With the widespread use of Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) tools in academic writing, the impact on postgraduate students in China warrants attention. An analysis of survey data from 14 817 postgraduates reveals that doctoral students have a stronger demand for using AIGC tools to assist in academic writing compared to master’s students. Postgraduates from “Double First-Class” construction universities, those studying in engineering, higher academic years, and those with extrinsic motivations for pursuing studies or perceiving a strong utilitarian publication atmosphere among peers are more likely to use AIGC tools for writing assistance. Postgraduates primarily utilize AIGC tools to assist in searching for materials related to their research topics and translating/refining the language expression in their papers. Postgraduates who use AIGC tools for coursework, translation, or refinement are more likely to recognize the positive impact of these tools on their research efficiency, but their use in research design may hinder the development of academic writing skills. Based on these findings, it is recommended that universities improve academic evaluation standards, and strengthen the development of academic ethical norms and usage skill training for AIGC tools.

Based on a survey of university teachers from undergraduate universities across the nation, this study adopts latent profile analysis to investigate the typological characteristics, work performance, and intervention strategies related to job burnout among university teachers in China. The results reveal four latent types of job burnout: low burnout (62.1%), relatively high burnout (27.1%), low sense of achievement (5.8%), and exhaustion(5.0%). Among these, teachers with low burnout demonstrate the best work performance, followed by those with a low sense of achievement, while those categorized as exhausted and relatively high burnout exhibit poorer performance. Organizational emotional support, organizational instrumental support, research pressure, teaching pressure, and the pressure of balancing teaching and research significantly predict different types of teacher burnout. Universities should provide tailored organizational support for teachers of various burnout types, reform teacher evaluation systems to enhance the sense of achievement in teaching, and improve the classification management system to alleviate the pressure of balancing teaching and research.

The ongoing statistical analysis and tracking of academic hotspots in higher education research papers over the past 20 years provide crucial support and reference for accelerating the high-quality development of higher education. A study on 23 of the most influential education journals reveals an imbalance in the output of higher education research papers among different types of institutions. Public undergraduate universities dominate as the main contributors, with a significant proportion of publications coming from “Double First-Class”construction universities. High-contribution institutions account for a large share, while other types of institutions show low participation. Meanwhile, diverse institutions such as education administrative departments, educational research institutions, and overseas institutions are actively engaged in higher education research, demonstrating strong openness and integration.Based on keyword frequency analysis and expert opinions, the top ten academic hotspots in higher education research for this year have been identified. An analysis and assessment of their research progress, key viewpoints, and trends have been conducted.

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.

Article 37(3) of the Academic Degrees Law serves as a catch-all provision for revoking academic degrees, covering both academic and non-academic grounds. By linking revocation grounds to the conditions required for initial degree conferment, the clause allows any breach of those conditions to potentially trigger revocation proceedings. However, actual revocation is warranted only when the conduct constitutes a “serious violation”. For academic misconduct, a “serious violation” must satisfy all three criteria: (a) the conduct falls within a category that university rules deem disqualifying for degree conferment; (b) the offending research output has been publicly disseminated; and (c) the conduct involves ghost-writing, plagiarism, or other forms of academic dishonesty of comparable severity. Serious non-academic breaches involve violations of the political or moral prerequisites for degree conferment. A serious political breach must constitute a crime of a political nature under the Criminal Law. A serious moral breach must violate either the Criminal Law or the Public Security Administration Punishments Law and be morally reprehensible. Crucially, revocation is justified only when such misconduct infringes upon the legal interests protected by the Academic Degrees Law, as manifested by causing significant negative social impact or seriously damaging the university’s reputation.

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.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the governance of higher education has roughly gone through three paths: direct government management (1949-1997), partial empowerment management (1998-2011), and exploration of collaborative governance (2012 present). Entering the era of artificial intelligence, the existing governance paths of higher education in China have shown signs of difficulty. Currently, there are still realistic dilemmas such as a weak sense of government boundaries, low social participation, higher education reform’s habit of self-referential institutional logic, the need for further clarification of role positioning, and lagging construction of governance rules and methods. In view of this, it is proposed to embed the “technological governance path” into the existing higher education governance mechanism, enabling higher education governance to move from “hierarchically fragmented and segmentary division” to “integrated operation based on digital space”, from “reactive governance” to “predictive governance”, and from “fuzzy decision-making based on experience” to “precise decision-making driven by data”. At the same time, to avoid adverse effects of artificial intelligence empowerment on higher education governance, it is suggested to establish a higher education governance concept that emphasizes both technology and humanity, build a governance foundation that takes into account both materiality and normativity, and implement a governance model that combines openness and security.

