Regulations on Cultivating Overseas Students in Doctor’s Program of Northwestern Polytechnical University

西北工业大学关于博士留学研究生培养的具体规定

Regulations on Cultivating Overseas Students in Doctor’s Program of Northwestern Polytechnical University are formulated in accordance with conferring doctor’s degree on overseas students in Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Academic Degrees, Interim Measures for Implementation of the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Academic Degrees and norms of relevant documents carried out by the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council and Ministry of Education and in combination with practical situations of NPU.

These regulations are the main foundation for formulating and implementing the doctor’s program for overseas students. They are also the fundamental principles for those students’ recruitment and their doctor’s degree conferment.

We offer two types of doctor’s program for those overseas students--- cultivated in English and in Chinese respectively. Those Disciplines that are authorized to confer doctor’s degree in NPU shall recruit applied overseas students and cultivate them in Chinese. As for English-cultivated disciplines, after being approved by the Graduate School of NPU, shall also recruit overseas students applying for doctor’s degree and cultivate them in English.

These regulations are the general requirements for cultivating overseas students in doctor’s program. Each separate discipline shall formulate its own cultivating program for overseas students. Once approved, the program shall be put into enforcement strictly. If there are any changes, alterations shall be made according to the original approval procedures.

The research fields and curriculum for the overseas students in doctor’s program shall be formulated in accordance with their different requirements. The provisions of cultivating objectives, cultivating plans, duration of study, cultivating process, publishing papers and requirements for scientific achievements are as follows:

A. Cultivating Objectives

a. to enable overseas students to have a comprehensive understanding of China, including its politics, economy, history as well as culture and to enable them to have basic capability to understand and communicate with others in Chinese.

b. to equip overseas students with all-round basic theories and systematic and professional knowledge in disciplines concerned, and with skills to do scientific research independently so as to make creative contributions in science and technology.

c. to benefit students’ physical and mental health, and to provide them with good academic ethics and spirits and to cultivate their scientific and practical learning attitude and working style.

A. Research Field

Research fields for overseas students in cultivating plans of doctor’s program should be listed explicitly.

The research fields are the basis of recruiting and cultivating the overseas students. The research fields are required to be in the third-level academic areas in disciplines. Mentors and other teachers in disciplines concerned are required to have done much research work and their programs are still continuing supported by stable subjects and funds in relevant fields. The research fields must reflect cutting edge of disciplines concerned, and follow advanced scientific development at home or abroad.

Those emerging research fields in the interdisciplinary or marginal disciplines can be incorporated into the doctor’s program based on relevant disciplines. The corresponding doctor’s program should be formulated after new disciplines’ approval and establishment.

B. Cultivating Plan

Cultivating overseas students in doctor’s program is based on the mentor responsibility system which adopts a mentor as the first responsible one or a mentor-based responsibility of the instructing team. The instructing team, composed of 3-5 associate professors and professional teachers (including mentors), shall be nominated by mentors and then approved by relevant schools with mentors playing a leading role in the overseas graduates’ cultivating according to research fields and contents of subjects. The instructing team shall assist mentors to instruct in courses, research work and dissertation. Schools and the Branch of Degree Committee shall guide and inspect the program of cultivating the overseas students’ pursuing doctor’s degree.

During the process of cultivating program, both theoretical study and scientific research shall be combined together. The program shall pay attention to cultivate the ability of doing scientific work creatively and independently, to teach them how to learn by themselves, how to analyze and solve practical problems. To participate in academic activities and to be engaged in research independently are encouraged and supported, and to select the research field of the thesis and to do exploring research are also welcomed. For those students who are lack of experience and expertise and interdisciplinary knowledge, mentors and schools shall create favorable environment for them to make up.

C. Types of Study and Duration

The doctor’s program requires 3-5 years of full time study.

D. Curriculum Requirements

Overseas students in doctor’s program should get at least 16 credits in courses concerned.

Curriculum requirements:

The curriculum plans for overseas students in doctor’s program shall be completed within 20 days after enrollment, and the courses concerned shall be finished within one year after entrance.

The courses of basic theory, specialized basic courses and specialized courses for overseas students cultivated in Chinese shall be selected among the courses the same as in domestic academic doctor’s cultivating program. And the overseas students shall attend the classes concerned together with domestic students of NPU.

The basic theory courses, basic specialized courses and specialized courses of overseas students cultivated in English shall be taught in English. And all these courses can be selected among the courses in the doctor’s program of English-cultivated.

