For most graduate students, a written thesis is a requirement to complete their studies. But in China, a law passed in 2024 allows some people to graduate with a practical achievement, such as an innovative product, technique or project, rather than following the conventional PhD route.

Since the law came into effect in January last year, more than 60 doctoral candidates have graduated with practical achievements, according to China’s Ministry of Education. The path is currently only available to people studying engineering degrees, and is part of China’s broader campaign to increase the number of “elite engineers” in the nation, hoping to overcome technological obstacles. Universities across the country have established around 50 graduate schools since 2021 to support the elite engineering drive.

In these institutions each student completes their training both at the university and in the company. They also have two supervisors: one in charge of their academic studies and the other who helps them gain practical experience. Engineering colleges offer product- and thesis-based graduation options, and students can choose which path to take.

First ‘practical doctorates’ awarded in China, for products rather than articles

Although universities in other countries also offer ‘industrial doctorates’, where students work closely with a company, many of these degrees still require a written thesis. The product-based graduation route is expected to help train workers who are capable of solving real-life problems, says Zong Yingying, dean of the Elite College of Engineers at Harbin Institute of Technology in China.

A university and its partner company will agree who owns the intellectual property for each resulting product, Zong explains. “But even if the university doesn’t get the intellectual property, it will benefit greatly from such collaboration because it will gain funding for the company’s research and industry experts, and the right to use its production lines.”

Nature spoke with three PhD graduates about their experiences participating in the program.

WU XIANGYANG: railway engineer

Cattle a PhD in smart manufacturing in rail transit systems at Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, China.

Growing up in a small town on the east coast of China, I was obsessed with heavy machinery. My father worked for a company that manufactured fish feed and took many business trips to obtain machines. He often took me with him on those trips. Memories of welded parts, the noise and smell of a busy workshop, and the sight of machines assembled on a production line stayed with me.

I earned a double bachelor’s degree in welding and software engineering in 2008. After that, I started working at Qingdao CRRC Sifang Rolling Stock Company, a railway vehicle manufacturer based in Qingdao, China, where I researched ways to improve manufacturing techniques. But as the years went by I began to feel the need to return to my studies to enhance my professional knowledge. That’s why I started a master’s degree in vehicle engineering in 2014 and then a PhD program in mechanical engineering in 2022.

My PhD course was jointly taught by Southwest Jiaotong University and Qingdao CRRC, which allowed me to pursue the PhD without quitting my job. China’s railway manufacturing sector has no shortage of advanced machines and skilled workers. What it lacks are processes that can coordinate the different machines of a system in the same production program so that it is possible to manufacture products safely and efficiently. That’s what I set out to solve with my PhD project: a software and hardware system that can plan, monitor and adjust production processes in rail vehicle factories in real time.

I cannot share the exact details of my product due to the confidentiality requirements of my course. But to develop it, I spent a lot of time in the factory collecting data from each step of the manufacturing process. I then built computer models from that data to find techniques that could solve specific problems. Finally, I returned to the factory to test and improve my product.

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One of the biggest challenges for me was that I had to do most of my research in a factory, which was busy and noisy, and last-minute changes and uncertainty were common. To collect the data I wanted, I often had to spend a lot of time searching for the best angle and location to record the information. And testing my product on a working production line was daunting. I was worried if it would work and if it would cause pauses in production. Any problem could potentially affect the work of everyone in the factory.

I’m glad I chose this graduation route. Compared to solving equations on paper or experimenting in a lab, what matters most to me as an engineer is whether innovations will work well in the real world. I will never forget the moment when the production line first moved under the command of my system. That was the day I was most proud of my PhD.

CUI GUANGZHANG: AI developer

He earned a Ph.D. on intelligent computing systems at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.

One day in 2003, I saw a merchant from my hometown in eastern China having a video conference with someone on his computer using Tencent QQ, a Chinese instant messaging service. I marveled at how two people who were so far away from each other could talk face to face. From that moment I knew I wanted to do something with computers.

Twenty-two years later, I earned a PhD from Zhejiang University for developing an intelligent computing system called Yansheng, which supports the research, development, and deployment of artificial intelligence programs. Simply put, the system coordinates a network of various types of computing equipment, allowing them to work together to efficiently train, tune, and deploy AI tools.

When I started my PhD studies in 2020, I intended to complete my degree by writing a thesis because that was the only option at the time. But as an engineering PhD candidate, I was often frustrated by this requirement. My heart was in solving practical problems and I planned to return to work outside of academia after graduating. In January last year, when my supervisor told me about the alternative graduation option that was being introduced, I was ecstatic. But the path to my graduation, which took place in December of last year, was not easy at all. Although my product had been in development for a long time, I was faced with a path that no other student had traveled before. I had to pass a product evaluation, equivalent to a thesis defense, composed of several steps, including a preliminary review by faculty members at my university and some formal reviews by outside specialists.

Are PhDs losing their shine? Why are fewer students enrolling in doctoral degrees?