The Shandong Provincial Government Academic Degree Committee Office recently announced the results of the 2023 thesis sample checks for master's degree. All 72 theses from SDUT selected for check passed, marking a remarkable record of no “unqualified thesis” for ten consecutive years. This is the best performance in Shandong province since the implementation of master's thesis checks.
Previously, in the evaluation of doctoral degree thesis checks conducted by the State Council’s Academic Degree Committee and the Ministry of Education, all SDUT’s doctoral theses of the year 2023 passed as well. Since the Ministry of Education first sampled our doctoral theses, SDUT has maintained a record of no “unqualified theses” for five consecutive years.
Thesis sampling for doctoral and master's degrees is an important measure to ensure the quality of academic degrees and graduate education in China. The doctoral thesis sampling is organized by the State Council's Academic Degree Committee Office, while the master’s thesis sampling is managed by provincial Academic Degree Committees. According to the sampling guidelines, the thesis sampling is conducted annually, covering theses from the previous academic year. The sampling rate for doctoral theses is approximately 10%, and for master's theses, it is about 5%.
In recent years, SDUT has focused on strengthening the management of thesis quality, improving regulations such as the Regulations on Academic Misconduct Detection for Graduate Theses and the Review Methods for Graduate Theses, standardizing thesis writing, and optimizing key management processes including pre-review (pre-defense), review, defense, and degree application and approval. SDUT also has reinforced the quality review of finalized theses, effectively enhancing the quality of doctoral and master's theses and the overall standards for degree conferral.