Research on the Construction Pathways of “World-Class Universities” in universities of China from Graduate Perspective

• In Event: Examining dynamics, pathways, and students' experiences: Chinese higher education in comparison

Proposal

Building world-class universities and disciplines（that is, China’s “double first-class” project）is another national strategy in China’s higher education field following the “Project 985” and “Project 211”. On January 29, 2022, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance and National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China jointly issued Several Opinions on Deeply Promoting the Construction of Double First Class University Project, aiming to solve the problem of insufficient supply of high-level innovative talents, inaccurate service to national strategic needs, urgent optimization of resource allocation, etc. In recent years, scholars and administrators in China’s higher education field have paid much attention to issues related to the construction of Double First Class University Project and they mainly carry out research based on their own perspectives through theoretical speculation, case analysis and rarely carry out research based on the perspective of graduate students on Double First Class University Project. From 2021 to 2022, the number of master’s and doctoral degrees awarded by universities in China shows that the number of master’s degrees awarded in “Double First Class” construction universities accounts for 56% of the total number of master’s degrees awarded in universities of China, and the number of doctoral degrees awarded in “Double First Class” construction universities accounts for 82% of the total number of doctoral degrees awarded in universities of China. Therefore, this means that the level of Double First Class University Project is closely related to the quality of China’s graduate education development.
Graduate students are the main participants for graduate education. This study is based on the perspective of graduate students and focuses on the construction of “world-class universities” in China, attempting to objectively propose pathways to promote the construction of world-class universities through research. Specifically, the interview outline is formulated in combination with the reality of learning, scientific research, life and other aspects of graduate students during their study, and with reference to Barton’s experience and behavior, views and values, emotions, knowledge, feelings, background and demography perspective. Using a convenient sampling strategy, 6 master’s and 6 doctoral students from China’s “world-class university” construction universities with professional backgrounds in education, management, engineering, science and other disciplines were selected as the research subjects. Each interviewee was interviewed for 40-60 minutes in a combination of online and offline methods, and the interview voice was recorded using the voice recorder, and the interview recording material was converted into text materials. By using open coding, spindle coding and selective coding to encode interview data step by step, a world-class university construction model based on the perspective of graduate students is ultimately constructed. This model mainly includes two categories of internal and external elements for the construction of world-class universities. Among them, internal elements include six dimensions: educational direction, educational philosophy, talent cultivation, management level, cultural construction, and infrastructure. External elements include three dimensions: service contribution, interactive integration, and social reputation. Research has found that humanistic care is the direct demand of graduate students towards world-class universities, and the degree of internationalization is the basic judgment of graduate students towards world-class universities; Accepting liberal education is the expectation of graduate students for world-class universities. Therefore, to promote the construction of world-class universities from the perspective of graduate students, it is necessary to pursue the ideal of cultivating comprehensively developed people as a world-class university, and provide graduate students with care from both material and spiritual aspects, so that a high degree of internationalization becomes the basic label of world-class universities.

Authors

• Xiaolu Liang

• Wenhui Zhou