Strategy of Improving Graduate Matriculate Quality Under the New Situation

Chenghao Jin,Yinghua Luo,Rong’an Cao,Guinan Shen,Jing Li

Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University,Daqing 163319,China

Abstract By analyzing the problems existing in graduate enrollment in various colleges and universities,the paper puts forward several measures to improve the graduate matriculate quality combined with graduate matriculate characteristics and selection criterion of talented students.A selection mechanism for graduate students suitable for the objective of talents training in colleges and universities is constructed,which will provide certain theoretical basis for smooth implementation of graduate training objectives and the overall goal of improving the quality of graduate education.

Keywords Graduate education;Matriculate quality;Cultivation quality

As the highest level of education in China,graduate education is the main approach to cultivate high-level innovative talents and an important part of national innovation system,reflecting the level and education level of universities and colleges[1].Matriculate quality and cultivation quality are the two parts of quality of graduate education.The graduate matriculate quality is not only the key to measure the enrollment work of graduate students in universities and colleges,but also the guarantee of cultivation quality of graduate students[1].In order to adapt to the rapid development of China’s society and economy,highly educated and high-quality talents are urgently needed.At the beginning of the 21stcentury,China began to implement the policy of graduate enrollment expansion,and the number of graduate enrollment in universities and colleges increased significantly.According to the statistics,the number of postgraduate candidates in China reached more than 2.9 million in 2019,equivalent to one third of college graduates nationwide choosing to continue their studies.Graduate education is the main channel of training high-level talents.The qualified talented students must be suitable for the objective of talent training in colleges and universities,adapt to the characteristics of graduate education,and help to improve the quality of postgraduate training.However,how to select those students to establish a stable and long-term assurance system for graduate matriculate quality has become the key factor that many colleges and universities must consider in graduate student enrollment.

1 Main Problems in the Process of Improving Graduate Matriculate Quality in Various Colleges and Universities

1.1 The quantity and quality of matriculates are not balanced between regions Admission units are influenced by the popularity of colleges and universities,the strength of disciplines,the level of running schools and the team of tutors,which lead to great differences in the number and quality of matriculates.Double first-class universities are favored by candidates,while other local colleges and universities,especially those in underdeveloped areas,are difficult to fulfill their admission plans.The resource advantages of admission units in first-tier cities such as Beijing,Shanghai,Guangzhou and Shenzhen have attracted a large number of candidates from second-and third-tier cities.The colleges and universities in these first-tier cities have rich educational resources and practice opportunities,so that students will have more opportunities in employment or continue education[2].Therefore,the regional differences of colleges and universities lead to extreme imbalance in the quantity and quality of matriculates.

1.2 The quantity and quality of matriculates are unbalanced among colleges and universities The graduate matriculate basically consists of three parts:exempt from admission exam,first choice and adjusting students.In recent years,with the continuous deepening of the reform of graduate enrollment system,China has started to implement the policy of expanding the enrollment of graduate students.Meanwhile,canceling the policy of the restrictions on recommended exemption graduate on and off campus also enables the qualified students to have more choices instead of being confined to the undergraduate graduation schools[1,3].Due to large freedom of choice,recommended exemption graduates are more inclined to gather in first-class universities and schools with high regional advantages,and are not willing to stay for further education.The proportion of excellent firstchoice candidates is relatively low,and they are basically from low level under-graduate or junior college with comparable educational background,with uneven comprehensive quality.A large part of adjusting students are those with strong comprehensive quality and professional ability,who have not been admitted to their first choice for various reasons such as improper application.Therefore,most colleges and universities mainly rely on the adjustment to complete the admission plan,and it is difficult to guarantee the quality of matriculates.

1.3 The quantity and quality of matriculates are unbalanced between disciplines Discipline construction is the leading project of university construction,and a comprehensive project of personnel training,scientific research and social service in colleges and universities.The discipline level reflects the overall level and comprehensive strength of a university.Although the enrollment scale of postgraduate students in China is constantly expanding,the number of matriculates in different disciplines is not balanced due to the influence of social demand,employment trend,conditions of school operation,and teacher strength.Disciplines with good employment trend have more applicants and higher matriculate quality.Disciplines with poor employment trend have few applicants and relatively poor matriculate quality,which affects the coordinated development of disciplines in colleges and universities and seriously affects the enthusiasm of tutors.

2 Effective Measures to Improve Graduate Matriculate Quality

2.1 Improving the popularity of colleges or universities,strengthening the publicity of internal and external admission Externally,construction of network information platform for postgraduate enrollment should be strengthened,and graduate enrollment policies,exam announcements and registration information are timely pushed by making full use of communication tools such as mainstream education media websites,school official websites,official WeChat and Weibo[1,5].Self-promotion should be strengthened in the era of"Internet+",and publicity on various common and important platform should be intensified,especially highlighting the characteristics of disciplines and specialty,quality of postgraduate training,beautiful campus environment and attractive grants.From the candidate’s point of view,schools with high reputation and social recognition have more famous teachers,better research platforms,better student groups,better academic atmosphere and higher employment level.Enrollment publicity should promote intercollegiate exchanges and cooperation through various channels and opportunities.For example,special persons are organized to do enrollment publicity,introduce discipline construction and postgraduate training in schools of target students;the leaders of research teams introduce the research direction and teaching staff of the team;students are invited to visit key laboratories and other scientific research platforms.The propaganda film should conform to the aesthetic taste of contemporary college students,so that students are willing to read and spread[3].

