At the invitation of Ms. Debra W. Stewart, President of the Council of Graduate Schools of the United States, and in accordance with the approval of the Ministry of Education's Office of Graduate Studies and Research "No. 18 [2000] on the approval of the delegation of the Joint Council of Deans of Graduate Schools to attend the 40th Annual Meeting of CGS in the United States, the delegation of the Joint Council of Deans of Graduate Schools of China The delegation of CGS to the U.S. consisted of nine members (they are: Ye Huiyuan, Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Dean of Graduate School (as the leader), Yang Xiaoguang, Vice President of Graduate School of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (as the deputy leader), Qin Huimin, Executive Vice President of Graduate School of Renmin University of China, Ding Xuemei, Executive Vice President of Graduate School of Harbin Institute of Technology, Yu Jilin, Executive Vice President of Graduate School of University of Science and Technology of China, Yang Shufeng, Executive Vice President of Graduate School of Zhejiang University). (Yang Shufeng, Executive Vice President of Graduate School of Zhejiang University, Wang Yanglin, Vice President of Graduate School of Peking University, Liu Orang and Liao Xiaoling of the Secretariat of the Academic Degrees Office of the State Council) went to the United States for a study visit from December 2 to 17. They attended the 40th annual meeting of CGS; visited Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in New York, California Institute of Technology Graduate School in Los Angeles and Berkeley University Graduate School in San Francisco; and visited Stanford University in San Francisco. The delegation successfully completed its mission as planned.

　　CGS is a mass organization of graduate education in the United States, headquartered in Washington, DC. It holds an annual meeting with representatives from all member institutions and other smaller meetings such as the summer symposium. Its membership includes international members from Canada and other countries, in addition to members from graduate training institutions within the United States. In addition, it includes a number of institutions that sponsor the organization.

　　The visit of the Chinese delegation was well received by the CGS, and the CGS President mentioned the arrival of the Chinese delegation at least three times in his opening address to the meeting. During the conference, CGS President Ms. Debra W. Stewart dedicated time to exchange and talk with the Chinese delegation and expressed her desire to strengthen the ties between CGS and the Joint Association of Chinese Graduate School Deans. At the breakfast meeting before the closing of the conference, according to the arrangement of the conference, the delegation leader, Prof. Ye Huiyuan, Vice President of Shanghai Jiaotong University, spoke on behalf of the delegation of the Joint Association of Deans of Graduate Schools of China, which was welcomed by the participants.

　　Through participating in the conference and the field trip and visit, we have gained a better understanding of American graduate education, the nature, functions and scope of work of American university graduate schools, as well as some current problems faced and the responsibilities of American graduate school deans and so on. This will also be very useful for the reform and development of graduate education in China. In the future, we will further strengthen the connection and communication with international graduate education-related organizations.

(The report of the delegation's visit is being completed by the members separately, and will be submitted to the relevant government departments.)

Asecretariat of ACGS

December 20th, 2000