Deepening and comprehensive reform?requires comprehensive reform of higher education. The necessity and urgency of comprehensive higher education reform, its goal tasks, and the?critical stages’ core?keys and breakthrough points are determined by?Chinese modernization’s tasks and historical orientation.?To deepen this comprehensive reform is about system and mechanism, specifically, the reform of “decentralization, regulation, and service”, the system reform of science-education integration, the system and mechanism reform of personnel and talents in universities, the supply-side reform of higher education, the organizational method reform of teaching and research, and the method reform of evaluation and assessment. Abolishment and establishment should go together. Establish the new before abolishing the old. The key lies in “establishment”.

Generative artificial intelligence not only promotes self-regulated learning among college students, but also exacerbates academic misconduct such as plagiarism and copying. Generative artificial intelligence cannot directly shape college students’ creativity, and its impact on creativity depends on students’ self-regulated learning and their ethical boundaries in using generative artificial intelligence. The tension between the convenience of technology and the utilitarian learning approach fostered by meritocracy, as well as the contradiction between weak awareness of academic ethics and inadequate supervision, are the keys to triggering inappropriate use of generative artificial intelligence, which in turn stifles college students’ creativity. Self-regulated learning can not only reduce college students’ inappropriate use of generative artificial intelligence but also effectively mitigate the negative impact of such inappropriate use on their creativity. Enhancing the self-regulated learning of college students, helping them to rationally deal with intelligent technology, and reducing the inappropriate use of generative artificial intelligence are the keys to realizing the potential of generative artificial intelligence in enhancing college students’ creativity.

The construction of the knowledge system in higher education studies is a dynamic process deeply influenced by the characteristics of the era. It is not only the result of the intertwining of history and reality but also the product of the interaction between diachronic and synchronic perspectives. This paper analyzes the particularities of higher education activities in China within the context of the characteristics of the era, elucidating the complexities of Chinese higher education from both diachronic and synchronic viewpoints. It proposes a methodology for reconstructing the knowledge system of higher education studies, including the dialectical handling of the knowledge system’s temporality and foresight, theoretical and practical aspects, instrumental and ideological dimensions, and imitation and autonomy.

Under the trend of birthrate decline, using queue factor population prediction method and constructing ARIMA time series model, three fertility plans of low, medium, and high are set to predict the supply and demand scale and gap situation of higher education students in China from 2024 to 2050. Research has found that the supply of higher education students exceeded demand between 2024 and 2037, forming a demand gap that sharply decreased from 5.1466 million to 169.8 thousand people; Between 2038 and 2050, there will be a trend of oversupply, resulting in a supply gap that has expanded from 2.7402 million to 11.7185 million, 9.9678 million, and 8.2169 million, respectively. This indicates a historic turning point in the number of students around 2038, which may trigger a crisis in the quantity and quality of students, and create an imbalance in the higher education ecosystem. In this regard, multiple measures should be taken simultaneously to vigorously boost the social fertility level, continuously enhance the supply capacity of students, establish a monitoring and crisis warning mechanism for students, promote the adaptation of enrollment scale and ecological carrying capacity, and achieve a higher level of dynamic balance between the supply and demand of higher education students.

Self-control is an essential cornerstone for the academic achievement and long-term development of college students. This study constructs a localized system of observation indicators for self-control based on a systematic review of the multidimensional theoretical concepts of self-control and the characterization of self-control deficiency among Chinese college students. Utilizing nationwide tracking data of university students, we analyzed the driving effects and mechanisms of self-control on academic achievement. Our findings indicate that a lack of self-control constitutes a collective crisis among Chinese college students, manifesting in characteristics such as difficulty in controlling efforts, failure in delaying gratification, unhealthy sleep habits, and symptoms of digital distraction, across academic, personal, and online domains. Through the mediating effect of academic engagement, self-control exerts a significant driving effect on both current and long-term academic achievement. This study provides scientific support for enhancing self-control among college students and ensuring the quality of talent cultivation in higher education.