A. Cultivating Process

     a. Course of Study

Course of study in the doctor’s program is an important process in cultivating postgraduates, which shall meet relevant requirements for credits.

b. Scientific Research

During the process of conducting scientific research in the doctor’s program, mentors and relevant schools shall create innovative and cooperative atmosphere, insist on the combination of theoretical knowledge and real practices and emphasize on cultivating students’ capability in the aspects of research, creativity, team-work and organizing. Mentors shall offer overseas students more scientific guidance on the application for the National Natural Science Foundation and the establishment of national scientific research projects.

c. Dissertation Proposal

The dissertation proposal of the doctor’s program is a starting point for dissertation writing. Students shall read relevant books and write literature reviews under the guidance of their mentors. The proposal shall include significance of selected topic, research background, contents of research, expected objective, research methodology and premises of research etc.

Reviewing panels of doctor’s program shall be established under the agreement among the relevant school, the Branch of Degree Committee and mentors. The panels shall consist of at least three senior professional technicians, one of them be the chairman of reviewing panels. The students are required to make a presentation on their dissertation proposal and then the reviewing panels evaluate the proposals strictly and make decisions.

The overseas students in the doctor’s program who pass the assessment shall be permitted to continue their dissertation writing. For those who fail, they shall be given yellow card warning and make rectifications within a time limit, and then make presentations again. If they still fail, their doctor’s degree shall be terminated or they shall be cultivated in other reversed programs.

The dissertation proposal of doctor’s program is designed to be finished in the second semester or at the beginning of the third semester. The requirements for dissertation proposal are decided by mentors and the Branch of Degree Committees. The whole process from the proposal to application for defense of dissertation shall be no less than two years.

d. Mid-term Assessment

The interim progress report of the dissertation writing of doctor’s program shall be submitted and reported to the assessment team around one year after the approval of proposal. The content of the report shall include the following aspects: whether the dissertation writing is conducted in accordance with the previously expected contents and schedule of research or not; the completed research; academic research activities; current or potential problems and possible solutions, and further work of research. Materials such as submitted papers, published papers, patents and scientific research achievements shall be included in the reports.

In terms of the interim progress and the development of disciplines concerned, the overseas students in the doctor’s program are allowed to make necessary adjustments about certain contents in their proposals (including title, contents, schedule planning, etc). When they apply for the oral defense of dissertation of doctor’s degree, the contents of the dissertation shall be basically consistent with the confirmed contents in the mid-term assessment.

Similarly, the assessment team for the mid-term assessment is established under the agreement among the school, the Branch of Degree Committee and mentors. The team shall consist of at least three senior professional technicians (one of them as the chairman). The assessment team shall evaluate the interim progress report. The overseas students in the doctor’s program who pass the assessment shall be permitted to continue their dissertation writing. For those who fail the assessment, they shall be given yellow card warning and need to modify it in stipulated time, and then report it again. If they still cannot pass the assessment, the doctor’s degree shall be terminated or they shall be cultivated in other programs.

e. Dissertation Writing

Dissertation of Doctor’s degree is a systematic and academic research result done by the students independently under the guidance of their mentors. The dissertation shall be academic and be finished by considerable efforts and reflect the students have already mastered the basic theoretical knowledge and systematic and specialized knowledge under the disciplines concerned, been equipped with the capability of making scientific research independently and generated creative products in science or in a special technology. As for the requirements of dissertation writing, please refer to The Regulations of Degree Dissertation Writing in Northwestern Polytechnical University.

The dissertation of overseas students cultivated in Chinese shall be written in Chinese and a corresponding abstract in English is required while cultivated in English shall be written in English and a corresponding abstract in Chinese is also required.

f. Preliminary and Formal Dissertation Defense

Before the overseas students apply for formal dissertation defense in the doctor’s program, the preliminary defense shall be held by the Branch of Degree Committee according to the specific situations. The experts attending preliminary defense shall be organized by the Branch of Degree Committee and mentors. These experts are usually the professors in relevant disciplines. There shall be at least three professors attending the preliminary defense. After the preliminary defense, the experts shall make conclusions and decisions. For those who fail in the preliminary defense, they are required to modify their dissertation and make another oral defense in stipulated time. As for the application of dissertation defense, please refer to the regulations formulated by the University Degree Evaluation Committee.

The dissertation defense of the students cultivated in Chinese shall be done in Chinese while the cultivated in English shall be done in English.

B. Requirements for Paper Publishing and Research Achievements

The quantity and quality of the published papers for the overseas students in the doctor’s program are one of the important standards in measuring the quality of Doctor’s program cultivating and Doctor’s degree conferment. The overseas students are encouraged to publish papers with high quality. As for the specific requirements for paper publishing, please refer to Regulations on Publishing Academic Papers during the Period of Graduate Studies in Northwestern Polytechnical University.