GoKawiilThe rail manufacturer Qingdao CRRC Sifang Rolling Stock worked with a Chinese PhD student to improve manufacturing techniques for its Cetrovo subway trains.Credit: Zhang Jingang/Feature China/Future Publishing via Getty
For most postgraduate students, a written thesis is a requirement for completing their studies. But in China, a law passed in 2024 is allowing some people to graduate with a practical achievement, such as an innovative product, technique or project, instead of following the conventional PhD route.
Since the law came into effect in January last year, more than 60 doctoral candidates have graduated with practical achievements, according to China’s Ministry of Education. The pathway is currently available only to people studying engineering courses, and it is part of China’s broad campaign to increase the numbers of ‘elite engineers’ in the nation, with the hope of overcoming technological bottlenecks. Around 50 postgraduate colleges have been established by universities across the nation since 2021 to support the elite-engineer campaign.
At these institutions, each student completes their training at both university and a company. They also have two supervisors — one in charge of their academic studies and the other helping them to gain hands-on experience. The engineering colleges offer both product-based and thesis-based graduation options, and students can choose which route to take.
First ‘practical PhDs’ awarded in China — for products rather than papers
Although universities in other nations also offer ‘industrial PhDs’, in which students work closely with a company, many of these degrees still require a written thesis. The product-based graduation route is expected to help train workers who are capable of solving real-life problems, says Zong Yingying, the dean of the College of Elite Engineers at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China.
A university and its partner company will agree on who owns the intellectual property for each resulting product, Zong explains. “But even if the university doesn’t get the intellectual property, it still benefits a lot from such a collaboration because it will get research funding and industry experts from the company, and the right to use their production lines.”
Nature spoke to three PhD graduates about their experiences taking part in the programme.
WU XIANGYANG: Railway engineer
Earned a PhD on intelligent manufacturing in rail transit systems at Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, China.
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