Cooperative PhD Education Programs

The Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences （hereinafter refers to GSCAAS）is one of the earliest degree conferral institutions for master’s degree and doctoral degree in China. To comply with its philosophy of open-minded education, the GSCAAS favors collaboration and mobility by exchange programs for students and lecturers, implementation of cooperative education programs, reinforcement of international scientific partnerships. This global outlook has already become practice through a series of strategic cooperation agreements. At present, GSCAAS has two collaborative PhD programs, approved by Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. The applicants of these two programs shall be Chinese citizens.

1. Introduction of Cooperative PhD Programs between GSCAAS and Foreign Educational Institutions.

(1)  The PhD Program in Agronomy and Bioengineering Cooperatively-run by GSCAAS and University of Liège (hereinafter refers to ULg), Belgium.

This program has been approved by Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China in 2013 (No.: MOE11BE1A20131371N).  It has enrolled 58 PhD students since 2013, and is planning to recruit 22 PhD students in 2016.

The founding of the University of Liège in 1817 makes it one of the earliest public educational institutions of higher education. As a part of the Wallonia-Europe University Academy, now the University of Liège is the only public, pluralist and complete university institution of the French Walloon-Brussels community. It aims at maintaining a fair balance between teaching, research and community service activities, in the broad lines recognized by its complete university status.

Fully integrated in the Bologna process aiming at establishing a large harmonized zone of higher education in Europe, ULg welcomes 20,000 students spread out over nine Faculties, one Institute and one Management School. The University offers a very large range of courses: 38 degree courses, 200 Masters’ courses and 68 complementary master courses, 20 domains for PhD candidates. As a public university with a global outlook on international aspects, the University of Liège devotes a considerable part of its teaching to Agricultural Sciences, Environmental sciences and Engineering, Forest Science and Natural Space, Chemistry and Bioindustry, Biometrics etc. ULg also encourages the integration of new types of teaching and the acquisition of combined skills.

The Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux Faculty Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, in Gembloux, Wallonia, Belgium, is a university in the French Community of Belgium. It is the oldest educational and research institution of agronomic sciences and biological engineering in Belgium. In 2009, it was merged with the University of Liège and was renamed to Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (Hereinafter refers to GxABT). Students can choose a specialization from among four different courses of study in the field of life sciences: environmental science and technology, forest and natural space management, agronomical science, and chemistry and bioindustries.

(2)  The PhD Program in Agriculture and Life Sciences Cooperatively-run by GSCAAS and Wageningen University (Hereinafter refers to WU), the Netherlands.

This program has been approved in 2015 (No.: MOE11NL1A20151701N). It will recruit 20 PhD students each year from 2016 to 2019.

Wageningen University was established in 1918 and was the successor of the Agricultural School founded in 1876. As the pioneer of educational institution, the university has been evolving throughout the years. “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life” is the mission of Wageningen University. A staff of 6,500 and 10,000 students from over 100 countries work everywhere around the world in the domain of healthy food and living environment for governments and the business community-at-large. The strength of WU lies in its ability to join the forces of specialized research institutes. It also lies in the combined efforts of the various fields of natural and social sciences. The scientific quality of WU is affirmed by the prominent position they occupy in international rankings and citation indexes. The research domain of WU consists of three related core areas as follows: Food and Food Production; Living Environment; Health, Lifestyle and Livelihood.

2.  Cooperative Research Areas between GSCAAS and Foreign Educational Institutions.

Cooperative Research Areas between GSCAAS and ULg

Cooperative Research Areas between GSCAAS and Wageningen University

Crop Science

Plant Protection

Resource Utilization

Animal Science

Agro-products Processing

Environmental Science

    Veterinary Medicine

Agricultural Economics & Management

    Landscape and Biodiversity

Plant Sciences (Biology, Horticulture, Crop Science)

Animal Science (Animal Husbandry, Veterinary Medicine)

Natural Resources and Environmental Science

Food Science

Agro-product Quality and Food Safety

Agricultural Engineering Technology

Agricultural Economics & Management

3.  Cooperative Education Mode.

(1)  Selection and Admission of PhD Candidates

•   Selection of PhD candidates is the responsibility of both GSCAAS and ULg/WU. Both GSCAAS and ULg/WU have to agree.
•   The procedure for selection and admission should meet both GSCAAS and foreign educational institutions’ administrative procedures.
•   Both of these two programs are planning to recruit 22 and 20 PhD students in 2016 respectively.

(2) Education and Supervision

•   These two programs will adopt “Sandwich Model” construction for each individual PhD project duration and “Dual-tutor System” for PhD students’ education and training, of which, Sino-Belgium project will be “3+1” (3 years at GSCAAS, 1 year in Belgium), and Sino-Dutch project will be “2.5+1.5” (2.5 years at GSCAAS, 1.5 years in the Netherland).
•   In line with GSCAAS Training Programs for Doctoral Students， PhD students shall conduct their research during studying at GSCAAS. As for study abroad at partner institutions, PhD students may break down the total 12-month at ULg and 18-month at WU into several visits of different amount of time upon supervisors’ approval from both GSCAAS and ULg/WU.
•   Daily supervision of the PhD students will be the joint responsibility of GSCAAS and ULg/WU.

(3)  Awarding the PhD Degree

For the award of the PhD degree, a PhD candidate must meet all the (qualities) requirements described:

•   For the ULg: in the General regulation related to studies, reports, thesis and dissertation leading to the academic degree of PhD, as approved by the Academy Wallonia-Europe (Board of Trustees of the 19th of October 2010).
•   For the WU: in the General regulation related to studies, reports, thesis and dissertation leading to the academic degree of PhD, as approved by the Wageningen University and Dutch legislation.
•   For GSCAAS: in the General regulation related to studies, reports, thesis and dissertation leading to the academic certificate, as approved by the Degree Office of State Council, the People’s Republic of China.

More details:Study in Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)