The basic cultivation objectives of academic postgraduates are:
1. Have firm ideals and beliefs, abide by discipline and law, have good moral characters and rigorous style of study;
2. Master solid basic theories and systematic expertise;
3. Have the ability of engaging in scientific research and solve practical problems;
4. Have basic ability of conducting academic research and academic communication in a foreign language.
In accordance with the Basic Requirements for First-level Doctoral and Master Degrees and in combination with the characteristics of disciplines and conditions, each discipline should put forward specific requirements for the basic qualities, knowledge structure and academic abilities that postgraduates should possess.
The basic length of schooling for academic masters is 3 years, and the longest length of schooling is 4 years (including suspension and retention of student status; Suspension entrepreneurs can be extended for 1 year). Postgraduates 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.
The cultivation of academic postgraduates is mainly based on the combination of course learning and thesis research.
The tutor is the first person responsible for the cultivation of postgraduates. He should fully establish morality, educate his students, be responsible for the formulation and implementation of the cultivation plan for postgraduates, guide them to complete the course study, training links and thesis research work on time, strengthen the education of ideological and political quality, academic ethics and social responsibility of postgraduates, pay attention to humanistic care, focus on training students’ ability to analyze and solve problems and improve the quality of postgraduate cultivation.
Academic postgraduates of natural science should complete at least 29 credits and social science at least 31 credits during their study period, including 23 course credits are for natural science (25 credits for social science) (including 6 credits for public compulsory courses, 6 credits for professional compulsory courses, at least 10 credits for professional elective courses (12 credits for social sciences), and at least 1 credit for public elective courses, six credits for the course (including 1 credit for literature review, 1 credit for opening report, 1 credit for mid-term assessment, 2 credits for academic activities and 1 credit for practical activities.) The basic requirements of each training link are as follows:
1. Make Personal Cultivation Plan
This plan is the basis for guiding postgraduate course study and carrying out research work, as well as the basis for the examination of postgraduates’ graduation and degree awarding. It includes course study plan and thesis research plan: generally, the course study plan shall be formulated by postgraduate students within one month after admission under the guidance of the tutor in accordance with the requirements of discipline professional cultivation program. After the tutor’s approval, they shall submit the plan through the management information system of postgraduate students. The thesis research plan includes the arrangement of topic selection and topic report, the main contents of each stage of the thesis and the deadline for completion, which is usually formulated and submitted in the second semester.
Once the plan is determined, it shall be strictly implemented. In the process of implementation, it may be modified due to changes in objective conditions. And the premise is that this should be consented by the head of the college and submitted to the training office for record.
2. Course Learning and Requirements
The postgraduate courses are arranged according to the first-level disciplines, including compulsory courses, elective courses and supplementary courses. The curriculum should focus on the knowledge system of the subject and the cultivation requirements of postgraduates, aim at improving the comprehensive quality and innovative practical ability. To train postgraduates to master the solid basic theories and systematic expertise, and to train them to acquire the necessary knowledge and research methods through various ways and channels.
(1) Public Compulsory Courses (3 courses, 6 credits)
①Political Theory Course: Theory and Practice of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics (36 hours, 2 credits), Dialectics of Nature (18 hours, 1 credits).
②Basic foreign languages: 60 hours, 3 credits. Those who pass CET-6 within three years before admission (whose scores are no less than 425), who have participated in other relevant national English proficiency tests abroad before admission and whose results have reached the qualified line of going abroad (valid for three years), who have been sent to English-speaking countries for more than one year, or who have obtained a bachelor's degree in English major, may apply for exemption from it.
Note: Master's degree 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 6 credits)
They are general courses for first-level disciplines (or cross-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 10 credits)
They are characteristic courses of systematic expertise grasped mainly in the direction of secondary disciplines as well as frontier and thematic courses highlighted by 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, and other publicly selected courses, which are offered by graduate schools.
(5) Supplementary Courses
Those postgraduates admitted by the same academic level or interdisciplinary level should make up 3-5 main courses in undergraduate 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)
Academic postgraduates 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 two literature review reports, which should be approved and signed by the tutors and then submitted to the college for future reference.
(2) Academic Activities (2 Credits)
Academic activities will always be in the whole process of postgraduate cultivation. During the period of study, postgraduates 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. They should take part in at least 8 academic reports from colleges and above, and make 3 academic reports within the first-level disciplines. Academic activities are usually completed before graduation qualification examination. Postgraduates 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.
(3) Practical Activities (1 Credit)
During the period of study, postgraduate 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 professional practice, social practice, management practice and innovation and entrepreneurship activities.
4. Academic Dissertation
Academic master's dissertation should highlight its academic, scientific, innovative and normative, comprehensively reflect postgraduates’ solid basic theories and systematic expertise in this discipline, and have the ability to engage in scientific research or undertake specialized technical work independently. 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)Thesis Proposal (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, postgraduates should determine the direction of the topic as soon as possible, formulate work plan of the dissertation, and demonstrate the significance of the topic selection, the research summary at home and abroad, the main research contents and research schemes, and write a written report. The assessment team for the opening report meeting shall be composed of at least 3 associate professors or experts with equivalent titles or above. The proposal report passed by the experts shall be uploaded to the graduate student management information system and submitted to the school for record in written form. Those who fail to pass the opening report shall reopen it within the time prescribed by the college 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 1 year.
(2) Mid-term Assessment (1 credit)
The mid-term assessment is a comprehensive assessment after the postgraduates finish the course study and enter the dissertation research stage. The assessment contents mainly include the ideological and political performance, the master of basic theoretical knowledge, and the ability of scientific research innovation and the research progress of the dissertation. In principle, it is required to be completed at the end of the fourth 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-examination of Dissertations
The pre-examination of master's dissertation is a quality-checking process conducted by tutors and degree points before the formal submission of the dissertation after the completion of the research work and of the first draft of the dissertation has been done. After the completion of the first draft, the tutor shall conduct the preliminary examination. After the preliminary examination by the tutor, the discipline shall organize the relevant experts to conduct the advanced examination of the thesis. Only after the advanced examination is qualified, can the student formally participates in the defense.
(4) Thesis Defense and Degree Awarding
Within the longest period of study, postgraduates 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 master's degrees will be conferred master's degrees.
When applying for a master's degree, 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. Graduates who have not yet reached the standard of degree awarding can submit applications for master's degree 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) 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 4) or the tutor as the first author, he himself as the second, Hunan Agricultural University as the first authorship and communication author unit, publish academic papers related to degree papers at or above provincial level, or obtain provincial and ministerial awards for research achievements related to the content of degree papers (ranked top five), or invent patents (teacher first, he himself second) or monographs, etc. Among them, brand discipline and dominant discipline should publish at least 1 thesis in Chinese core journals (Peking University edition) or 2 theses at technology core journals.
On this basis, the basic requirements of scientific research achievements of academic postgraduates 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.
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