Significant achievements have been made in commercializing scientific and technological (S&T) achievements in Chinese universities. However, on the incentive mechanism, it needs to be seriously summarized in the experience and practices of reform and innovation, so as to further improve relevant policies, and accelerate the reform of three systems, such as individual column management of the transformation of service S&T advances, the evaluation of technology transfer talents and professional titles, and the investment of residual funds from horizontal scientific research projects for the transformation of S&T advances. The incentive mechanism reform of S&T advances transformation should be further people-oriented, such as asset management should pay more attention to the special characteristics of intangible assets by S&T advances, evaluation reform should further strengthen categorized assessment, horizontal research funding reform should further expand the autonomy of S&T personnel, and comprehensive reform of universities should further unclog blockages of incentive mechanism, so as to effectively solve the problems of some universities and their accomplisher of S&T advances being afraid to transfer, unwilling to transfer, and lacking funds to transfer.

Promoting the deepening application of artificial intelligence in university teaching is a crucial issue facing the digital transformation of higher education in China today, and it urgently needs to be explored in depth. Based on this, the study adopts a perspective shifting from “AI exclusion” to “AI empowerment”. By clarifying the concepts of “AI exclusion” and “AI empowerment”, it reveals that “AI exclusion” specifically manifests as ideological exclusion, institutional exclusion, organizational exclusion, and knowledge exclusion. These forms of exclusion follow diverse generative logics rooted in cognitive ideologies, policy systems, organizational structures, and knowledge transmission. In response to the real dilemma of “AI exclusion”, these orientations promote paradigmatic innovation across four dimensions: ideology, institutions, organizations, and knowledge. To eliminate “exclusion” and achieve “empowerment”, this study proposes a four-in-one integrated action pathway: “innovative theory + institutional establishment + organizational regeneration + contextual transformation”, aiming to deepen the application of artificial intelligence in university.

The empowering potential contained in emerging technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence is driving universities in their era to prioritize improving their governance intelligence as an important task for their future development. The combination of administrative actions and algorithms is driving algorithmic administration in university governance practice, and the algorithmic power demonstrated by it exhibits characteristics such as relationality, technicality, structural nature, and secrecy in the governance process. In the process of digital and intelligent governance in universities, phenomena such as changes and imbalances in the “power rights” empowerment/enabling structure, adjustments and dissolution the legitimate of governance due process triggered by technological simplism, and the formation and dilemma of technological/digital bureaucracy have emerged. To stimulate the governance effectiveness of algorithmic administration in universities, it is necessary to highlight the transformation from information technology popularization to the application of digital intelligence in the governance concept, highlight the incremental logic of algorithmic administration in university digital governance, and achieve the coordinated promotion of power expansion and rights protection in governance actions.

Based on survey data from national educational doctoral training institutions, this study analyzes the impact mechanisms of different learning motivations on the academic achievements of educational doctoral students. The results show that the impact mechanisms of different learning motivations on academic achievement vary; academic interest motivation enhances ability development and learning satisfaction, while utilitarian orientation facilitates degree completion, with learning engagement playing a crucial role. Furthermore, there are significant differences in the factors influencing the two types of motivations. Academic interest motivation is more influenced by intrinsic factors such as academic atmosphere, mentor guidance, and curriculum teaching, while utilitarian motivation is more influenced by extrinsic factors like peer assistance and academic management. The study also found that the learning motivations of educational doctoral students have a clear practical orientation, not just knowledge accumulation and paper publication, which is in line with the original purpose of establishing the degree. Therefore, universities should optimize institutional arrangements, clarify the professional positioning and training objectives of educational doctoral programs, emphasize the applicability, practicality, and innovation, create a favorable environment, adjust and optimize learning motivations, and stimulate learning engagement.

