Chinese Government Endorses Pratice Based Degrees

Reporting in the China Daily, Zou Shuo wrote "Practice-based degree assessments gain traction" (2026-06-16). They report that a class from East China Normal University submitted novels for their master's degrees, while China Agricultural University students submitted fertilizer and produce production plans. This is not that unusual in Australia, particularly at the masters level. As it happens, one of my students undertook a project to design a video learning system. They are now studying for a PhD, while also teaching students using this type of technology. 

Australia has introduced a Vocational Degree which will allow students to study more practical skills at vocational institutes, rather than universities. 

ps: What makes this significant is that the China Daily is an official government newspaper. I visited the HQ of the other official newspaper, the People's Daily, in 2003. 

pps: Curiously, the LinkedIn and Twitter links have swapped labels on the China Daily page: if you place your pointer over the LinkedIn icon it says "Twitter" and for Twitter it says "LinkedIn".