In order to get a whole picture of the implementation of mid-term test in all colleges, and fully understand the opinions and advice from doctoral students on it, the Graduate School held one special forum on October 20 in the Siming campus and another one on October 24 in the Xiang’an campus. Vice dean of the Graduate School, professor Tao Tao attended the forum along with Xue Chenglong and Xu Lan, vice director of office of academic affairs. 46 doctoral students of year 2014 from 28 different colleges also attended the forum which was hosted by Professor Tao Tao.

    Firstly, on behalf of the Graduate School, Prof Tao expressed his gratitude to all students for attending the forum. Then he pointed out that by implementing the mid-term test to redistribute doctoral students, we have got an important instrument to comprehensively explore students’ research abilities and potentials, a solid safeguard on regulating training process and improving training quality and an effective way to enhance their competitiveness. The Graduate School has applied the mid-term test to all doctoral students of year 2014 to redistribute them or weed out the disqualified. Although the work has been steadily carried out, its implementation still needs further improvement. All students are encouraged to put forward reasonable advice by incorporating their own experience to it, making it more regulated and scientific in the future to achieve expected goals.

    With a relaxing atmosphere, all students actively engaged in the discussion and expressed their opinions. They explained the form and content of the mid-term test in their own college and shared their understandings of it. It is widely held that carrying out mid-term test is necessary. It brings about not only pressures but also motives, forcing students to spend more time studying. Ma Shiwei from Taiwan Research Institute said that as the test selects questions randomly and has a strict standard, it forces them to read more papers, enriching their knowledge and laying a solid foundation for academic career. Zhang Qinfu from College of Material said that during the test, experts would give targeted advice basing on the progress of their research, helping them solving difficulties and guiding them through research. Jiang Yetao from College of Energy said that the mid-term test aims at selecting qualified students to do scientific research and ensuring high-level productions. It is a win-win situation as it is responsible to both students and supervisors. Cheng Qingdong from School of Law said that an incentive system should be introduced into the test because it can encourage students to study more actively. Chen Qinghua from School of Life Science said that since the research progress of students who got their master’s degree in XMU is different from that of students who got their master’s degree in other universities, their test time should be different. Lin Yu from Medical College said that the content should be further specified to target different disciplines, directions and fields, thus the test can achieve better results. What’s more, students held the opinion that the test should be further regulated, such as figuring out a timetable, detailed requirements and scoring criteria. At the same time, it is hoped that the test can be more flexible, being able to be adjusted to different conditions.

    Tao Tao thanked all students for their affirmations of the work. He pointed out that it is a standard practice of first-class international universities to carry out mid-term test, its importance and effectiveness has been widely accepted. The aim of adopting mid-term test in XMU is not weeding out students, but urging and warning them to study harder. By doing so, we can improve the research potential and training quality of doctoral students, catching up with international standards. Based on students’ advice, the Graduate School will carefully study relevant issues and actively communicate with every college to gradually improve and regulate the test.