A Study On Effectiveness And Limitations Of Application-assessment System For Doctoral Enrollment In China

With the continuous expansion of the enrollment scale of doctoral students,how to select high-quality doctoral students has become a widespread concern of the education department and universities.In recent years,the application-assessment system has gradually become the main way to recruit doctoral students,but there are also a series of controversies.This study explores the effectiveness and limitations of the policy by using methods of literature analysis and questionnaires.The effectiveness of the application-assessment system is mainly reflected in the effectiveness of policy implementation and policy results.The effectiveness of policy implementation lies in the protection of the basic rights and interests of supervisors and candidates.For supervisors,they gain more autonomy in enrollment;for candidates,power balance between expert groups and supervisors improves the fairness of selection.What's more,the timely update of enrollment information breaks the barriers of information asymmetry and the consultation and appeal platform helps candidates to protect their interests.The effectiveness of the policy results means that the application-assessment system is conducive to attracting high-quality students and candidates can choose their favorite supervisors.Regression analysis shows that: scientific application materials,clear examination indexes,supervisors have more autonomy in enrollment,the supervisors keep fair and just principle in enrollment,the opinions of expert groups are valued,effective examination of candidates' professional level and scientific research ability in interview,the supervision and restriction mechanism is improved and the supporting establishment of Ph.D.students diversion and elimination system have a significant positive impact on attracting high-quality students,but supervisors care about the construction level of candidates' graduate colleges has a significant negative effect on attracting high-quality students.Necessary application materials,supervisors put more emphasis on quality of candidates' master's theses,candidates' research achievements,study motivation,research plans and interview performance have a significant positive impact on candidates' selection of favorite supervisors.Limitations of the application-assessment system are that the formulation of the policy needs to be improved,some negative impacts on fairness.The imperfections ofpolicy formulation are reflected in the fact that some application materials required to be submitted are not necessary,assessment indexes are not clear,and candidates' integrity and academic ethics are been overlooked.The negative impacts on fairness lie in the restrictions of the construction level of the universities candidates are graduated from,supervisors pay excessive attention on candidates' publication achievements and the power of supervisors has rent-seeking space.The problem of the policy is also reflected in the development expectation is limited.Less than half of the doctoral students think that application-assessment system can replace the traditional way of enrollment in the future.The causes of these problems can be attributed to the facts that the interaction between policy formulation and actual situation is not good,there are some mistakes in the process of policy implementation,lack of some supporting mechanisms and potential negative impacts of Chinese traditional concepts.In order to solve these problems,this research puts forward the following suggestions.First,improving policy formulation,including optimize the existing enrollment evaluation standards and streamlining the application materials required to be submitted.Second,raising the structural level of assessment process.Third,clarifying the main forces of enrollment,and defining the scope of authority of enrollment management departments,and supervisors and expert groups.Fourth,establishing and improving the mechanism for supervision and restriction,Ph.D.students diversion and elimination system and the feedback mechanism of enrollment quality.