China lets students replace dissertations with practical work. Is India missing a trick?

China has expanded a trial allowing postgraduate students to earn professional degrees through practical achievements instead of traditional dissertations, a development that offers India a point of comparison as it looks to strengthen industry-oriented higher education and improve the link between academic training and workplace requirements.

The policy, issued by the Office of the State Council Academic Degrees Committee, adds translation, agriculture, clinical medicine, accounting and art to the disciplines eligible for the alternative assessment route. The reform aims to recognize students' practical innovation and professional contributions more effectively.

For India, the development raises questions about how professional postgraduate programs can assess applied skills alongside conventional academic research.

The comparison is particularly relevant to courses designed to prepare students for careers in fields where practical competence is essential, although China's policy does not automatically apply to Indian institutions.

A senior Chinese official said the reform responds to growing demand for highly skilled professionals with applied expertise. Traditional dissertation-based assessments, the official said, have been considered too narrow to fully reflect professional degree students' practical innovation and contributions.

The legal foundation for the change was established in April 2024, when China's Academic Degrees Law explicitly allowed graduate students to pursue degrees through either a thesis defense or a defense of practical achievements for the first time.

In September 2024, authorities introduced trial requirements permitting engineering doctoral candidates to obtain professional degrees through either route. The initiative produced positive results, according to the official.

Since the pilot began, more than 140 students in specialized engineering master's and doctoral programs have applied for degrees based on practical achievements. Their applications have provided examples and experience that can be replicated as the reform expands to other disciplines.

The latest policy remains at the trial and exploratory stage, with implementation planned in batches, the document said.

For the five newly included disciplines, professional degree education steering committees will develop basic requirements for master's and doctoral programs. These will specify the sources, formats, content structures, writing standards and evaluation criteria for different types of practical achievements.

Universities and other degree-granting institutions will use these requirements to establish their own implementation rules. Their guidelines must cover topic selection and justification, supervision throughout the research process, and assessment procedures.

Students must complete practical achievements independently under their supervisors' guidance or serve as principal contributors responsible for the core work.

Institutions will also revise rules governing degree conferral, supervisor selection and intellectual property rights to maintain quality control throughout the process.

Earlier pilots demonstrate the alternative assessment model

Previous pilot programs have provided examples of how practical work can replace traditional dissertations in professional degree programs.

At China University of Petroleum (Beijing), master's student Zhang Baichuan defended a practical achievement in May 2025. His work involved a drilling fluid additive developed through nearly two years of research conducted in collaboration with a company.

A review panel that included three industry experts unanimously recommended awarding Zhang an engineering master's degree. The panel rated his work as "excellent."

At Shandong University, Wang Qian became the institution's first student to earn a master's degree through a practical achievement last year.

During an internship at Goertek Inc, a manufacturer of virtual reality equipment, Wang developed an optical lens bonding process. The student submitted a 45,000-word research report accompanied by a design video.

These examples show how the Chinese model connects postgraduate assessment with research and development, product design and industry collaboration. For Indian universities, they offer case studies to consider when examining whether practical outputs can demonstrate professional competence as effectively as conventional dissertations.

Translation programs to emphasize practical work

For translation students, the reform addresses a long-standing tension between academic requirements and professional training.

Hu Dan, deputy director of the Australian Studies Centre at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said requiring professional master's students to frame their work within a theoretical framework "not only departs from the original purpose of professional degree programs but also disconnects from students' curricula and employment outcomes".

"Under the proposed approach, the practical achievement for translation students will take the form of a translation practice report," she said.

Students generally select around 30,000 words of English source material, translate the text, and document and analyze the difficulties they encounter. They also explain the strategies and methods used to address those challenges, Hu added.

Although the report will discuss translation strategies, students will not be required to produce a thesis-style paper grounded in a purely academic theoretical perspective or framework, she said.

The approach highlights a broader question for professional postgraduate education in India: how can universities preserve academic rigor while allowing students to demonstrate learning through work relevant to their intended careers?

China's policy offers one possible framework for examining that question, with defined requirements for supervision, authorship and evaluation. Whether a similar approach would suit Indian programs would depend on discipline-specific needs, assessment standards and the regulations governing each degree.

What China's reform means for India

China's decision raises a relevant question for India: whether postgraduate students in professional programs should be assessed exclusively through traditional dissertations or also through practical work that demonstrates their ability to solve real-world problems.

In India, the discussion is relevant to professional courses in agriculture, clinical medicine, translation, accounting and the arts, where practical training forms an important part of preparing students for their careers. Industry-linked projects, clinical work, translation portfolios and applied research can demonstrate skills that a conventional academic dissertation may not fully capture.

However, China's policy does not automatically change degree requirements in India. Any similar arrangement would need to comply with the regulations governing the relevant Indian qualifications and be developed by the appropriate regulatory bodies and universities.

The Chinese model also raises questions about how institutions would assess practical submissions consistently, establish students' individual contributions, protect intellectual property and prevent industry involvement from compromising academic independence.

For Indian higher education, the central issue is not simply replacing dissertations but determining whether alternative forms of assessment can maintain academic standards while better reflecting the professional competencies postgraduate programs are designed to develop. China's phased trial offers a case study for that debate, although its effectiveness will depend on implementation and evaluation.