[Series Report] Learning for Work Promotion: Upgrading the Quality of Undergraduate Graduation Thesis (Design)

   Editor’s note: At present, all CPC members and all people from the leadership to the masses in CUG are carrying out the theme-focused education on learning and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in accordance with the requirements of the “Opinions of the CPC Central Committee on Deeply Implementing Theme-focused Education on Learning and Implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”. The Party Committee of the School of Arts and Communication conscientiously studies and implements the “Implementation Plan for Theme-focused Education on Deeply Learning and Implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” issued by the Party Committee of CUG; focusing on the general requirements of “learning ideology, strengthening party spirit, emphasizing practice, and making new achievements”, it combines the theme-focused education with the fundamental task of cultivating virtues and morality, combines the theme-focused education with the talent training, scientific research, discipline construction and other work of the school, integrates the requirements of theory study, investigation and research, development promotion and inspection and rectification, and strive to achieve tangible results in learning for forging the soul, learning for wisdom, learning for Party conduct, and learning for work promotion. From now on, a series of reports on this theme will be launched on the website of the School.

   Since the launch of the theme-focused education on learning and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, in combination with its practical situation, the School of Arts and Communication has carried out investigation and research with the principal of learning for work promotion. Focusing on the requirements on “improving the quality of independent talent cultivation” in the “Implementation Plan” for theme-focused education of CGU, the School takes upgrading the quality of undergraduate graduation thesis as an opportunity to effectively promote the implementation of “undergraduate education as the foundation” and “strict academic style in CUG”.

Facing up to the problem rather than evading

According to the requirements of “Notice on the Inspection of the Undergraduate Graduation Thesis in 2022” issued by the Undergraduate School, in October 2022, experts from the undergraduate teaching supervision group of CUG inspected the graduation thesis (design) of five majors of this school, including radio and television studies, musicology, environmental design, visual communication design and digital media art and gave full recognition to the work of the school in the management, topic selection, writing, and guidance records of undergraduate graduation thesis (design). They also pointed out some problems, such as non-standard format, insufficient depth of thesis content, insufficient literature search and reference materials, and too simplistic research method. In response to the above problems, the experts from the supervision group made another return visit in November 2022 and proposed that the school should reformulate its graduation thesis (design) requirements in accordance with the “Graduation Thesis Writing Standards”.

Developing measures based on investigation and study

In response to the problems raised by experts from the supervision group of CUG, the school made in-depth investigation and research based on the professional characteristics of different disciplines, analyzed the reasons, and proposed measures.

The first is to strengthen system building. Guided by the “Graduation Thesis Writing Standards” and “Internship Quality Standards” of CUG, the School revised the “Requirements for the Teaching of Undergraduate Graduation Design (Thesis) for Design Majors” and put forward higher requirements on the number of words in the thesis, the number of references, the design theme, and the functionality and timeliness of the design.

The second is extensive study and propaganda. The School compiled and printed the study materials such as “Management Measures for Undergraduate Graduation Thesis (Design) Work” and the “Bachelor Dissertation Writing Standards”, and organized teachers of all majors to carry out in-depth study. At the opportunity of organizing students to present their graduation thesis (design) proposal, a systematic presentation was given on relevant regulations and requirements.

The third is to strengthen process control. Pay close attention to the key links after the proposal presentation, improve the “four step” work method for controlling the process of undergraduate thesis (design), and strictly control the quality of the thesis (design).

Step 1: Mid-term inspection. The School organized key inspections on the progress of graduation thesis (design), the inspection status of academic advisors, and the attachment filling, and reported the inspections results of each major. The mid-term inspection was completed and communicated in April.

Step 2: Modification after exhibition. The academic advisor should guide students to modify their works and thesis for the second time after the thesis (design) exhibition.

Step 3: Modification after graduation defense. After graduation defense, make the third modification to the graduation thesis (design).

Step 4: Review before uploading. The academic advisor should make a final review of the student’s final draft in the system to ensure that the final draft is uploaded without errors.

Insisting on the combination of problem-oriented and goal-oriented approaches, the School effectively transforms the requirements of theme-focused education into the practical action of implementing “undergraduate education as the foundation” and “strict academic style in CUG”, to make joint efforts to improve the quality of undergraduate education and teaching.