(Information
as at 29 July 2020)
What is a “Second Bachelor’s Degree“？
The “Second Bachelor’s Degree program” (SBD) is a
domestic higher education scheme that allows students to pursue a second
Bachelor’s degree after successfully obtaining a first Bachelor’s degree. The
SBD is different to a “double degree” or “double major”, both of which are offered
while students are completing their first degree. It is also not considered a
postgraduate degree despite the student having already obtained an
undergraduate degree.
The pilot program for SBDs was launched in 1987 by the
then State Education Commission, which later became the Ministry of Education
(MoE).[1] In July 2019, the MoE
announced the SBD program would be officially cancelled.[2] The program was in
place for over 30 years, but as postgraduate enrolment increased in China and
universities began to offer double degree/double majors, its popularity began
to wane.
Less than a year later, however, in May 2020, the MoE
reversed the 2019 decision issuing the Notice by the General Office of the Ministry
of Education for higher education institutions to continue enrolling students
for Second Bachelor’s Degrees [3] (the Notice). See Appendix
A for an unofficial translation. It is understood the
change was made to address employment difficulties faced by graduates from
higher education institutions (HEIs) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SBD is a two-year full-time program that is registered under China’s higher education registration
management system, making it an officially recognised qualification. Students
are taught core subjects required by the major. However, given the shortened
timeframe, students are not required to complete internships as part of their
SBD program, which are required in most first Bachelor’s degrees.
Who is eligible?
According to the MoE’s Notice, students who are in
their last year of undergraduate studies, have graduated with a Bachelor’s
degree in the current year (often referred to as “fresh graduates”),
or within the past three years and are currently unemployed, are eligible for
the SBD program.
Students are allowed to apply for an SBD major from a
different subject group from their first Bachelor’s degree, or an SBD major
from the same subject group but different major from their first Bachelor’s
degree. For example, “law” is a subject group, and “intellectual property law”
is a major within that subject group.
Who can offer SBDs?
According to the MoE’s Notice, Chinese HEIs are
encouraged to offer SBDs, as long as the institution has passed the undergraduate
teaching assessment conducted by the MoE.
The priority disciplines for SBDs are those identified as being of
national importance and include public
health and preventive medicine, emergency technology and management, electronic
information, big data, cyberspace security, circuits, energy and power, biology
and medicine, aged care, household service and other related areas. HEIs
can also set up SBDs in areas within the institution’s capability that are in
high demand by students. In addition, HEIs can offer SBDs in their Double
First-Class disciplines.
HEIs will decide what majors to offer and submit the proposal to the
managing government body for approval. For example, proposals by MoE-affiliated
universities will be approved by the MoE; proposals by provincial government
affiliated universities will be approved by the provincial government. Once the
process is complete, the approved list will be sent to the MoE to be retained
on file and published.
What are the benefits of an SBD?
The main aim of the SBD
program is to produce graduates with greater inter-disciplinary ability, in priority disciplines as identified in
recent Government-issued development plans. At this particular time, the SBD
program has the additional aim of alleviating the unemployment levels of higher
education graduates due to COVID-19 - keeping students engaged in the education
system rather than in the job market.
For students, the SBD allows
them to gain knowledge in an area that is different to their first degree,
which may increase their competitiveness in the job market in the future. Some
also see the SBD as an opportunity for a second “take-off”. In order to comprehend
the benefit of an SBD for students, it is important to understand what
incentives “fresh graduates” have over other graduates in the China market.
“Fresh graduates” – those that are
in their last year of undergraduate studies or have graduated from HEIs in the
current year - have major advantages in the employment market over graduates
from previous years. There are many employment fairs and attractive job
positions that are reserved for fresh graduates and they are targeted for many
national and local level government employment policies and incentives.
In March 2020, the State Council issued a document to promote business
activities and support employment.[4] The
document specifically mentioned the increase in state-owned enterprise’s recruitment
of fresh graduates. Both Shanghai [5]and Henan [6]quickly responded to the call
and announced at least 50% of state-owned enterprise’s new recruitment
positions this year will be allocated to fresh graduates from local
universities. On a regular basis, local governments also provide rent/allowance
subsidies to fresh graduates that work in or start-up companies in the region.
The Chinese Government has
also called on individual universities to offer targeted support to graduates
to find employment. In Fujian Province, HEIs were recently tasked to ensure
that no less than 70% of new graduates this year are employed by 1 September. [7]
Why not a Masters?