Achieving integrated innovation among government, industry, academia, and research is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed in the development of new forms of productivity. Based on the TOE framework, this study analyzes the driving paths of collaborative innovation among these sectors using a sample of 114 publicly listed companies in emerging digital intelligence fields, employing fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. The results indicate that high-quality productivity levels are generated through four main paths: “multi-dimensional and comprehensive driving, government-industry-academia collaboration, enterprise-led, and environment-supported”.Government innovation support policies are identified as significant driving factors for companies to overcome their own limitations and external resource constraints. Collaboration between industry and academia, along with an increased proportion of academic executives, enhances the opportunities for typified cooperation among different entities and paths. In the future, it is essential to harness the collaborative innovation capabilities of all parties, strengthen the government’s guiding and coordinating role in the innovation system, establish a supply-demand mechanism for industry-academia-research cooperation that aligns with the developmental needs of enterprises, and explore the creation of a distinctive government-industry-academia research cooperation system that fits regional development characteristics and leverages enterprise advantages.

To solidify the foundation of mental health in graduate education, a comprehensive understanding of the basic situation of mental health problems is essential. This study employed meta-analytical approach, incorporating 330 articles from 2010 to 2023 (involving 243 161 individuals), to investigate the prevalence and influencing factors of major mental health problems among Chinese graduate student. The results indicated that the prevalence of mental health problems among graduate students, from high to low, included: academic burnout (32.7%), sleep problems (24.9%), compulsive issues (23.1%), depression (21.0%), anxiety (16.0%), hostility (9.7%), and suicide ideation (8.8%). Factors such as the year of literature publication, graduates’ educational phase and major, and measurement tools significantly impacted the prevalence. Based on these findings, strategies and recommendations are proposed: prioritizing the high incidence of mental health issues and implementing targeted solutions; being vigilant against the malignant development of mental health problems and improving tracking and monitoring mechanisms; paying attention to individual differences in mental health problems and enhancing the service and support system; innovating assessment tools for mental health problems and establishing standardized detection criteria.

The statistical analysis of vocational education research papers over a period of nine years provides important reference value for promoting the construction of an Independent Knowledge System for vocational education in China, enhancing the level of research, and cultivating research teams. The statistical analysis of 27 educational journals found that public universities and public higher vocational colleges are the main contributors, but the contribution rate of public universities has surpassed that of public higher vocational colleges. “Double First-Class” construction universities and “Double High-Level Plan” vocational colleges have made significant contributions to the publication of papers. Although there are dynamic changes among regions, the absolute dominance of the eastern region remains unchanged. Papers are mainly published with co-authorship, with an increasing proportion of two authors. The authorship of vocational education papers is diverse, reflecting the openness of the research ecosystem. Through comprehensive word frequency screening and analysis, research team have distilled the top ten academic hotspots in vocational education research for 2023, and analyzed the progress, main viewpoints, and research trends.

The return of vocational college students to their hometown for employment is of great significance to realize the revitalization of rural talents and rural industries. This paper explains the mechanism of vocational college students’ intention to return hometown for employment from the perspectives of instrumental rationality and value rationality. Through the empirical analysis of 29 529 nationwide samples obtained in 2022, it was found that the rustic feeling positively affects their intention to return hometown for employment, and the sense of urban integration plays a part of mediating role; family endowment negatively affects their intention to return hometown for employment through the partial intermediary of individual social capital and human capital; the effect of returning policy perception positively moderates the influence of rustic feeling on their intention to return hometown for employment. In light of this, local governments should establish precise channels for disseminating returning policies, leveraging the ties of rustic feeling to facilitate the return of vocational talent; vocational education authorities pilot a targeted enrollment of returning hometown for employment, guiding the adaptation of disciplines relevant to rural industries; vocational colleges enhance job assistance for students from underprivileged backgrounds, advancing rural practice and urban job-seeking support; vocational college students endeavor to fortify their individual capital and actively acquaint themselves with returning policies to cultivate rustic feelings.