Based on the perspective of economic network analysis, this study systematically defines the theoretical connotation of a globally influential education center, proposing a potential transition from single-center model to multi-center model. The evolutionary process of emerging centers may give rise to new configurations of education centers, which represent the target form for elevating China’s development of education center. The study posits that a novel worldview in education, by guiding the transformation of educational paradigms, provides a philosophical foundation for these new configurations. Through analyzing domestic and international trends in educational development and open cooperation practices, the research reveals both opportunities and challenges in constructing such centers. Building on this analysis, the study discusses policy pathways to propel progress, including deepening international educational collaborations and communications by adhering to a neo-worldview in education; improving institutional mechanisms to empower talent cultivation through “inbound” and “outbound” strategies; and modernizing governance systems and capabilities for foreign-related education security.

Scholarships, as a key form of financial aid, reward excellence and promote all-around development of college student. This study revealed that there are certain differences in the background characteristics of the students who receive scholarships. Obtaining a scholarship helps improve students’ academic performance and promotes the development of their knowledge, abilities, and self - awareness. The positive effect of scholarships on students’ learning and development is manifested through increased learning input, especially emotional input. In the future, it is necessary to adhere to the principle of universality of the scholarship policy, expand the group of beneficiary students, optimize the evaluation criteria, and strengthen the value - added evaluation of students’ abilities and qualities. Additionally, a scientific tracking system for the implementation effect of scholarships should be established to regularly evaluate and provide feedback on their actual financial aid effects. Potential problems that may be caused by the scholarship system also need to be guarded against, so as to further give play to the function of scholarships in “rewarding excellence and educating students” and improve the quality of talent cultivation in colleges and universities.

Intensive counseling activities, centered around one-on-one conversation between undergraduates college counselors, serve as an innovative approach for assisting high-achieving low-income undergraduates’adaptation college life, eliminating potential inequality in educational process and outcome. Focusing on intensive counseling activities within the “Yanyuan Qihang Program” of the Student Financial Aid Center at Peking University, this paper investigates the impact of these activities on the development of high-achieving low-income undergraduates, as well as the role of counselors. Based on self-authorship theory and learning partnership model, quantitative analysis finds that intensive counseling significantly enhances students’general and professional abilities. Qualitative analysis reveals that “seeing”, “empathizing”, and “giving a man a fish and teaching him how to fish” are the three major strategies for counselors in conducting intensive counseling. During the intensive counseling process, counselors have transformed from supervisors and managers to companions and supporters, and students have transformed from “dependence” to “autonomy”. Universities shall enhance their external support system for intensive counseling, in order to maximize the impact of non-financial support for high-achieving low-income undergraduates.

Using qualitative research methods and policy instruments theory, this study analyzed valid responses of 4432 college students to the open-ended question “Suggestions on Promoting the All-round Development of Morality, Intelligence, Physical, Aesthetic, and Labor Education in College Entrance Examination (CEE) Comprehensive Reform” in “CEE Reform Questionnaire Survey”, the results show the following: The promotion of students’ all-round development through CEE papers is difficult to measure uniformly and may cause limitations in exam-oriented education. However, it can promote the four aspects through intellectual education, and improve its quality; To promote the all-round development through subject-selection system, it is necessary to strengthen the matching of high-school career planning education and the construction of teaching staff, and optimize scoring mechanism and enrollment plan allocation; The comprehensive quality evaluation promotes the all-round development, facing urban-rural and family differences. The content design and practical operation still need to be improved. The authors suggest grasping the dialectical unity between all-round development and individuality; Reasonably use CEE papers, subject selection, and comprehensive quality evaluation; Correctly understand the promoting effect of CEE reform on the all-round development.

