Introduction of GSCAAS
Founded in 1979 and approved by the State Council in 1981, the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GSCAAS) is one of the earliest degree conferral institutions for master’s degree and doctor’s degree in China.
Backed up by 42 research institutes all over 18 provinces, municipalities or autonomous regions in China, GSCAAS runs the graduate school with the philosophy that agriculture revitalization must be realized through science and education that should be research-based and quality-oriented. Two phases of co-nurture of the graduate students is the distinct feature, that is, both the graduate school and the institutes have to team up. The graduate school is responsible for the overall enrollment, course teaching, and degree conferment. During course delivering period, the graduate school exercises full management while when courses are over, students follow their supervisors to conduct research until the time they complete their dissertation. Each institute that the students are affiliated to takes care of the management, coupled with the assistance from the graduate school. Over 30 years of exploration and development, GSCAAS has established a multi-layered and multi-typed personnel development system that includes not only Ph.D candidates, post Ph.D candidates, students working towards their master’s degree, but also foreign students and professional degree students. At present, there are over 4,400 students studying in the school, 2,900 of whom are full-time students. Over 9,600 students, who graduated from the school, are making great contributions to agricultural and economic development in China.
CAAS, as a state-level agricultural comprehensive scientific research institution, undertakes China’s basic, applied and high-tech research in agriculture. Presently, CAAS has 2 key national science projects, 6 key national labs, 32 key labs of the Ministry of Agriculture, 52 key labs of CAAS, 16 state crop and animal and poultry improvement centers and 1 branch center, 5 key national science observation field stations, 24 key field stations of the Ministry of Agriculture, 5 national engineering technology research centers, 5 national engineering lab and engineering research centers, 3 national quality supervision and testing centers, 35 ministerial centers on quality supervision and testing, 1 long-term national crop germplasm resources bank, 10 mid-term germplasm banks and 12 crop germplasm nurseries, 1 national agriculture library with a collection of more than 2.1 million copies of books in over 330 thousand categories, and 1 large database with a storage of over 80G in agricultural science and technology. In the past 50 years since its founding, CAAS has received 2,495 awards of scientific excellence, 273 of which were at national level. The research funding during the 10th and 11th Five-Year Plans adds up to RMB 4.34 billion. GSCAAS pools the resources of CAAS to provide students with well-equipped research facilities, bountiful cutting-edge research projects, ample research funding, rich library resources, first-class supervisors, and world-wide international cooperation and exchange programs. Such powerful research support is intended to facilitate students in conducting research, participating projects and developing competence in creativity.
GSCAAS has 1,652 supervisors, including 12 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering and 572 supervisors for Doctoral Programs. 8 are included in the “One Thousand Talents Plan” and 8 are in the “National Plan for the Special Support of High-level Talent” (10,000 Talents Plan). There are 39 state level experts (retirees included); 56 are enrolled in the “National Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Project” of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of P. R. China; 120 are recipients of special government grants; 14 people and 5 teams are enrolled in the “Innovative Talent Promotion Plan” put forward by the Ministry of Science and Technology; 15 have won the National Award for Youth in Science and Technology; 3 have been awarded the title of National Outstanding Professional and Technical Personnel; 7 have won the award of Chinese Outstanding Agricultural Talents; 41 are outstanding personnel in agricultural scientific research; 98 are secondary professional technical experts; and 109 are included in or candidates for the “Youth Talent Plan”. Over 350 scholars or professors are on the teaching post now. 70% of the teaching is taken by the supervisors of the graduate school. Another 30% is taken by some well-known professors, experts and scholars in the adjacent universities.
The subjects and programs that GSCAAS offers are centered on the 8 academic categories of CAAS. As a result of the optimization of the curriculum system, the courses now relate to 4 major academic categories: agriculture, natural sciences, engineering and management sciences, covering 17 primary disciplines. There are 10 Ph.D degree authorizing points in such primary disciplines as crop science, horticulture, agricultural resourcesand environment, plant protection, animal science, veterinary medicine, agrostology, ecology, agriculture and forestry economic management and biology and 53 in secondary disciplines. There are 13 master’s degree authorizing points in primary disciplines and 65 in secondary disciplines. In addition, GSCAAS has 2 professional master’s degrees’ authorizing qualification.
GSCAAS attaches close attention to the development in international education and the cutting edge in science and technology of the world today. We actively extend international cooperation. So far, we have established various bilateral exchanges and cooperation with agricultural research institutions, universities and colleges from more than 60 countries and regions. We have carried out joint Ph.D Programs with the University of Liège in Belgium, Wageningen University in Netherlands and other world famous universities. In 2007, GSCAAS was approved by the Ministry of Education to accept international students granted with the Chinese Government Scholarship (CGS). In 2008, 11 foreign students were admitted for the first time. At present, there are over 150 foreign students in total. This marks the internationalization of GSCAAS.
With its accomplishments, GSCAAS was awarded National Outstanding Institution in Degree and Postgraduate Education Management by the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Education in 1999, and Outstanding Institution in Degree and Postgraduate Education Management in Beijing in 2008. GSCAAS was honored with 4 National Top 100 Ph.D Dissertations of Excellence awards in the National Ph.D Dissertation Assessment. Another 6 were nominated. 2 were awarded with excellence in Beijing Ph.D Dissertation Assessment. Since 2002, the school has been continuously regarded as “the first class Graduate School in China”. It ranked top 30 in terms of overall competitiveness among Graduate Schools in China.
As the new force for building CAAS into a “world-class agricultural scientific research institution”, GSCAAS will stick to her motto of keeping integrity, seeking truth, studying extensively and practicing earnestly, and seek after the mission of higher-level, research-oriented, internationalized and distinct-featured educational institution. GSCAAS will strive to realize her goal of becoming a top-rate graduate school in China and internationally renowned talents base in agriculture.