The integration of science and education is to place the two systems of scientific research and education in a symbiotic and interdependent development field, and work together to promote talent cultivation and practical activities. As an important intersection of education and scientific research, the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents can achieve synergistic effects in improving the quality of talent cultivation by strengthening their deep integration, and produce significant results beyond simple superposition. The cultivation of top-notch innovative talents needs to follow the laws of education and the development and growth of students’ physical and mental health, break down the barriers between different stages of primary, secondary, and tertiary education, effectively connect higher education and basic education, achieve differentiated cultivation, reasonable extension, and effective connection at different levels of students, and build a systematic and long-term integrated mechanism for the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents in primary, secondary, and tertiary education. The cultivation of top-notch innovative talents should not only break through the existing conventional mode of talent cultivation, but also respect the laws of educational development and talent growth, and carry out targeted and specialized training.

Climate change has become a significant challenge for all humanity, and universities play a crucial role in addressing climate change. Harvard University has a long-standing history, clear objectives, and well-developed practices in response to climate change. Based on the framework of a “whole-institution approach”,an analysis of Harvard University’s exploratory initiatives reveals that it comprehensively addresses climate change in five areas: establishing climate management mechanisms, implementing green campus operations, nurturing climate change professionals, conducting multidimensional climate science research, and providing diverse climate-related societal services. Harvard University’s response to climate change is characterized by a comprehensive and holistic approach, the integration of theory and practice, the involvement of school leadership and student engagement, and cross-disciplinary, cross-campus and transnational collaboration; nevertheless, it also faces many challenges.

Geopolitical crises brought uncertainties and challenges to international research collaboration. Given this background, it is the top priority of China’s scientific and technological development strategy currently to promote “organized research” in international collaboration, and to coordinate the free exploration of scientists with the national strategic goals. From the perspective of the synergetic theory and through an empirical investigation of 10 international collaboration projects relying on China’s universities, the study found that organized research in international collaboration has three aspects of connotation, which are values, knowledge characteristics and organizational forms. On this basis, the study analyzed the current problems and strategies of organized research in international collaboration of Chinese universities. The research proposed to build an innovation community on the basis of openness, trust and sharing, identify the focus of the organizational system to coordinate the interests and needs of different subjects, strengthen the linkage between international scientific research collaboration and talent training advantages, and improve the scientific research evaluation and management system.

Grasping the characteristics of students’ differences is an important entry point for the high-quality development of vocational education, and it is the prerequisite and foundation for educational and teaching reforms. Based on Biggs’ “3P” teaching-learning model, we construct a framework for analyzing higher vocational students’ learning activities and differentiate student groups. Through the Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), the higher vocational education students were categorized into five types based on the characteristics of their learning activities: learning indifference, collaborative promotion, inefficient learning, balanced development and twice the effort with half the effort. Higher vocational education students are predominantly inefficient learning. Different types of students have their own distribution of demographic variables, which proves the value of exploring the learning characteristics and differences of higher vocational students through categorization. According to the learning characteristics of different types of higher vocational students, higher vocational colleges and teachers should accurately study the types of students and provide differentiated learning support; grasp the attributes of the types of students and construct differentiated teaching programs; and implement accurate targeted teaching strategies based on the stage-specific characteristics of students.

Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2021, a new quality productive forces evaluation index system is constructed using technology productivity, digital productivity, and green productivity as primary indicators to explore the impact mechanism of higher education resource allocation on the development of new quality productive forces. The results indicate that the allocation of higher education resources can promote the development of new quality productive forces and play a mediating role through industrial transformation and upgrading. The impact of higher education resource allocation on the development of new quality productive forces exhibits a “S” - shaped growth cycle with dual threshold effects and spatial spillover effects that benefit neighboring regions. There is heterogeneity in the impact of different geographical regions and resource types as observation points. Based on this, the main direction should be to promote the improvement of technological productivity, and higher education resources should be regarded as key value investments to promote the development of new quality productive forces. Guide the deep integration of the education chain and the industry chain, and respond quickly when traditional growth drivers still have potential and the scale effect of higher education has not reached a turning point. Establish a spatial correlation awareness for the development of new quality productive forces, and optimize the allocation of higher education resources through regional coordinated development.