Each theory is persuasive only within the limits of scale. The scale of social science theories includes internal and external scale. The internal scale represents the boundary of the research object and its extensibility in the conceptual sense, and the external scale represents the time-space boundary within which the theory maintains persuasiveness. A correct understanding of scale is the basis for understanding the true value of a theory. Martin Trow’s theory of stages of higher education development as an example, has been misinterpreted in terms of the theory’s internal scale, leading to a misunderstanding of the boundary between quantitative and qualitative changes in higher education development; due to the neglect of the external scale, the original theory has formed numerous derivative theories in its transmission. The internal scale of a theory determines the perspective of understanding, and the external scale determines the generality and specificity of the theory. The construction of higher education theories should not avoid the ideal scale, and researchers should actively participate in the construction of a general theory of higher education under a larger external scale.

China’s talent cultivation models demonstrate typological diversity and complex evolutionary paths. From the dual tension perspective of “local-international” and “traditional-innovative”, the talent cultivation models of Chinese universities can be identified as four ideal types: “international academic inheritance”, “international innovation leading”, “local cultural preservation” and “local innovation priority”. These types have a dynamic, interactive evolution driven by multiple factors such as disciplinary development needs and national policy guidance. Talent cultivation models in Chinese universities should balance global competition and local adaptation, as well as knowledge accumulation and innovative breakthroughs, to achieve the functional and strategic positioning of China’s higher education development.

How to realize the cognitive paradigm shift from “knowledge possession” to “knowledge creation” is still a black box that needs to be revealed. Through in-depth interviews with 20 students of the “Pilot Reform Program of Enrollment for Basic Disciplines”, it was found that their cognitive paradigm shift manifested itself in a shift from “strong knowledge inertia” to “constructive innovation”. Among them, cognitive conflict is not the inevitable cause of the paradigm shift; rather, the more direct driving force is higher-order cognitive engagement. Driven by self-awareness and self-regulation, motivation for innovation and metacognitive experience indirectly influence the cognitive paradigm shift. Along with the cyclical process of reflective monitoring, students in the “Pilot Reform Program of Enrollment for Basic Disciplines” undergo a cognitive paradigm shift as they continuously expand their thinking and practice new skills. Therefore, universities can cultivate a disruptive mindset in “Pilot Reform Program of Enrollment for Basic Disciplines” students towards traditional paradigms through approaches such as a “scenario-based” training model. This approach allows students to integrate real-world experiences with theoretical knowledge in groundbreaking and revolutionary research practices, ultimately transforming knowledge into wisdom and fostering innovation that challenges established norms and paves the way for new paradigms.

Based on provincial panel data from 2012 to 2021, this study explores the impact mechanism of the transformation of scientific and technological (S&T) achievements in universities on the development of new quality productive forces. The results show that such transformation drives the development of new quality productive forces, mediated by talent agglomeration and regional innovation and entrepreneurship. Industrial structure upgrading and high-tech industry agglomeration exert positive moderating effects. Moreover, university-industry collaboration and government support exhibit threshold effects with increasing marginal returns, while an optimal range of financial development is identified. Accordingly, efforts should focus on promoting the coordinated development of scientific, digital, and green productive forces, creating a high-quality ecosystem to comprehensively support the transformation of S&T achievements in universities. Strategic industrial layout adjustments should proactively guide and absorb the spillover of achievements, addressing barriers to industrialization. A combination of measures integrating S&T transformation with deep university-industry collaboration should be employed to identify the optimal financial support range for enhancing new quality productive forces. Finally, a differentiated support system for the transformation of S&T achievements in universities should be established to encourage regionally differentiated development.

The integration of industry and education is the essential feature and basic mode of vocational education, and the development of vocational undergraduate is an important measure to build a modern vocational education system. In the face of complex environmental factors, the integration model of industry and education in private vocational undergraduates presents the characteristics of diverse resources and heterogeneous attributes, and is developing from single-subject dominance to dual-subject co-construction to multi-subject collaboration. The operation mechanism of the integration of industry and education is characterized by “flow”, focusing on the smooth flow of diverse resources of industry and education, and the mutual embedding of heterogeneous attributes, which is composed of mechanisms such as resource supply, professional construction, curriculum practice, and achievement sharing, so as to meet multiple needs and be driven by the protection of multi-subject interests, forming a “demand-benefit symbiosis” mechanism. The in-depth integration of industry and education in private vocational undergraduates requires diversified development of the main force and deepening the integration of industry and education; Diversify and innovate organizational forms, and promote collaborative governance in an organized manner; Multi-dimensional to improve the operation mechanism, focus on optimizing the systematic design.

