A Needs-Based Investigation Of The Academic English Postgraduate Program

The higher education in our country is just in the transitional phase from the stage of "supply restriction" to that of "needs oriented". The ultimate purpose of all the reforms and improvements is, on one hand, to "cultivate more high-level professionals to meet the needs of social and economic development", and on the other hand, " to cater for specific needs of students with different backgrounds"(Wan Ming 2013:45). In recent years, Chinese English graduate’ education has been expanding substantially, with its number growing and its programs becoming more and more varied. For the program of academic-oriented type of English graduates, how to characterize itself and seek better development in this context is of high necessity.Research on graduate education has a long history. However, scholars and experts tend to employ a macro perspective and neglect the characteristics of specific disciplines (e.g. Burton Clark,2001; Lu Ping,2006; Wan Ming,2013). As for the studies on English postgraduate education, most of them linger on the micro level, laying much emphasis on language skills and academic competence (e.g. Jiang Yajun,2013; Ma Dongmei, Liu Jiangang,2013). Therefore, this research probe into the feasibility of program for academic-oriented English graduates, taking Central China Normal University as an example. The study investigates academic-oriented English graduates’perception of their cultivating program, their needs of personal developments and social recruiters’ requirements for graduates of English major, aiming at finding out the room for improvement of the current program and exploring practical suggestions.Based on the data collected from the questionnaire and the interviews, we may safely draw the conclusion that most of the students feel satisfied with their program and think that it has benefited them a lot in strengthening their academic competence, enhancing their employment competitiveness and achieving self-realization. And the analysis on recruitment information from several representative websites also revealed that English graduates, especially those in CCNU, are favored by different recruiting parties. However, the current program is far from perfect. There are still some demerits related it. First, there’s a gap between the objectives of the program and the expectations of recruiting parities. Second, the current course arrangement is to be perfected to meet the needs of both students and different recruiting parties. Third, more strict requirements from supervisors and regular group activities are expected. Fourth, the implementation of practicums and academic activities should be stressed and given more rigid standard. Last, more attentions should be paid to students’ academic competence. Besides, insufficient consciousness of scientific research, unclear mind of personal needs for future development are revealed as demerits of students. Based on the results of the study, some suggestions for the school authorities on how to perfect the program and advice for students about how to make better use of their graduate education experience were given.This research can hopefully provide the school authority and the students with a whole picture of program, so that they can make their own contributions to overcoming the demerits of the current program, thus enabling it to better serve academic-oriented English graduates’ education.