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Academic degree: the research-oriented type of degree in China's Degree Law

Unofficial entry · Sources checked

An academic degree (学术学位) is one of the degree types named in Article 2 of the Degree Law of the People's Republic of China. Article 2 lists academic degrees alongside professional degrees (专业学位) and other types, and says degrees are awarded by discipline category and professional degree category. Degree-awarding institutions are covered under Universities and degrees.

Definition

Article 2 of the Degree Law says that the State operates a degree system. It says degrees are bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, and that they include academic degrees, professional degrees and other types. It says they are awarded according to discipline category, professional degree category and other classifications.

What the official text says

The English on this page is this site's own translation of the Chinese text of the Law, the press Q&A and the catalogue.

Master's level, Article 20. Article 20 of the Degree Law says that a master's degree is awarded where the applicant, through the prescribed course assessments or the completion of the required credits, has completed academic research training or professional practice training, has passed the thesis defence or the prescribed practice-results defence, and has reached the following levels:

  1. mastery of solid basic theory and systematic specialist knowledge in the discipline or professional field;
  2. an academic degree applicant shall have the ability to engage in academic research work; a professional degree applicant shall have the ability to undertake professional practice work.

Doctoral level, Article 21. Article 21 of the Degree Law says that a doctoral degree is awarded on the same training, assessment and defence basis as Article 20, where the applicant has reached the following levels:

  1. mastery of solid and comprehensive basic theory and systematic and in-depth specialist knowledge in the discipline or professional field;
  2. an academic degree applicant shall have the ability to engage independently in academic research work; a professional degree applicant shall have the ability to undertake professional practice work independently;
  3. an academic degree applicant shall produce innovative results in the field of academic research; a professional degree applicant shall produce innovative results in the field of professional practice.

Article 20 and Article 21 set no time limit for either degree.

Press Q&A, Question 6. Question 6 of the press Q&A on the Degree Law explains the words "academic degrees, professional degrees and other types" in Article 2. The answer says the words "等类型" (and other types) leave institutional room for other degree types to be set up in practice. The answer describes a 2023 opinion of the Ministry of Education on the differentiated development of academic and professional graduate education. According to the answer, that opinion states that the two types have equal status and equal importance, and that both are important routes for training high-level innovative talent. The answer also says the opinion calls for differentiated requirements for the two types in positioning, standards, admission, training, evaluation and faculty. The opinion itself is not part of the text reviewed for this entry; the statements above are the answer's description of it.

Catalogue, explanatory notes. The explanatory notes of the Graduate Education Discipline and Programme Catalogue (2022) set out the following:

  • Note 1: the catalogue is the basic basis for degree-authorisation review, discipline management, and the awarding of master's and doctoral degrees and the training work of degree-awarding units.
  • Note 3: discipline category codes have two digits; first-level discipline and professional degree category codes have four digits, and a third digit from "5" onward marks a professional degree category.
  • Note 4: except the interdisciplinary category, each first-level discipline awards degrees under its discipline category.
  • Note 5: a professional degree category is awarded by its name. A name followed by "*" may be awarded only as a professional master's degree; other names may be awarded as professional master's or doctoral degrees.
  • Note 6: where the catalogue lists a first-level discipline that may award degrees under different discipline categories, the category is decided by the degree committee of the awarding institution.

Discipline categories. The catalogue lists the following fourteen discipline categories. English names are this site's translation.

Code Discipline category (Chinese) English name
01 哲学 Philosophy
02 经济学 Economics
03 法学 Law
04 教育学 Education
05 文学 Literature
06 历史学 History
07 理学 Science
08 工学 Engineering
09 农学 Agronomy
10 医学 Medicine
11 军事学 Military Science
12 管理学 Management
13 艺术学 Arts
14 交叉学科 Interdisciplinary

Related terms

  • Professional degree (专业学位)
  • Discipline category (学科门类)
  • First-level discipline (一级学科)
  • Professional degree category (专业学位类别)
  • Interdisciplinary category (交叉学科)

Sources

Checked 11 October 2026.

This entry is an unofficial summary. It is not legal or immigration advice, it is not published by the bodies named, and where it differs from the official text or from the instructions of the body handling your case, the official text and those instructions prevail.

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