In the era of digital transformation, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has become an important tool for enhancing research efficiency; however, its specific impact on research output remains underexplored. Based on survey data from the 2024 national doctoral graduate survey, this study investigates the effects of GenAI on the research output of doctoral students using propensity score matching and inverse probability weighted regression adjustment methods. The results indicate that GenAI usage increases doctoral students’ total research output by 6.5% and international publications by 6.9%. The effect is particularly prominent for publications in top-tier journals, with a net effect of 16.5%. However, factors such as gender and age constitute major barriers to GenAI adoption, limiting some doctoral students from reaping the full technological dividends. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis reveals that the benefits of GenAI use vary significantly across different disciplines and academic environments. For doctoral students with insufficient mentor guidance, although GenAI promotes the output of the total number of papers and international publications, it fails to yield significant benefits for top-tier journal publications. Accordingly, this study recommends the systematic integration of GenAI into doctoral training systems, the development of intelligent resource-sharing platforms, and the strengthening of ethical norms and fairness safeguards. These measures aim to promote the rational application of the technology and the equitable sharing of digital dividends, thereby fostering the high-quality and sustainable development of doctoral education.

Subject reform is the core and difficulty of the new round of college entrance examination reform. Based on the Entropy Weight TOPSIS model, this paper evaluates the differences in the evaluation index data of the subject reform of the new college entrance examination in various provinces. The research shows that there are great differences in the evaluation of the implementation of the new college entrance examination curriculum among different groups in different provinces. There is a certain correlation between the differences in the ranking of subject selection evaluation in each province and the batch arrangement of the new college entrance examination. Subjective norms are the main obstacle factors affecting the subject selection evaluation of student groups in each province, and family influence is the main influencing indicator. Behavioral attitude and perceived behavioral control are the main obstacle factors affecting the subject selection evaluation of teacher groups in each province, and the overall satisfaction with the subject selection system, as well as students' professional development and career planning, are the main influencing indicators. In order to deepen the reform of college entrance examination subjects, we should formulate a topic selection guidance scheme suitable for regional educational ecology, improve the fair and priority allocation mechanism of educational resources, and promote the accurate allocation of regional educational resources, constructing the whole chain of home-school community construction and education cooperation ecology and other promotion strategies.

To uncover the multifaceted reasons behind the delayed graduation of doctoral students and its complex implications, an analysis of survey data from 2024 national academic degree doctoral graduates was conducted. The findings reveal: Firstly, there are significant differences in the reasons for delayed graduation among doctoral students of different background, the rigid requirement of paper publication generally aggravates the delay risk of all kinds of doctoral students. Secondly, many of those who delay graduation for meeting the needs of supervisor’s research project are passive delays; although their research output surpasses that of on-time graduates, they show notable disadvantages in the development of academic ability and academic interests. Thirdly, those who delay graduation to pursue higher-quality research or for overseas exchange are mostly active delays, achieving quality of academic training beyond that of on-time graduates. Based on these findings, it is recommended to reduce the paper publication requirements for doctoral students and strengthen the quality assurance mechanisms for dissertation research in doctoral education, incorporate delayed graduation of doctoral student into supervisor evaluation standard properly and improve their quality of supervision, implement a flexible educational system and provide long-term research support for top-notch innovative doctoral students.

High school academic Olympiads have played a significant role in selecting and cultivating top innovative talents. Based on a three-year longitudinal dataset from a university participating in China’s Pilot Reform Program of Enrollment for Fundamental Disciplines (PRPEFD), this study used a mixed-method approach combining quantitative and qualitative research to compared the college development of Olympiad-trained and non-Olympiad students across three dimensions: academic performance, research engagement, and competency development. The study reveals that: Olympiad students significantly outperformed their non-Olympiad peers in academic performance and research participation in their freshman and sophomore years, though this advantage diminished gradually. Olympiad students also rated themselves higher in learning ability, communication skills, and self - efficacy, with the gap widening as grades progressed. Among students admitted through the PRPEFD, those with and without Olympiad experience showed no significant difference in academic performance but had a notable disparity in research participation. Building on empirical support for Olympiad-based admission policies and exceptional enrollment mechanisms under the PRPEFD, this article proposes refining discipline-specific selection criteria across institutional tiers, complemented by compensatory mechanisms for students from under-resourced regions, to establish a merit-based selection ecosystem that balances scientific rigor and inclusiveness.