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China established the integrated promotion of education, science and technology, and talent as an important foundation and support for improving the overall efficiency of the national innovation system. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the National Education Conference the need to promote education development, scientific and technological innovation, and talent cultivation as a whole. Scientific and technological innovation is the driving force for disciplinary development and the track for talent growth. Higher education is the foundation of scientific and technological innovation and the nursery for reserve talents. Only by adhering to the integrated development of education, technology, and talent can we open up new fields and tracks of development, continuously shape new driving forces and advantages, and promote high-quality development of higher education. We must firmly grasp the direction of scientific and technological innovation development and build a high-quality higher education system; To actively adapt to the demand for scientific and technological innovation talents and promote the transformation of the talent-cultivation model in higher education; We need to improve institutional mechanisms and strengthen the cultivation of scientific and technological innovation talents through diversified collaboration; We should actively embrace the technological revolution of the intelligent era and shape a new form of digitalization in higher education; We need to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, and create a good open innovation ecosystem.

Strengthening technological innovation in local universities is a crucial measure for fully implementing the strategy of innovation-driven development and promoting high-quality economic and social development at the regional level. As the main entities for knowledge accumulation, creation, and dissemination within their respective regions, local universities serve as important carriers and platforms for original innovation and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. Traditional methods, such as transfer and licensing, are facing practical difficulties. Therefore, there is an urgent need for equity reform in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in local universities, particularly through further exploration and optimization of equity investment. Through methods such as literature review, data analysis, and case studies, this paper summarizes and analyzes the current situation and issues of equity reform in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in local universities, and concludes common models for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in local universities in China. Drawing on domestic and international practices, the paper explores effective pathways for equity reform in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in local universities. These research findings provide valuable insights for promoting technological innovation and optimizing the mechanism for transforming scientific and technological achievements in local universities, ultimately facilitating the sound development of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in local universities.

The influence of out-of-class activities on ability development is the cornerstone of the continuous improvement of the university and the choice of students to participate in activities. Through in-depth analysis of 139,971 survey data and 17 text materials, it is found that out-of-class experience has significantly positive predictive effect on comprehensive ability, cognitive ability and non-cognitive ability, with predictive power of 0.235, 0.157 and 0.313. The predictive power of all kinds of out-of-class experiences on ability development was ranked as academic activity experience, social practice experience, sports activity experience and community activity experience; the efficiency of sports activity was prominent, while the efficiency of community activity was poor. Out-of-class experience mainly affects the cognitive ability development in an “explicit” way and the non-cognitive ability development in a “implicit” way. Colleges and universities should encourage and support students to participate in out-of-class activities and regulate and guide the healthy development of community organizations. Students should participate in out-of-class activities selectively to improve their ability structure. The academic circle should pay attention to the out-of-class experience of rural students to lay a foundation for the fairness of the higher education process.

Social media is widely used in doctoral students. 716 academic doctoral students were studied to explore the influence of social media use motivation and addiction on doctoral students’ academic innovation ability, and the mediating role of social-emotional competence and attention failure. The results showed that some social media addictions exist among the doctoral student population; there are differences in demographic variables such as gender and motivation for doctoral studies; motivation for social media use (cognitive and hedonic) and addiction significantly positively and negatively predicted doctoral students’ academic innovation ability, respectively, with openness to experience, emotional stability and attention failure mediating this predictive relationship. Therefore, colleges and universities should pay attention to the status quo and underlying causes of doctoral students’ social media addiction, pay attention to the construction of good mentoring relationship and students’ academic progress, and pay attention to the cultivation of social-emotional competence among doctoral students.

When education thrives, the nation thrives. When education is strong, the nation is strong. All world powers are also educational powerhouses, and a strong higher education system is a prerequisite for building a global superpower. By focusing on the trends and future prospects of global higher education transformation, this paper conducts an in-depth analysis the historical positioning and challenges faced by the reform and development of higher education with Chinese characteristics. Incorporating the theoretical framework and core features of green education, it explores Chinese strategies for the transformation of higher education: concentrating on autonomous talent cultivation to build a green talent nurturing system; focusing on autonomous discipline development to establish a green academic development system; emphasizing self-reliance and innovation in technology to construct a green technological innovation system; focus on strengthening cultural confidence and constructing a green cultural governance system. Accelerate the high-quality construction of first-class universities, develop green education, and blaze a new path of world-class higher education with Chinese characteristics to achieve the organic unity among people-oriented, open sharing, high quality and high efficiency, and sustainable development.