Completing an SBD may take a similar amount of time as a Master’s degree
– which is also often a two-year full-time program. However, the admissions
process for SBD is much simpler and faster than a Master’s degree. Master’s
degrees are also more competitive with most students gaining admission through
competitive testing – the “National Postgraduate Entrance Examination (NPEE)”.[8]
In 2020, more than 3.41 million students will sit the NPEE, up by 510,000 from
the previous year, making it another record high year.[9] Most students would
say that the NPEE is almost as challenging and competitive as the National
College Entrance Exam (Gaokao) if students want to get into a top university.
In contrast, the SBD admissions requirement is set by individual
universities, and usually does not involve a separate test. According to the
2020 SBD Admissions Scheme published by China University of Political science
and Law[10], the university’s SBD program is only open to students that have
graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from the university in 2020. Students will
be admitted based on their eligibility and do not need to take an entrance
exam.
Going forward
On 10 July 2020, the MoE
published the list of HEIs that will offer SBDs in 2020.[11]According to the list, 497 HEIs will be
offering a total of 3,426 SBD programs this year. The list includes HEIs at
every mainland province/municipality/autonomous region, and the majority of
SBDs are offered by HEIs that are administered by provincial level governments.
SBDs are also offered at 36 MoE affiliated top universities including Fudan
University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Nankai University.
Engineering-related degrees
take up about a third of the SBDs that are offered, followed by management-related
degrees (14%) and science-related degrees (13.5%). “English” (including English and Business
English) is offered by 147 HEIs, higher than any other program, followed by
“Computer science and technology” and “Law”, which are offered by 132 HEIs and
113 HEIs respectively.
Appendix A
Notice
by the General Office of the Ministry of Education for higher education
institutions to continue enrolling students for Second Bachelor’s Degrees
(Unofficial translation of 教育部办公厅关于在普通高校继续开展第二学士学位教育的通知 by the Education and Research
Section, Australian Embassy China)
28 May 2020
To: The Education Department
(Education Commission) of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, the
Education Bureau of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, the education
department (bureau) of the relevant departments (bureaus), ministry affiliated
the higher education institutions and higher education institutions established
by ministry and provincial level governments
The Second Bachelor’s Degree
(SBD) is a form of post-undergraduate education and is an important pathway for
developing inter-disciplinary professionals. In order to implement the spirit
set out in the “Implementation opinion on strengthening
stability of employment in response to COVID-19 pandemic by the General Office of the State Council”[12], further optimise education and the structure
for training professionals and provide more options for further studies to
higher education graduates, it was decided, after consultation, to continue
with implementing the SBD in regular higher education institutions. The
relevant measures are to follow.
1. Higher education
institutions (HEIs) that have passed the undergraduate teaching assessment conducted by the
Ministry of Education (MoE) for five years or more can apply to offer SBDs.
2. HEIs can enrol
students into its existing SBD majors, and/or apply to the MoE to set up new
SBD majors in majors that it is currently qualified to offer bachelor’s degree
in. SBDs that were previously withdrawn will need to reapply to be filed with
the MoE. The filing of SBD will be carried out at the same time as application
for regular new undergraduate programs.
3. HEIs are
encouraged to offer SBDs, there will be an additional round of application for
SBD filing in 2020. HEIs will be supported to offer SBD in areas that are of
national importance, including: public health and preventive medicine,
emergency technology and management, electronic information, big data,
cyberspace security, circuits, energy power, biology and medicine, aged care,
housekeeping and related areas, as well as majors that HEIs are capable to
offer and are in demand. HEIs are also encouraged to set up SBDs in disciplines
that are included in the “Double First Class” disciplines development scheme.
4. The enrolment
quota for SBDs will be made separate under the national enrolment quota for
regular bachelor’s degree. All HEIs should strictly follow the enrolment plan
for SBD and should not enrol or award students without approval.
5. The main group of
students eligible for SBD are those that are in their last year of
undergraduate studies or have graduated from regular HEIs with bachelor’s
degree in the current year (fresh graduates), and those that have graduated
with a bachelor’s degree from regular HEIs in the past three years and are currently
unemployed. Other personnel in theory are not eligible for a SBD. The specific
prerequisite for SBD enrolment will be determined by individual HEIs.
6. The form of
admissions examination for SBD will be formulated by individual HEIs based on
the requirement of the relevant major. The form of examination will be
submitted to the provincial level education authority to be filed. HEIs should
adhere to the relevant national testing requirement, strengthen management of
admissions examination, standardise working procedures, be strict on the
standard of enrolment to ensure procedure fairness and justice.