Artificial intelligence technology poses fundamental challenges to the traditional teacher-student centered educational structure and urgently requires the construction of new educational models. The five element education model of “teacher-student-AI-environment-culture” proposes that the educational logic in the intelligent era should shift from traditional binary teaching between teachers and students to a multi element collaborative interactive network. The five element education model is student-centered with AI at its core. By reshaping learning methods, teaching methods, environmental ecology, and cultural atmosphere, it cultivates students’ core competencies of the “eleven abilities”—such as innovation and creativity—that enable them to master and surpass AI. Based on the previous exploration of Beijing Institute of Technology, this model provides an effective practical path for cultivating top-notch innovative talents in the era of intelligence.

Student financial aid is an important means to ensure educational fairness and the rational allocation of resources. Funding education is the foothold of student financial aid. This paper takes undergraduate students in universities in Beijing, Shanghai and Zhejiang as the research objects，and conducts investigation and empirical analysis on the effect of student financial aid. The study finds that the scale and structure of financial aid and the environment of financial aid have a positive impact on the effect of student financial aid, and the individual orientation of students plays an intermediary role in the path of affecting the effect; the heterogeneity analysis based on regions and university types shows that the funding environment has a particularly significant impact on the funding effect of universities. In order to improve the effect of funding education, while improving the coverage and accuracy of funding, we should optimize the allocation of educational resources and strengthen multi-coordination.

By analyzing relevant documents from 36 initial pilot universities, this paper summarizes the current state of transition operations from two perspectives: “how to transit” and “where to transit”. The findings indicate that pilot universities have developed unique transition methods that align with policy requirements and their own contexts. However, there is a need to guard against oversimplifying the transition. Although diverse transition pathways are offered within policy constraints, there is still a need to enhance the guidance of students’ development choices. While the importance of effective linkage between academic stages is recognized, a complete plan for subsequent training is yet to be established. Universities should integrate selection and cultivation in the transition process, deepen the exploration of multi-path, highly adaptive transition practices based on disciplinary characteristics and talent cultivation principles, strengthen coordination among relevant entities, ensuring good quality in every step.

Article 31 of the Degree Law has added a clause on degree quality assurance, requiring degree conferring institutions to “timely disclose relevant information and accept social supervision” in order to ensure the quality of degree conferring, however, the most crucial mechanism for social supervision of the quality of academic dissertations is essentially lacking in China. At present, not only have degree conferring institutions not chosen to actively accept social supervision by promoting the disclosure of their degree theses, but public libraries and commercial databases are also difficult to become platforms for the public to supervise the quality of degree theses. Establishing a social supervision mechanism for the quality of degree theses is not only an inherent requirement for public as taxpayers participation in financial performance evaluation, but also helps to make up for the shortcomings of existing mechanisms for supervising the quality of degree theses. Therefore, it is necessary to first promote instant open access to degree these, secondly establish a unified platform for open access to degree theses by the National Library, and finally improve the system for reporting academic misconduct in degree theses. In the future, Article 31 of the Degree Law should further improve the social supervision mechanism for the quality of degree theses.

The era of big science is an important feature of the scientific research paradigm after World War II. The emergence of this era has a specific historical background and is an important factor affecting the development and reform of higher education. It is also a new perspective for examining higher education activities. The shift of higher education from the era of small science to the era of big science is a reconstruction process based on reflection. How to maintain the value and positioning of higher education in the era of big science, how to transform the higher education system, where to go in university reform, and how to cultivate top-notch innovative talents are becoming urgent questions that need to be answered. In the era of big science, it is necessary to redefine the mission and responsibility of higher education, and rethink the forms and values of existence of universities, disciplines, and majors.

