should take part in at least 10 academic reports from colleges and above, and make 3 academic reports within the first-level disciplines and 1 academic report within the schools.

In principle, doctoral students in brand disciplines must have more than one experience of studying abroad;doctoral students in advantageous disciplines must have more than one visiting experience in high-level universities or research institutions at home and abroad.

Academic activities are usually completed before graduation qualification examination. Doctoral students should fill in the Record Book of Graduate Students’ Participation in Academic Activities, submit relevant original certification materials and hand in after approved by the tutor. Each discipline should put forward specific implementation and assessment methods according to the actual situation.

(4) Practical Activities (1 credit)

During the period of study, doctoral students should go deep into the practical or grass-roots production line and complete 1-2 practical projects based on their professional specialties, so as to improve their comprehensive quality and practical ability in practice. Practical activities include teaching practice, scientific practice (exclude the practice for the purpose of thesis research),social practice, management practice and innovation and entrepreneurship activities,and teaching practice is a compulsory part.

4. Academic Dissertation

Doctoral dissertation is an important embody of the academic standards of the doctoral student. It has important theoretical significance or stronger practical value.Doctoral dissertation reflects that the author has solid and  basic theories and systematical expertise in this discipline, and the ability to work independently in academic research, and makes innovations in science or expertise.The tutor should strengthen the whole process guidance from the beginning of the topic, the research of the thesis to the writing and defense of the thesis.

(1)Opening Report (1 credit)

It is the key link to ensure the quality of the dissertation. Under the guidance of the tutor and on the basis of literature review and investigation, doctoral students should determine the direction of the topic as soon as possible, formulate work plan of the dissertation, and write a written report about the significance of the topic selection, the research summary at home and abroad, the main research contents and research schemes. It needs an open argument within the scope of the first-level disciplines.The opening report passed by the experts shall be uploaded to the graduate management information system and submitted to the school for the record in writing form.Those who fail to pass the opening report shall reopen it within the time prescribed by the school or the discipline. If the applicant who has passed the thesis proposal has to change the research topic of the dissertation due to special circumstances, the opening report should be reopened. The time between the thesis proposal and the application for dissertation defense is generally no less than 2 year.

(2) Mid-term Assessment (1 credit)

The mid-term assessment is a comprehensive assessment after the doctoral students finish the course study and enter the dissertation research stage. It is a necessary link to check the doctoral student's individual comprehensive ability and the progress of the dissertation, guide the doctoral students to grasp the direction of the dissertation, and improve the quality of the dissertation.The assessment contents mainly include the ideological and political performance, the ability of scientific research innovation and the research progress of the dissertation,etc. In principle, it is required to be completed in the fifth semester. The specific requirements of mid-term assessment shall be implemented in accordance with the Measures for the Implementation of Mid-term Assessment of Full-time Graduate Students in Hunan Agricultural University.

（3）Pre-defense of Dissertations

The pre-defense is the collective guidance and check of the doctoral dissertations by the expert group of the pre-defensing committee. It is an important part of helping the doctoral students to find the problems of the thesis and further modifying and perfecting the thesis. It is an important measure to guarantee the quality of the thesis.When the doctoral students complete the doctoral dissertations, they should submit a pre-defendment application to the subject and college after being reviewed and approved by the tutor.The Pre-defense Committee consists of 3 to 5 experts with the title of professor in this field.According to the actual level of the paper and the defense,the pre-defense committee should make a decision on whether to agree to get into the defense stage or to participate in the defense after the amendment .The doctoral students who passed the pre-defense should modify the paper according to the opinions given in the pre-defense, and complete the final draft .

(4) Thesis Defense and Degree Awarding

Within the longest period of study,doctoral students shall complete the course study and training required by the cultivation program and meet the requirements. If the quality of his/her dissertation reaches the corresponding degree level, he/she may apply for defense. Those who pass the defense will be allowed to graduate. Those who meet the criteria for granting doctorates will be conferred doctorates.

When applying for a doctorate, scientific research papers should be published, scientific research monographs should be published, and valid certificates should be provided for authorizing patents or awards for achievements. Doctoral students who have not yet reached the standard of degree awarding can submit applications for doctorate to college and school with qualified scientific research achievements within two years after graduation, and they will not be accepted after the expiration of the time limited.

Those who apply for graduation in advance shall abide by the relevant documents of the university.

(5)The Basic Requirements for Scientific Research Achievements during Study

One should be as the first author (for second co-author, its impact factor should be no less than 6), Hunan Agricultural University as the first authorship and communication author unit, publish academic papers related to dissertations on SCI source journals (CSSCI for social sciences ), or obtain provincial and ministerial awards for research achievements related to the content of degree papers (ranked top three), or invent patents (teacher first, he himself second) or monographs, etc. Among them, doctoral students in brand disciplines and advantageous disciplines must meet one of the following conditions.

①1 SCI source paper with impact factor 2.0 and above；

②2 SCI source paper with impact factor 1.0 and above；

③1 SCI source paper with impact factor 1.0 and above+1 domestic authoritative journal of the subject（The journal names must be specified in the training program）；

④1 SCI source paper with impact factor 1.0 and above+ technological research achievement award of provincial and ministerial level（patent for invention）（A maximum of 1 achievement and patent）.

On this basis, the basic requirements of scientific research achievements of doctoral students can be determined by the discipline and postgraduate tutors themselves, but they must not be lower than the requirements of schools. Intellectual property rights of scientific research achievements completed in the name or conditions of Hunan Agricultural University belong to the university. After graduation, students are required to publish the relevant papers or conduct the appraisal of the achievements related to the degree thesis, with the consent of the tutor, and Hunan Agricultural University as the first signatory. Joint training shall be carried out in accordance with the agreement between the two parties, but the signature of Hunan Agricultural University must be guaranteed to be in the first place 

Attachment：Doctor student training process（A case study of four-year educational system）