Curriculum reform is a reflection of the deep participation of universities in the global sustainable development agenda, and UNESCO also calls on countries to incorporate sustainable development education into the core curriculum of education systems at all levels by 2025. The UK is one of the earlier country to carry out sustainable development education through university courses. The University of Manchester places equal emphasis on “social responsibility”, “teaching”, and “scientific research” in its school running orientation, and focuses on promoting sustainable development goals (SDGs) through curriculum action. Manchester University has actively explored how to integrate SDGs into university curriculum. In terms of curriculum design, offering sustainable development MOOCs, sustainable development subject courses, and interdisciplinary sustainable development courses; in terms of course content, integrating the thematic content of the United Nations’ SDGs into multiple disciplines; in terms of curriculum teaching, blended learning is adopted and exploratory learning is emphasized. The University of Manchester’s strategy of embedding SDGs into the curriculum can inspire China to play the role of the curriculum in promoting SDGs, incorporate SDGs into the curriculum according to local conditions, and establish the corresponding guarantee mechanism.

Promoting vocational integration, industry and education integration, and science and education integration is not only the necessary meaning of higher education to shoulder the mission of strengthening the country, but also the necessary path to achieve its own high-quality development. However, after examining the promotion of “three types of integration” in higher education, it is found that the practice is faced with a triple path dependence on the system, resources and subjectivity. The obstruction problems, such as “open but not smooth”, “joint but not deep”, and “fusion but not innovate”, in linkage integration have not been fundamentally solved. In the future, we can actively explore the reform direction of “three types of integration” in higher education from the aspects of perfecting the linkage mechanism of talent supply and demand for the construction of modern industrial system, promoting the organic connection between the education and talent chain and the industrial and innovation chain, and building a higher education innovation ecosystem with technological progress as the core.

Switzerland is moving towards a permeable vocational education and training (VET) system through reforms such as the Federal Vocational Baccalaureate, with the aim of guaranteeing learners’ right to an individualized education, meeting the economic and social demand for a highly skilled workforce, promoting lifelong learning for all and ensuring equity in education. A number of laws have been adopted to clarify the meaning and status of the concept of permeability in the Swiss VET system, which is firmly rooted in its own identity and committed to achieving permeability at different levels within it. In order to provide more flexible learning pathways and lifelong learning for all, the Swiss VET system also focuses on permeability with general education and the recognition of informal learning outcomes.

STEM education is the fundamental way to cultivate innovative talents, and its importance is further amplified in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As a core driving force for shaping new productive capacities, AI is currently empowering the integration of science and education through disruptive technologies. The essence of AI’s role in empowering STEM education lies in creating new scenarios and developing innovative applications. Currently, six new scenarios—gamified learning, socialized learning, collaborative learning, self-directed learning, problem-driven learning, and project-based inquiry learning—have been created. Furthermore, five major categories of large model applications, including evaluation, management, teaching, classroom learning, and extracurricular learning have been developed. The convergence of STEM education and AI aligns with the inherent cycle of “observing phenomena, identifying problems, asking questions, and solving problems”. Ultimately, the success of this integration depends on teachers. The empowerment of artificial intelligence enables the new IQ of human-machine collaboration to surpass the limitations of human IQ itself.

National Excellent K-12 Teachers Training Program (abbreviated as “National Excellence Program”) is the major strategic project to consolidate independent training basis of top-notch innovation talents in new era, promote the reform and breakthrough of teacher workforce development, and support the construction of a leading country in education, a leading country in science and technology and a leading country in talents. In the “National Excellence Program”, the innovative selection method, cultivation method, recruitment method of postgraduates are proposed creatively to cultivate postgraduates based on the selection standard of happy teaching and optimal teaching, and the service tracking guarantee. The program is of strategic significance and the value of the times in intensifying the Communist Party’s leadership to teacher education, consolidating the foundation of building a leading country in education, and optimizing the education system of teachers with Chinese characteristics.