The research and practice of aesthetic education in universities are paying more attention to the cultivation of aesthetic conceptions among college students. Adopting qualitative research method and conducting semi-structured in-depth interview method, this study explores the problems and causes of aesthetic conception among college students. Research has found that there are still four problems with the aesthetic conceptions of college students: shallow understanding of aesthetic values; the pan entertainment-oriented choice of aesthetic ways; the contradictory pursuit of aesthetic standards and the one-sided understanding of aesthetic types. The deep-seated reasons for the above-mentioned problems mainly include three points: lack of aesthetic literacy, lack of peaceful state of mind, and negative effects of social media. The way to solve the above difficulties lies in the comprehensive curriculum construction to enhance aesthetic literacy, creating an aesthetic atmosphere to cultivate a peaceful state of mind, and correctly utilize the new advantages of technology empowered the cultivation of aesthetic conception.

Evaluation and quality assurance in higher education play an important role in promoting quality awareness, clarifying quality concepts, reinforcing quality norms and promoting quality construction. However, it is also faced with the tension between uniformity and diversity, normativity and autonomy, authority and utilitarianism that comes with standardisation. Its roots lie in scientism and its cult of quantification. In response, there has been a postmodern turn towards de-indicatorisation of evaluation, with a focus on the integrity, diversity and development of the object of evaluation, a look at the life activities of the object of evaluation itself, and an emphasis on the building of a culture of educational evaluation and quality assurance. The excellent tradition of Chinese educational evaluation is instructive for the postmodern turn in higher education evaluation and quality assurance, which should be creatively inherited and innovatively developed.

The “student-centered” teaching management of undergraduate colleges and universities adheres to the center of students’ development, and promotes the realization of the main value of students, meets the learning needs of students and pays attention to the learning effect of students. Through the “triangular mutual evidence”, the study summarizes it into six dimensions, 29 elemental indicators, and takes the students of eight undergraduate colleges and universities in Jiangsu Province as the object to carry out the survey of “students’ needs in teaching management of undergraduate colleges and universities”, and uses the KANO model to analyze and optimize the method to calculate the Better-Worse coefficients of the corresponding indexes, and disperses the indexes in the establishment of a two-dimensional quadrant diagram. Based on this, it is proposed to solve the “urgency”, prioritize to meet the necessary needs of students for teaching management, pay attention to the “hope”, focus on improving the expectations of students for teaching management, and alleviate the “difficult worries”, and optimize students’ charismatic demand for teaching management in a targeted manner.

Identifying the characteristic inducement risks of learning difficulties among college students amidst the digital education transformation and tracking their development over time are crucial for preventing academic risks. This study develops a framework for identifying the causes of learning difficulties through qualitative interviews and uses dynamic topic analysis to further explicate how these triggers evolve. Consequently, the study highlights three major inducers of learning difficulties, including interaction imbalance exacerbated by technological usurpation, cognitive bias triggered by excessive quantification, and social alienation and isolation fueled by deep-rooted inert habits. And the evolutionary mechanism of learning difficulties involves three stages, namely a sensitive germination period influenced by public opinion bias, a risk elasticity period due to technological risk, and a maturity period from inertial convergence. To effectively tackle the challenges, a multifaceted approach is needed, such as creating a supply-demand matching framework with multimodal knowledge mapping, implementing a learning risk management model based on human-computer collaboration, and establishing a comprehensive supervision system involving multiple stakeholders. These strategies are designed to enhance talent cultivation within higher education.

With the rapid development of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) technology, China has entered a new stage of high-quality development. While enhancing production efficiency across industries, the application of GAI has also introduced educational risks. In higher education, the involvement of Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) in academic theses has increasingly been criticized for enabling academic misconduct such as ghostwriting, plagiarism, and fabrication. Based on an analysis of GAI’s underlying architecture, generative AI is essentially a logical computing tool devoid of autonomous intent. Research on generative AI should adopt an instrumentalist perspective. In reality, AIGC’s involvement in academic theses does not equate to other person’s writing, but its improper citation practices and inherent flaws may lead to plagiarism and fabrication. Based on the reality of anomie in the integrity of a comprehensive ban, the governance of AIGC should be shifted to standardized use. At the institutional response level, the following measures should be prioritized: strengthen explicit labeling mechanisms for GAI; clarify the verification obligations of degree applicants regarding AIGC; implement strict evaluation criteria by degree review committees to ensure academic integrity.