Internally,in order to retain talented students of this school,undergraduatepostgraduate successive training students are selected from undergraduate students,and incentive policies are provided to encourage applicants to apply or voluntarily register for examination[1,4].In the undergraduate class,tutors should initiatively contact and mobilize outstanding students,and do a good job of ideological work in advance.Students can enter scientific research laboratories from the beginning of their freshman year,and determine their intention to register for examination in advance,with firm faith.In addition,precious time can be saved for planning and arranging their own future,and they can know about the laboratory in advance,enter the laboratory and carry out scientific research experiments,so that they can reach the level of quasi master in the last year of undergraduate study[4-5].

2.2 Improving the evaluation system for graduate matriculate quality The main tasks of graduate enrollment are to improve the matriculate quality,optimize the selection mechanism and perfect the evaluation system of graduate matriculate quality.Compared with traditional way of matriculate selection,evaluation system of matriculate quality has the characteristics of strong logical correlation,clear definition,detailed behavior indicators,etc.,which makes matriculate characteristics more visual,concrete,and easy to be identified[1,5-6].On the one hand,the evaluation system of matriculate quality highlights the analysis of scientific research potential and increases tests on psychological problems of candidates,which comprehensively evaluates enrollment quality,cultivation quality and development quality,playing the guiding role of matriculate quality in resource allocation.On the other hand,it is convenient for the evaluation of enrollment units,and further strengthens the main body role of enrollment units,postgraduate tutor and candidates of graduate students.Facing all sorts of candidate groups,the evaluation and selection process should be standardized and objective,and the evaluation system for graduate matriculate quality should be reasonably formulated[1].For example,matriculate quality assurance system is constructed by improving application conditions of candidates with comparable educational background,increasing the intensity of recommendation without examination,creating professional recruitment group to carry out publicity activities,and establishing information feedback system.Construction of assurance system for graduate matriculate quality is a systematic and complicated long process.Universities and colleges must strengthen discipline construction and standardize constitution system according to their talent cultivation orientation,construct assurance system for graduate matriculate quality suitable for the reality of graduate education,and steadily promote the continuous improvement of the quality of graduate education[2,4].

2.3 Setting up incentive policies and improve subsidization system In order to attract talented students to apply for the exam,appropriate incentive policies should be set up in view of the situation that examinees and their parents focus on the school’s scholarship and grants system,such as basic academic scholarship,enterprise sustentation fund,competition scholarship,etc.[3,6].In order to attract talented students with economic difficulties,financial subsidization system is improved centering on the concerns of students and parents,so as to reduce the study cost for candidates to the maximum extent and solve their worries.Universities and colleges should formulate detailed rules for the implementation of graduate student subsidization and awards,and adhere to the principles of openness,fairness and justice in the evaluation of all kinds of awards and loan assistance for graduate students.Universities and colleges should give full play to the role of graduate unions,carry out a number of spare time activities to enrich after-school life of graduate students.Meantime,it also creates a good learning and living environment for graduate students,and creates a positive atmosphere of public opinion,so as to boost the morale internally and establish a good image externally.

2.4 Improving enrollment management system and strengthening examination of tutors’enrollment qualification Postgraduate enrollment is a major way to select high-level talents,with high social attention,and relevant rules and regulations are the basis to ensure the smooth development of the work[1,4].Tutor is the first responsible person for postgraduate training,and the creator and disseminator of knowledge.The moral cultivation and aca-demic level of tutors determine the quality of postgraduate training.Colleges and universities should establish annual review mechanism of tutor’s enrollment qualification,pay attention to the evaluation of current year’s research level and evaluate research projects and research funds of tutors,to determine enrollment qualifications and enrollment quota of graduate tutor,thus ensuring effective implementation of scientific research training of graduate students by tutors and the quality of graduate education in the training stage[6].

2.5 Holding summer camp activities to attract more talented students from colleges and universities Before the official application of national graduate students,the link of pre-application is added,and summer camp activity of national outstanding college students is held.Colleges and universities gather talented students everywhere by organizing summer camp activities with their own characteristics,and carry out various activities such as school introduction,campus visit,academic lectures and laboratory visit to let students have a more intuitive understanding of overall situation,discipline distribution,teaching staff,hardware and software conditions of school,etc.,thus building a good communication platform for outstanding college students inside and outside the university.The recreational and interesting nature of summer camp activities promotes mutual learning and communication,and also undertakes the task of assessing whether the participants meet the training needs of disciplines,whether they have the potential of discipline cultivation,and whether to stimulate their ability of discipline innovation[4].Through the enrollment evaluation system,the students with cultivation potential are selected directly,and excellent students are included in the scope of enrollment in advance by signing the registration agreement with candidates and supplementing a variety of incentive policies.

3 Conclusions

Improving graduate matriculate quality is an important link to improve the quality of graduate training,and it is also a phased subject of higher education reform in China.By earnestly implementing the central education policy,we must actively explore new mechanism and new measures through concrete analysis of actual situation,and optimize specialty structure by reasonably distributing indexes and resources,to make good guarantee for further improving matriculate quality.Furthermore,various factors affecting matriculate quality should be considered comprehensively,in order to realize the sustainable development of graduate education.More talented students can be attracted to apply for the examination only by comprehensively improving the quality of talent training,creating highquality talents,playing a leading role in academic studies and establishing academic reputation.