The teachers of vocational education are the logical starting point of the typification of vocational education, the important content of the construction of the modern system of vocational education, and the fundamental basis for the construction of a double-qualified teacher team. However, there are some difficulties in training vocational education teachers, such as unclear characteristics, weak subject, insufficient total amount and weak guarantee. Guided by the optimization of the typification orientation of vocational education, policies should be implemented in combination with vocational integration, collaborative innovation, and production and education integration. The quantity and quality of teacher training should be improved by strengthening the construction of technical normal colleges, encouraging high-level comprehensive universities and normal colleges to participate in training, and adopting project-based or commissioned targeted training. It is needed to realize the dual ability of academic training and production, complete on-the-job training, and serve local regular training; actively promote the integration of production and education, interdisciplinary studies, and international exchanges; reform the vocational education teacher enrollment system, qualification and skill certification system, and standard construction system; systematically promote the training level of vocational education teachers, and serve the typification construction of vocational education.

In the new era of advancing high-level scientific and technological self-reliance, the independent cultivation of top-notch innovation talents has put forward new requirements for the teacher education system. The National Excellent K-12 Teachers Training Program (abbreviated as “National Excellence Program”) aims to consolidate the foundation for cultivating top-notch innovation talents by promoting the training of graduate-level science teachers at high-level universities, reflecting the policy’s role in filling the gap in science teacher education and optimizing the structure of teacher education policies. It breaks away from the path dependence of traditional normal education systems and promotes the joint construction of high-quality science teachers by high-level universities in collaboration with primary and secondary schools. The plan directly addresses the prominent structural contradictions in the primary and secondary school science teachers and leverages the advantages of world-class universities with Chinese characteristics in cultivating students in science and engineering. Zhejiang University, based on its traditional strengths of being a comprehensive, research-oriented, and innovative institution, creates a first-class base for cultivating outstanding science teachers by making effort on three levels: the overall plan, specific programs, and individual points. The university explores a “Science/Engineering + Education” training program and implements a new model for the independent cultivation of excellent science teachers, characterized by “project-based organization, comprehensive training, and full-chain collaboration”.

The modernization of internal governance in Chinese characteristic universities plays an important role in promoting the construction of Chinese path to modernization. Against the backdrop of new challenges, tasks, and requirements in the modernization of internal governance in Chinese universities, to increase the construction of the internal governance system of Chinese characteristic universities, it is necessary to adhere to the principal responsibility system under the leadership of the Party Committee, clearly define the strategic direction for serving the overall development of the industry, establish a sound internal operational system for the coordinated development of diverse powers, and optimize internal operating mechanisms; to accelerate the modernization of internal governance in universities with Chinese characteristics, efforts should be made to strengthen the Party’s leading role, grasp the basic logic of modernization of internal governance in universities, strengthen the reform efforts in key areas within universities, and enhance the level of education and governance of university cadres.

University faculty’s academic status plays a crucial role in academic governance as it reflects the hierarchical structure of the academic system and enables differentiated support based on institutional classification. Based on the actors’ motivations, opportunities, and interaction forms, this research constructs four mechanisms for configuring the academic status of university faculties: “absorption-embedding” “principal-agent” “induction-response” and “sinking-connection”. By analyzing the process of national talent projects, this study validates and analyzes the actors, underlying logic, operational boundaries, and constraints associated with each mechanism for allocating academic status. The exploration of these mechanisms provides a fresh perspective for evaluating the reform of the academic governance model, by establishing connections between administrative authority, academic prowess, and individual initiative. Additionally, it offers valuable insights to enhance organizational and individual academic vitality, thereby facilitating the high-quality development of the academic profession.

Institutionalized higher education research originated in the United States in the 1960s, with Martin Trow and Burton Clark making unique contributions as pioneers. Since the 1980s, the rise of neoliberalism, the development of globalization, and the expansion of technology have become prominent features of the higher education system. Higher education research needs to conduct in-depth analysis of these developments and their effects. In the new era, the higher education system itself faces new challenges, which mainly include the outcome and fair opportunities of graduates, employment of college students, the social value of higher education, and how to promote more diverse voices and topics. With the rise of the East Asian higher education system, the world’s higher education landscape is undergoing major changes. Countries around the world need to enhance mutual understanding. It is essential to understand their own higher education system and the world’s higher education system through thinking about others.

