Nanjing University has thoroughly implemented the spirit of the National Education Conference, the important directives of General Secretary Xi Jinping on graduate education, and his important reply to NJU young scholars returning from abroad. Focusing on the fundamental task of moral and character education, the university recognizes the critical role of graduate education in advancing the integrated development of education, science, and technology talent. By centering on improving the quality of graduate education, NJU fulfills the requirements of the "Forging Ahead Initiative", deepens reform and innovation, strengthens AI empowerment, promotes specialized training, implements comprehensive quality monitoring, and undertakes the significant task of reforming the "discipline and professional structure adjustment and optimization mechanism." The university has been selected for the National Graduate College for Engineers, continuously building the NJU brand of "the most innovative graduate education."
Establishing the National Graduate College for Engineers
NJU targets national strategic needs, deepens the integration of industry and education, strengthens the training of engineering master's and doctoral students, and improves the talent cultivation system to accelerate the training of high-level talents urgently needed by the country. The university's main leaders systematically plan, signing cooperation agreements with 17 central enterprises, taking the construction of the Graduate College for Engineers as a key initiative for the development of new engineering disciplines and to support China's modernization efforts.
Focusing on "Artificial Intelligence+" as the specialty of the college, we concentrate on seven key areas: "Artificial Intelligence" "Critical Software" "Integrated Circuits" "New Generation Information and Communication Technology" "Smart Energy and Energy Conservation" "New Materials" and "Biomedicine and High-End Medical Equipment." We have formed a council with nine major central enterprises, including China Mobile and China Unicom, creating an industry mentor team of over 300 people and building practice platforms such as the New Generation Information and Communication Technology Engineer Technical Center.
The university has developed an industry key demand-oriented, project-driven model for integrating industry and education. In collaboration with enterprises, we have customized 21 training programs and established 16 joint courses. An independent subcommittee for joint degree evaluation with enterprises has been set up, deeply advancing degree evaluation reform. We have initiated brand activities such as "Famous Enterprises at NJU" "Teachers and Students Visiting Famous Enterprises" and "Excellence Engineer Cultural Lecture Hall" for integrating industry and education and promoting engineer culture. The college, in partnership with over 40 central enterprises and leading industry companies, has jointly trained over 400 engineering master's and doctoral students. Guided by the provincial education and human resources departments, we have formulated the "Regulations for the Professional Title Evluation of Engineering Masters at NJU Graduate College for Engineers" and organized the first evaluation, attracting widespread social attention. The high-quality advancement of excellence engineer training has achieved remarkable results. The NJU Graduate College for Engineers has ben selected as a national outstanding case for excellence engineer training reform, included in Jiangsu Province's Graduate College for Engineers in 2024, and successfully selected for the fourth batch of National Graduate College for Engineers in 2025.
Implement the "Graduate AI+ Innovation Capacity Enhancement Action Plan"
Nanjing University launched the "Graduate AI+ Innovation Capacity Enhancement Action Plan" in November 2024, focusing on four key areas: enhancing AI literacy, advancing frontier innovation capabilities, boosting entrepreneurial innovation skills, and reforming education and teaching with AI empowerment, aiming to improve the level of cultivating top-notch innovative talents.
A comprehensive AI+ innovation system has been formed, covering general literacy to frontier innovation, entrepreneurial innovation, and educational research reform. NJU has offered one general AI course, three literacy (tool) courses, 18 AI+X graduate courses, and two innovation and entrepreneurship courses. It has initiated 41 graduate "AI+" research and practice innovation projects, eight "AI Empowerment in Graduate Education and Teaching Reform" projects, and one "AI+" graduate research innovation practice activity, and collected 26 typical case studies of "AI+ Graduate Education" application scenarios. Over the past three years, graduate students have published 18 papers as first authors in Nature or Science.
