China allows PhD students graduate through practical contributions

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China is completely changing requirements for PhD students: instead of writing a dissertation with over 5000 word count, Phd candidates must demonstrate expertise in their field by contributing in practical way. Practical PhD includes creating real products that showcase innovative thinking. 

According to zmescience.com, long thesis papers have always been an issue for Chinese institutions. Chinese government is not convinced that these types of research papers are useful enough. Over 10,000 scholarly papers were retracted worldwide in 2023 alone, setting a new record. Analysis of these retractions revealed that Chinese co-authors were involved in a substantial percentage of them. Due to ethical concerns over DNA collecting, the situation got so bad that a genetics magazine withdrew eighteen papers from China in one go at the beginning of 2024. Other publishers were forced to close entire special issues that were overrun by this type of fraudulent science.

A generation known to critics as "Paper Generals" (zhishang tanbing) emerged during this time. These researchers are capable of winning funds and creating research publications, but their work falls apart as soon as it leaves the theoretical domain.

The government's direct response is the "practical PhD." In comparison to the enormous production of Chinese academia, the numbers are still tiny today. However, its development over time might demonstrate to the education sector whether or not it is worthwhile to impose such PhD graduate requirements.