Higher education studies represent a crucial cornerstone in the development of an independent knowledge system within the realm of Chinese philosophy and social sciences. Although the framework of higher education studies has been established, its explanatory power is currently insufficient and requires enhancement. Despite the proliferation of research in higher education, there is a notable lack of practical guidance, requiring refinement and consolidation. Despite its preeminent status in education, higher education lacks theoretical innovation and urgently calls for independent construction. The future construction of an independent knowledge system in higher education studies should prioritize the development of three major systems: disciplinary, academic, and discourse. The construction of the disciplinary system in higher education studies should emphasize autonomy, while the academic system should emphasize collaboration, and the discourse system should emphasize integration. Three major sources of importance for an independent knowledge system in higher education are identified: awareness derived from regular practices in higher education activities, truth consensus from government policy supply, and innovative systematic knowledge synthesized by scholars. Finally, we propose establishing a triple-helix model of knowledge production in the discipline of higher education studies, consisting of practitioners in higher education activities, policymakers in higher education, and researchers in higher education theory.

To construct an independent knowledge system of higher education, it should adhere to the central task of high-level personnel training, accurate grasp and follow the logic and value orientation of the division of different types of disciplines, expand constantly the research content combined with the reality of higher education, improve problem-based and multi-disciplinary research paradigms, define scientifically the boundary of the discipline, promote interdisciplinary and integration, accelerate the development of graduate education for professional degree, deepen the reform and innovation, carry out objectively a comparison between Chinese and American graduate students in education discipline, highlight the Chinese characteristics, so as to build the Chinese research paradigm, discourse system, and discipline system of higher education, and to make greater contributions for speeding up the construction of a leading country in education, science and technology, and talent.

The quality of personnel training is related to the high-quality development of higher vocational education, and is the basis of measuring the core competitiveness of higher vocational schools. In order to fully display the quality of talents training in higher vocational education with Chinese characteristics, the paper adopts the method of factor analysis from three dimensions of talent training input, process and output, to construct an evaluation index system of talent training quality covering 10 secondary indicators and 34 tertiary indicators, and to quantitatively analyze the quality of talent training in 1 367 higher vocational schools in 31 provinces. It is found that the talent cultivation index of higher vocational education in our country shows the phenomenon of “east high and west low”. The problem of unbalanced and insufficient development between regions, provinces and schools is more prominent. Therefore, this paper puts forward the ways to improve the quality of vocational education personnel training, which are: to strengthen the cooperation between the east, the middle and the west and promote the flow and sharing of resources; to further deepen the integration of industry and education and accelerate the formation of a multi-input mechanism; to form an evaluation mechanism of talent cultivation results oriented by upgrading technical skill level and employment quality.

Since the Chinese Economic Reform, China’s K-12 science education program has made notable progress. However, in the present landscape, several pressing challenges persist. These include a shortage of highly qualified science teachers, the imperative to enhance their professional competence, and the need for an improved training framework. To meet the needs of the professional development of science teachers in K12 schools, the Ministry of Education put forward the National Excellent K-12 Teachers Training Program (abbreviated as “National Excellence Program”), training high-quality future K-12 school teachers. The initiative is carefully designed to improve the education system, with a focus on enhancing science education. The “National Excellence Program” involves effectively utilizing the strong scientific research abilities and diverse interdisciplinary resources found in leading high-level comprehensive universities. It intends to train science teachers who will have strong passion in teaching, exceptional skills, and a solid grasp of science and technology. Responding to the imperative need, Shanghai Jiao Tong University established its own College of Education, consistently placing science education at the forefront and consistently pioneering innovative approaches to cultivate future science scholars. This article provided some valuable practical insights, serving as an important foundation for fostering innovative scientific and technological innovation talents in our country.