Enhance the Quality of Graduate Education
Since the implementation of the "Forging Ahead Initiative", NJU has focused on leveraging the advantages of graduate education as the best intersection of technology as the primary productive force, talent as the primary resource, and innovation as the primary driving force. It has advanced in an integrated manner, empowered by digital intelligence, and comprehensively deepened the construction of graduate education elements to build a high-quality graduate education system. Nine projects were selected for the Jiangsu Province National Teaching Achievement Award in Higher Education (Graduate) major and key reserve projects.
The research doctorate program increased by 119% compared to 2022, and admissions for the "Engineering Master and Doctorate Special Program" increased by 38% compared to 2022, primarily supporting the Suzhou campus, the Graduate College for Engineers, professional degree doctorates, and various urgently needed talent training programs. For the first time in 2025, the university launched special admission plans such as the "Chinese Academy of Sciences-Nanjing University Strategic Cooperation Special Program", and optimized the reform of self-set examinations, reducing 29 self-set exams, ensuring "zero accidents, zero disputes" in admissions, and safeguarding the "entrance gate" of graduate admissions.
NJU has continuously promoted the construction of high-quality graduate courses, with 1,153 graduate professional courses included in core course construction projects. It has sustained the "Three Hundreds" course construction, resulting in 113 ideological and political course achievements, 65 textbook achievements, 27 MOOC achievements, and 109 teaching case achievements. Three graduate textbooks were awarded second prizes in the National Excellent Textbook Construction Awards, and three graduate textbooks were selected for the "New Era Original Textbooks in Philosophy and Social Sciences for Higher Education."
1089 projects were selected for the Jiangsu Province Graduate Research and Practice Innovation Program, leading the province. 111 doctoral projects were approved by the National Natural Science Foundation, ranking among the top in the country in terms of total number and approval rate. 59 projects were selected for China Association for Science and Technology's Young Talent Development Program for doctoral students.
From 2023 to 2025, a total of 884 individuals were sent abroad for study exchanges or to attend international conferences. The university has supported schools in hosting 6 master forums and 5 international academic conferences. Since 2023, for three consecutive years, the "Graduate International Academic Exchange Month" series of activities has been held, with a total of 9 large-scale exchange activities conducted at the school, college, and student levels.
In the past three years, a total of 830 new internal doctoral supervisors and 82 part-time doctoral supervisors from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have been added, and 889 industry mentors for graduate students have been appointed. A mentor honor system has been established, with 10 mentors and 2 teams selected for the second NJU Outstanding Mentors and Teams, and 15 individuals were rated as "Outstanding Industry Mentors" for graduate students. The construction of the "Interdisciplinary Doctoral" project mentor team has been continuously promoted, with 67 new interdisciplinary mentor groups added in the past three years, carrying out interdisciplinary talent training. An "Innovation and Education" mentor exchange meeting has been held annually, with nearly a thousand mentors trained over three sessions. The university has been selected as a Jiangsu Province mentor training base.
NJU has developed a classified and diverse degree evaluation system. It has mproved 33 sets of academic doctoral degree standard programs, 33 sets of academic master's degree standard programs, 17 sets of professional doctoral degree standard programs (including 3 special programs), and 38 sets of professional master's degree standard programs (including 5 special programs), covering all disciplines of the school. A pilot reform plan for the "green channel" of degree thesis random checks has been formed. The template files for academic review and degree review systems, "Suggestions on Strengthening the Construction of Academic Review and Degree Review Systems in Degree Work," have been adopted by more than 600 graduate training units nationwide.
The recently convened NJU Graduate Education Work Promotion Conference outlined a blueprint for the high-quality development of our graduate education in the next stage. NJU will fully implement the "Outline Plan for Building China into a Leading Country in Education (2024-2035)" and the three-year action plan deployment requirements, always adhere to the educational tradition of prioritizing talent cultivation, deeply promote the integrated high-quality development of education, technology, and talent, continuously build the NJU brand of "the most innovative graduate education", accelerate the implementation of the new stage "Forging Ahead Initiative" graduate education innovation and quality improvement action plan with a sense of urgency, and focus on cultivating high-level new-generation talents who will take on the great responsibility of national rejuvenation.
