1.Introduction

The School of Education at Soochow University awards master and doctoral scholars to become active participants in the learning, development, and achievement of all kind fields. The discipline of Higher Education in Soochow University began in the mid-1980s. For over 30 years, it has made a great contribution in the academic and scientific research based on long history and traditions to guide the education. Now it becomes the Key Education Subject in Jiangsu Province. At the doctoral level, we are preparing the students to become theorists, researchers, and administrators who have lasting impacts on institutional efforts to enhance education. The students will obtain a solid foundation on how to apply theories of student development and learning to administrative, programming advising, policy-making, and faculty roles on behalf of students from diverse groups at varied institutions of higher education. The Doctor Program focuses on application of theory and research to the study of higher education. Students pursuing this degree should have a commitment to research, writing, teaching, and administrative work in college, university and government settings.

2.Research Directions

(1)History and Theory of Higher Education

(2)Curriculum and Teaching Methodology in College and University

(3)Comparative Higher Education

(4)Higher Educational Economics and Management

(5)Higher Vocational Education

(6)Educational Psychology & Higher Education

3.Training Objectives

The PhD students of Higher Education should have broad basic theory and specialized knowledge of the discipline, should grasp and fully understand the major issues of the history, current situation and development tendency of relevant subjects. They should also know the preceding issues and research level of Higher Education study. We hope the students could perform the Higher Education study independently and creatively, and become the professional personnel on theoretical and administration basis.

The students’ knowledge domain should cover: the Chinese’s historical and foreign higher education development and relevant historical theory. Further, the relationship between higher education and the social development and its related theory of politics, sociology, economics, etc. These processes enhance the relationship between higher education and human development, theory of philosophy, psychology, higher education organization as well as management behavior. and its related management theory, the major countries’ important dynamic and trend of the development of higher education,. In future they can solve the major practical problems of reformation and development of China’s higher education and its associated policies and regulations, the methods, means and corresponding academic norms.

4.Program Duration

In principle, full time PhD students are expected to complete their studies and earn their degrees in 3~8 years, and they will be disqualified from the program after 8 years. The outstanding students who completed their course study, prescribed research work and dissertation ahead of schedule can apply for doctoral degree with no less than 1.5 years.

5.Supervisor or Doctoral Guidance

The supervisor and doctoral guidance group is responsible for the training of PhD students. Supervisor and guidance group are responsible for drawing up the training project and guiding the dissertation totally. The PhD students should work on the scientific research project independently under the supervision of the supervisor or doctoral guidance group. The students should master the pedagogical theories and methods systematically through credit course.

6.Credits Requirements

Students are required to complete at least 15 degree credits from courses in Section 7 with no less than 4 credits of the core courses. Moreover, every students is also required to commit several presentation/lectures that are closely relevant to his/her research project, attend academic conferences/workshops for at least 30 times, which will be counted for 2 credits. In addition, the required course credits can be up to more than 15 credits if that is necessary in terms of their knowledge background and the research project he/she participant.

7.Curriculum

8.Training Procedure

(1) Publication Requirements

Doctoral students must publish articles in journals before graduation, journal list is based on the journal classification of Soochow University. He/ she should publish one article in first category journals at least, or two articles in second category journals or three articles in third category journals instead.

(2) Opening Report

Under the guidance of supervisor, students should prepare a review on his research topic and a thesis proposal. The thesis proposal must be checked and passed by a professor group organized by the college. The topic of dissertation should be advanced with important theoretical significance and application value.

(3) Mid-term Report

When entering the intermediate stage of research, students must put forward the reports about the progress of the work achievements, reflect the existing problems, listen to the comments and suggestions of supervisor and guidance group, and improve the research work, so as to ensure that research project can complete on schedule.

(4) Finalizing of dissertation

Dissertation must show that the doctoral student have firm and broad basic theory, and systematic and in-depth expertise. He/ she have the ability to perform scientific research independently, and make creative achievements in the scientific work. After finishing the research, data collection, chart production and theory analysis, the student should write out thesis draft. In principle, dissertation should be written and defended in Chinese. Chinese abstract should be provided if dissertation is written in English. Formal dissertation should be formed after checked and revised by supervisor, and should be printed in the form of book.

(5)Thesis defense

PhD Students should get required credit and complete training Program and published relative papers before thesis defense application. If the student fails the oral defense of his dissertation, he must revise the dissertation according to the suggestions from the oral defense committee and apply for another oral defense chance.

School of Education, Soochow University

2017.9.12