From September 27 to 29, the 2017 Annual Meeting of Association of Chinese Graduate Schools(ACGS, sponsored by the Joint Meeting of Association of Chinese Graduate Schools(ACGS and hosted by Dalian University of Technology, was held in Dalian, where more than one hundred people, including vice presidents, deans and executive vice presidents of graduate schools from 62 members and invited units of the Joint Meeting, including Tsinghua University, Peking University and Dalian University of Technology, attended the conference to discuss the development and improvement of postgraduate education. Wang Hansong, Secretary of Party Committee of Dalian University of Technology, Huang Baoyin, Director of the Development Center for Academic Degrees and Postgraduate Education of the Ministry of Education, and Sun Hualin, Deputy Director of Liaoning Provincial Department of Education, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. The opening ceremony was hosted by Jia Zhenyuan, Vice President of Dalian University of Technology.

In his speech, Secretary Wang Hansong welcomed the guests on behalf of the university. He pointed out that along with the announcement of the "double first-class" list, the Party and the State have put forward new requirements for education, and the construction of "double first-class" cannot be separated from the high level of postgraduate education. As the first new formal university founded by the Party on the eve of the founding of New China for the construction of China's industrial system, Dalian University of Technology has formed characteristic disciplinary advantages and excellent schooling traditions in the great practice of building up the university and strengthening the country, and the university has made useful exploration in the practice of postgraduate education and achieved excellent results. Postgraduate education should not only be based on the comprehensive development of postgraduates and strive to build a multi-dimensional education pattern with the core of moral education, but also closely combine the implementation of the spirit of the University Council and the promotion of the construction of first-class universities, focus on the development of the characteristics of first-class disciplines, explore the deepening reform of talent cultivation with multiple measures, and improve the quality of postgraduate training. It is believed that postgraduate education can play an important role in the construction of "double first-class" universities and make new contributions to the cultivation of socialist builders and successors with a sense of historical mission and social responsibility, innovative spirit and practical ability.

Director Huang Baoyin, focusing on the theme of "Building first-class graduate education with first-class philosophy", elaborated the leading role of "double first-class" construction on graduate education from the aspects of top-level design, system construction and connotation deepening. As the top of the national education system, postgraduate education is the main way to cultivate top-notch innovative talents, which is of great significance to the construction of "double first-class". After that, he introduced the functions, business framework and work vision of the Development Center for Academic Degrees and Postgraduate Education of the Ministry of Education.

Deputy Director Sun Hualin briefly introduced the recent work of degree and postgraduate education in Liaoning Province and said that the provincial department would effectively implement the "double first-class" construction plan and promote the cultivation of high-quality talents in Liaoning Province.

The theme of this year's conference was "Promoting the construction of double first-class and comprehensively improving the level of postgraduate education", and the participants had extensive and in-depth exchanges and discussions on such topics as reforming the system and mechanism of postgraduate enrollment, innovating the mode of postgraduate training, improving the quality of postgraduate training and building the internal and external quality assurance system of postgraduate education.

Academician Gong Qihuang, Vice President of Peking University and Executive Vice President of Graduate School, introduced the exploration and practice of Peking University to promote comprehensive reform of doctoral training by using the financial support system as a lever. Dong Yuan, Vice Dean of Graduate School of Tsinghua University, shared the exploration and reflection on the comprehensive reform of doctoral education in Tsinghua. Wang Lizhong, Executive Vice President of Graduate School of Zhejiang University, introduced the exploration and practice of entrepreneurship education for graduate students of Zhejiang University with the topic of "Innovation and Systematic Advancement". Chen Chuanfu, Dean of Graduate School of Wuhan University, shared the practice and reflection of Wuhan University in promoting the connotative reform and development of postgraduate cultivation mechanism. Zhang Jili, Vice President of Graduate School of Dalian University of Technology, gave a report entitled "Building a new system of quality assurance for postgraduate training by consolidating the foundation and optimizing the structure". Lin Mengquan, Director of the Evaluation Division of the Development Center for Academic Degrees and Postgraduate Education of the Ministry of Education, made an exchange speech on "Exploration of Subject Level Evaluation in the New Era". Wang Tianbing, the secretary-general of the Joint Council and vice president of Graduate School of Peking University, made the annual work report of the Joint Council in 2017, reviewing the work and financial income and expenditure of the previous year, and said that all members of the Joint Council would seize the opportunity of "Double First Class" construction to write a new chapter of China's degree and postgraduate education.

Secretariat of ACGS

September 27th, 2017