The continuous analysis of vocational education research papers and hotspots over a decade provides important support for accelerating the high-quality development and construction of independent knowledge system of Chinese vocational education. A statistical review of research papers published in 27 education journals reveals that public undergraduate universities contribute a significantly higher proportion of publications than public vocational (junior college) institutions. “Double First-Class” construction universities and “Double High-Level Plan” colleges stand out as major contributors to vocational education research performance. In terms of regional distribution, the eastern region demonstrates a significantly higher volume of publications and greater institutional research participation than other regions. Research hubs have gradually formed, along with influential institutions and research communities with strong academic leadership in the field of vocational education. The research hotspots in vocational education exhibit a degree of continuity and show dynamic interactions with national policies, social issues, and higher education research. Based on a comprehensive analysis of keyword frequency, this study identifies the top ten academic hotspots in vocational education research for 2024 and provides an in-depth examination of the research progress, key perspectives and future research trends.

The Industry-University Collaboration (IUC) mechanism serves as a critical to alleviate the structural contradictions in talent cultivation between supply and demand. Based on a mixed-methods research utilizing AI-driven large language models, this study systematically explores the current situation and restrictive factors of enterprises’ deep engagement in IUC. It finds that a structural contradiction lies in the asymmetry of IUC engagement. Qualitative text analysis finds that, this contradiction primarily stems from four restrictive factors: systemic delay of teaching and research productivity in university, absence of protection for industries’ rights, inadequacy of incentive mechanisms, and information flow bottlenecks. Quantitative analysis confirms that the above factors exert significant cooling effects on enterprises’ engagement in IUC. Addressing these challenges, it is necessary to break the constraints of the higher education evaluation system, clarify the enterprises’ rights and responsibilities in IUC, establish multi-dimensional incentive mechanisms, to stimulate enterprises’ enthusiasm and promote effective IUC.

Based on panel data from 56 institutions involved in the first round of China’s “Double High-Level Plan” from 2020 to 2023, this study employs a fixed-effects model and interaction-effect analysis to examine the enabling and inhibiting effects of digital transformation on industry-education integration. The findings indicate that digital transformation significantly enhances integration effectiveness through technological efficiency and resource consolidation; however, the marginal benefits exhibit an inverted U-shaped relationship, where excessive digitization can result in resource redundancy and weakened collaboration. The dispersion of professional structures and delays in technological infrastructure represent primary inhibitors, undermining the enabling effects through resource fragmentation and organizational inertia, respectively. Significant regional heterogeneity is observed, with institutions in the central and western regions displaying prominent “late-mover advantages”, while eastern institutions show diminishing returns. Therefore, digital initiatives should adhere to an optimal threshold to avoid the risks associated with over-digitization, coordinate technology investments with dual-qualified faculty training, and leverage enterprise collaboration and capability iteration to strengthen the technology-human synergy. Furthermore, professional structures should be dynamically optimized, infrastructure upgrades accelerated, and differentiated regional strategies adopted to establish complementary gradients and mitigate constraints stemming from resource fragmentation and organizational inertia.

Constructors are key factors in the construction of autonomous knowledge systems in Chinese higher education. The theory of academic life course provides a precise analytical framework for understanding the growth and stage - based tasks of scholars who construct knowledge systems. Through in - depth interviews, it has been discovered that the disciplinary training of these constructors shapes a mental structure with a stable order in their minds, and is influenced by the localization and disciplinarization of knowledge. The foundation and logic of constructing the autonomous knowledge system are conveyed through teaching and research activities, manifested as the constructors’ value distinctions and biases regarding Chinese and Western knowledge, the loss of subjectivity, and the superstitious inclination towards “Western centrism”. The stage theory of rational action logic implicitly expresses a developmental idea that influences the academic life process of scholars, and the stages of constructing an autonomous knowledge system match the characteristics shown by the constructors. Starting from interdisciplinarity and practicality, progressing to normativity and dependence, and then moving on to reflectivity and experimentation, constructors must find the right starting point for each stage, and construct the autonomous knowledge system of Chinese higher education with reference, transformation, and innovation.