7. Students can
apply for an SBD major from a different subject group from his/her first
bachelor’s degree, or for a SBD major from the same subject group but different
major from his/her first bachelor’s degree. For details on the subject groups
and majors, visit the MoE website (www.moe.gov.cn)
and search for “Regular Higher Education Undergraduate Major Index (2020) ”.
8. The SBD program
is a two-year full-time program that is registered under the higher education registration
management system.
9. Students will be
taught core
subjects and subjects that are required by the major, students are, in theory,
not arranged for internships. HEIs
can refer to the “National Standards For Teaching Quality For Undergraduate
Majors In Regular HEIs”[13] for developing education programs and study plans for SBDs,
and should not lower standards without proper justification.
10. The issuance of
SBD qualification and graduation certificate will be in accordance to the
current regular issuance of qualification and graduation certificate. The
graduation certificate has to clearly indicate the full title and study period
of the SBD, the qualification certificate also needs to clearly indicate that
it is an SBD.
11. Students that complete the
program within the required timeframe and have completed all subjects as
required will be issued a graduation certificate and a qualification
certificate. Those that do not meet the graduation requirement will not be
given extension to complete the course, nor will they be allowed to repeat the
program, they will be issued with a certificate of completion. For those that
wish to drop out of the program, the HEI should issue a certificate of study or
a certificate that describes the study that was undertaken.
12. Graduates from
the SBD will be considered in the same way as regular “fresh graduates” in terms of
employment. For students that drop out of the SBD during the course of their
studies, they will be considered for employment based on their graduate status
at the time of entry into the SBD – those that took on the SBD as a fresh graduate
will be considered a fresh graduate in the year that they drop out of the SBD;
those that took on the SBD as a graduate from previous years will be treated in
accordance to relevant policies.
13. The funding,
subsidy and fee for SBD should correspond the same undergraduate programs for
regular students.
14. HEIs should
attach great importance to continue carrying out SBD programs, and effectively
improve their political stand. They should formulate enrolment and education
plan in accordance with the status of the institution and actively carry out
the program. Provincial level education authorities should supervise HEIs in
carrying out planning and admissions of SBD programs. Those that violate
relevant regulation and causes adverse impact to society will be held
accountable.
15. HEIs should
strengthen work on analysing current trends and promote positive publicity;
conduct thorough interpretation on the relevant policies and provide assistance
to applicants and their parents on understanding the policy; respond to the
public in a timely manner; create a positive atmosphere and ensure all works
are properly conducted. Enrolment should be completed before the end of July.
The
Education Department (Education Commission) of provinces, autonomous regions
and municipalities, the Education Bureau of Xinjiang Production and
Construction Corps, the education department (bureau) of the relevant bodies
(bureaus) should forward this notice to the relevant HEI (undergraduate level)
in your jurisdiction.
General Office of the Ministry of
Education
[5]“State-Owned Enterprises in Shanghai to Provide 65,000 University
Graduates with Jobs by May.” Global
Times, 11 June 2020, www.globaltimes.cn/content/1191273.shtml.
[6]Li, Na. 河南：国企50%以上岗位招聘应届毕业生 (Henan: State-owned enterprises to
allocate more than 50% of recruiting job positions to fresh graduates) . Zhong Gong News, 12
June 2020, news.workercn.cn/32843/202006/12/200612182003371.shtml.
[7]Ye, Ruolin. “Fujian Tasks Universities With Helping Graduates Find
Jobs.” Edited by David Paulk , Sixth Tone, 12 June 2020,
www.sixthtone.com/news/1005798/fujian-tasks-universities-with-helping-graduates-find-jobs.
[8]Official translation of全国硕士研究生统一招生考试
[9]Lang, Lang, and Yuqi Yang. 2020年考研今起开考：341万人报名 创历史新高. Xinhua Net, 21 Dec. 2019,
www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2019-12/21/c_1125371634.htm.
[10]China University of Political Science
and Law, Admissions Office, 中国政法大学2020第二学士学位招生简章 (China University of Political Science and Law Second Bachelor Degree
Program Admission Scheme for 2020 intake) , 11 June 2020 http://zs.cupl.edu.cn/info/1020/1786.htm
[12]People’s Republic of China, General
Office of the Chinese State Council, 国务院办公厅关于应对新冠肺炎疫情影响强化稳就业举措的实施意见(Unofficial
translation: Implementation opinion on strengthening stability of employment in
response to COVID-19 pandemic by the General Office of
the State Council, 20 March 2020, http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2020-03/20/content_5493574.htm
[13]unofficial translation of普通高校本科专业类教学质量国家标准