Discipline category: the top level of China's catalogue of postgraduate fields
Unofficial entry · Sources checked
A discipline category (学科门类) is the top level of the Graduate Education Discipline and Programme Catalogue (2022) (研究生教育学科专业目录（2022年）), issued by notice 学位〔2022〕15号 of the State Council Academic Degrees Committee and the Ministry of Education. The catalogue divides postgraduate fields into discipline categories, first-level disciplines and professional degree categories. See also Universities and degrees on this site.
Definition
Discipline categories carry two-digit codes. First-level disciplines and professional degree categories carry four-digit codes. In a four-digit code, a third digit of 5 or higher marks a professional degree category (explanatory notes, item 三).
Apart from the interdisciplinary category (交叉学科), each first-level discipline confers its degree under the discipline category to which it belongs (explanatory notes, item 四). A first-level discipline that the catalogue marks as able to confer degrees in different discipline categories may belong to more than one category. The degree-awarding unit's degree evaluation committee decides the category under which such a discipline confers its degree (explanatory notes, item 六).
What the official text says
The English wording below is this site's translation of the Chinese text.
Degree Law of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国学位法), Article 2. The Article provides that degrees are bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, including academic and professional degree types, and that they are conferred by discipline category, professional degree category and other categories.
The 14 discipline categories, as printed in the catalogue:
| Code | Discipline category (Chinese as printed) | English rendering (this site's translation) |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Scope of the catalogue. The explanatory notes, item 一, state that the catalogue is the basic basis for degree authorization review, discipline management, and degree conferral and talent training by degree-awarding units. They state that it applies to master's and doctoral degree conferral, admission and training, discipline development, education statistics, and employment guidance services.
Conferral of professional degrees. Professional degree categories confer degrees by name. A name followed by "*" may confer only professional master's degrees. Other names may confer professional master's and professional doctoral degrees (explanatory notes, item 五).
Background. The explanatory notes, item 二, state that the catalogue was compiled on the basis of the earlier Degree Conferral and Talent Training Discipline Catalogue (学位授予和人才培养学科目录), first issued in 2011 and revised in 2018.
Transition. The notice's implementation section states the following, item by item:
- The new catalogue takes effect from 2023 (notice, item 一).
- Doctoral and master's degree-granting programmes that must adjust under the new catalogue will follow adjustment measures to be notified separately (notice, item 二).
- The new round of postgraduate admission and training launched in the second half of 2023 follows the new catalogue, according to the adjustment results for doctoral and master's programmes. Training for enrolled students, and for students whose admission started in 2022 and who entered in September 2023, continues under the original disciplines (notice, item 三).
Related terms
- First-level discipline (一级学科), explanatory notes, item 一
- Professional degree category (专业学位类别), explanatory notes, items 三 and 五
- Interdisciplinary category (交叉学科), explanatory notes, item 四
- Degree-awarding unit (学位授予单位), explanatory notes, item 六
- Degree Law, Article 2
- Universities and degrees
Sources
- Graduate Education Discipline and Programme Catalogue (2022) — Ministry of Education of the PRC
- Degree Law of the People's Republic of China — Ministry of Education of the PRC
Checked 11 October 2026.
This entry is an unofficial summary. It is not legal or immigration advice and is not published by the bodies named. If the official text and the instructions of the body handling your case differ, the official text and those instructions prevail.