In the interdisciplinary perspective, numerous universities in America have begun to implement new models for faculty recruitment and evaluation, with the internal joint appointment system for university faculty emerging as a significant initiative to drive interdisciplinary research and education in America’s higher education institutions. Originating from the mid-20th century, the internal joint appointment system for university faculty in America has undergone three stages: initial exploration, accelerated development, and gradual maturity, resulting in the formation of three organizational models: “D+D” “D+I” and “I+I”. This system has been constructed from three dimensions: selection and appointment, support and incentives, and assessment and evaluation. While the internal joint appointment system for university faculty in America has achieved commendable practical results in enhancing talent cultivation quality, promoting high-level interdisciplinary research outcomes, and increasing operational efficiency, challenges such as the lack of specific and effective performance evaluation standards and the need for improved synergy efficiency still exist. Drawing lessons from the beneficial experiences of American universities, it is imperative to refine the internal joint appointment system for university faculty in China, thereby encouraging more outstanding teachers to engage in interdisciplinary research and education activities.

The openness of disciplines has a positive impact on higher education research and also plays an important role in the construction of the autonomy of the knowledge system of higher education studies. This role is mainly manifested in the fact that openness provides external impetus and resources for the autonomous development of the knowledge system of higher education studies, enabling it to continuously absorb new ideas, theories, and methods, thereby maintaining vitality and innovation. While the autonomy of the knowledge system is the foundation for the realization of the disciplinary attribute of openness in higher education. Only with autonomy can higher education effectively screen, integrate, and apply external information, thereby achieving the improvement and innovation of its own knowledge system. From the perspective of disciplinary openness, actively exploring the construction of the autonomous disciplinary system, academic system, and discourse systems is the basic path to achieving the autonomy of the knowledge system of higher education studies.

Interdisciplinary dissertations are an important way for promoting interdisciplinary academic training of doctoral students, but interdisciplinary research generally has the characteristics of high challenge and long cycle. Doctoral students conducting interdisciplinary dissertation research may face higher risks of delayed graduation. Based on the analysis of data from 2022 National Survey of Doctoral Graduates, it found that interdisciplinary dissertation research brings more pressure and require more time cost to doctoral students, and have a significant positive effect on their probability of delayed graduation. In terms of heterogeneity of the effect, interdisciplinary dissertation research is more likely to increase the risk of delayed graduation for doctoral students in natural science or with single disciplinary backgrounds. Based on this, it is recommended to provide the total process and multi-dimensional support for interdisciplinary doctoral dissertations. By providing delayed project funding and flexible school system, it aims to assist reasonably delayed doctoral students in completing high-level, long-term interdisciplinary research. And we should focus on supporting interdisciplinary research for natural science doctoral students and actively recruit students with interdisciplinary educational backgrounds.

Since the 25th anniversary of Macao’s return to China, significant achievements have been made in higher education, with six private non-profit universities playing a crucial role. Currently, these private non-profit universities have seen remarkable expansion in their teaching scale, continuous improvement in teaching quality, substantial research output, gradual enhancement in internationalization, and rising international rankings. Their services to Macao and regional development have proven effective. The achievements of private non-profit universities epitomize the development of higher education in Macao. Their success is largely attributed to the effective implementation of educational governance under the “One Country, Two Systems” framework. By leveraging the unique advantages offered by the Special Administrative Region, these universities have consistently enhanced the quality of higher education of Ma, creating a miracle in the history of private higher education.

Article 40 of the academic degree law empowers degree applicants with the right of academic review through the innovative design of the academic review system, but the incompleteness of relevant laws and regulations makes the academic review right vulnerable to the substantive restrictions of degree-granting units, and the non-independence risk of the academic review system thus appears. The independence theory of academic review system can effectively respond to the theoretical disputes of academic review system and promote the better prevention and resolution of degree disputes, and has a certain theoretical and normative basis. In order to ensure the independent exercise of academic review right and the fair operation of academic review procedure, it is necessary to take the procedural subject status of degree applicants as the logical premise to fully construct the independence theory of academic review system. Complete mechanisms for withdrawal, academic review restriction and evaluation review mechanism should be systematized, degree applicants should be explicitly allowed to seek external relief, and the relevant relief authorities should focus on the independence of the academic review process.