Why do Masters Degrees in China take 3 years?

[Joholic]

Hiii, everyone

is there any one knows why time studying master degree in China until 3 years. does anyone know the reason of the experience? could be from the curriculum, internships. When compared with the US and EU are mostly just 2 years

Thanx

johan

[kdavid]

I can't speak for all programs, but of the three years of my program, we only attend class for 1.5. The other year and a half is for "research" and "interning". However, it doesn't appear much research is being done (at least not by my classmates yet), nor does it appear the university assists in helping us arrange any relevant internships.

Back in 2007ish, I read that comparatively speaking, China's education system is one of the most expensive in the world. Clearly, it's in the school's financial interest to prolong graduation in order to make more money. (Students pay tuition for the full 3 years even though they're only in class for 1.5.)

In addition, it's even better for the school to charge for three years, but only provide 1.5. This way they can turn over more students in a shorter amount of time, therefore increasing their bottom line.

[gato]

My understanding is that in the Mao period (1949 to 1966), most new college teachers only had undergraduate degrees. They were often just the best students in the class who were asked to stay to become teachers. But at that time, there were still older teachers with graduate degrees, often earned abroad prior to 1949 (there are many returnees in the 1920s-1940s with PhDs from Cornell, Harvard, and Princeton, for example). Then during the Cultural Revolution, the universities closed and most teachers were sent down to work in the farms.

When universities opened again in 1977, graduate programs were slowly started. Master's degrees at that time were meant to train scholars. They were really China's version of the PhD. Most departments at that time only admitted a handful of Master's students every year. So 3 years is actually a bit short for the equivalent of a PhD degree is actually short.

You can see from this list below that the first PhD degrees in law were actually only awarded in the late 1980s. Before that, Master's degrees were the highest degrees awarded.

http://zhidao.baidu..../276622171.html

中国第一个法学博士是谁？

But nowadays, Master's degree are more of a terminal degree designed to polish up your resume (b/c there are too many with bachelor's degrees). There have been attempts to reduce Master's programs to 2 years, but for some reason, they have not been successful. Money may have something to do with it.

http://www.people.co...55/2002454.html

从北大学制缩短质疑硕士生的培养目标

据《京华时报》消息：从2004级开始，北京大学研究生学制将进行年限调整。硕士生学习年限缩短一年，调整为两年；硕士起点博士生的基本学习年限由原先的3年延长为4年。北大招生办主任生玉海介绍，增加博士学习年限主要是让博士生有更充足的时间撰写论文。笔者不禁有个疑问：同样需要撰写论文，为什么博士阶段的时间延长而硕士学习时间减少了呢？难道攻读硕士就不需要有充足的时间写论文？这几年来由于硕士生每年不低于30％的扩张，在校研究生的规模已经是1978年恢复研究生招生制度时的18倍。

http://61.167.199.36...%D0%B8%C4%B8%EF

主持人：当初，我国的硕士教育学制从最初整齐划一的三年制部分变为两年制，是基于怎样的考虑，是否符合我国研究生教育改革的方向？两年制硕士生有何优势？

刘姝伶：我认为，两年制的硕士最为明显的优势是能够通过缩短学习年限来尽快投入社会工作。一方面，两年制硕士生在就业时具有年龄优势；另一方面，也有利于硕士生克服自己的就业浮躁情绪。对于一些想尽快就业的硕士生而言，三年制反而容易滋生他们的浮躁情绪，使得大多数人难以平衡学业和就业的关系，最终也收不到三年制硕士生的预期培养效果。

别敦荣：硕士教育学制由三年调整为两年，一方面是因为高等教育国际化的影响。欧美国家高校硕士教育学制普遍较短，几乎没有三年制的，为了与国际接轨，很多大学实施硕士教育学制改革，将三年制调整为两年制。另一方面，近年来，高校毕业研究生就业趋向的变化显示出两年制硕士教育的社会需求在增长。据统计，近年来，硕士毕业生在高校和科研设计单位以外就业的超过50%。因此，面向社会企事业单位应用型人才需求，缩短硕士生学习年限，建立新的硕士教育体系是我国研究生教育改革的一个重要趋势。

[skylee]

As far as I understand, in Hong Kong (which is part of China), there are two streams of masters degrees (at least in the publicly-funded universities) - taught and research. If I am not mistaken a taught degree programme (for which the students pay in full) usually takes two years. For a research degree, which is ususally an MPhil and subsidised by the government, it will take three years.

[Joholic]

@kdavid: Ok. now, I know so the reason about money.if get study by government scholarship. possible to reduce long study less than 3 year? let say suppose capable of being settle research faster , the task of a college another . whether a system of there to allow like that?

@gato: thanx u so much for your review. very clear and know what the reason and history china education

@skylee: I think the education in Hong Kong is different even though they are one country due to differences in systems of Government.

[Brian US]

My masters program is two years with only one year of class. The second year is to write our thesis, but one teacher even recommended finishing it over the summer so you can work instead.

[Don]

is there any master program in China with coursework only ?

[yialanliu]

I think for locals, it's 3 years, however for foreigners in programs designed for foreigners the requirement can change dramatically.

While you might think it's for money, almost every public school loses money without governemtn subsidy so that argument is moot. PKU gets a subsidy of 18 billion RMB a year just to operate. Even foreigner's tuition isn't that much when compared with the billions of RMB the government subsidizes. Chinese schooling is "cheap". Think about how much college costs, even for public universities and make that comparison to China.

Back to history, it is correct. My dad was a professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University(one of the premier univerisities) with only a masters prior to immigrating to the US. That probably has a lot to do with it. At the same time, I think it might have to do with the fact that PhDs in China are often shorter than abroad with most lasting for 3 years I believe. So combined, total education until PhD remains the same.

[joshuawbb]

At Xiamen University, it's 3 years for locals and foreigners wishing to take such local Masters; as has been said above it's 1.5 years taught and 1.5 years self-written along with work. There are masters here intended for foreigners, and I think they may be two years. Those tend to be limited though - in Xiamen University one can only choose from TCFL (Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language), Chinese Culture and one or two others, I can't quite remember. There is however a separate economics department offering separate masters degrees, though the fees of these are comparable to some UK institutions.

The 3 year thing is the one thing keeping me uncertain about whether or not to pursue a masters here. I don't want to graduate at 26 with no formal work experience, so I'd always hoped for 1 or 2 years.