department of computer science, tsinghua university 2006.5.23 introduction to the phd program of the...

Department of Computer Science, Tsinghua University 2006.5.23

Introduction to the PhD Programof the Department of Computer Science and Technology

at Tsinghua University

Prof. Chuang Lin

Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University

Outline

• Brief introduction

• Present situation

• Student enrollment

• Basic requirements

• Principal problems

• Initiatives to improve the quality

• Future perspectives


Brief introduction (1)

• Founded in 1958– At that time, its name was “Automatic Control depart.”

• 41 Professors, 35 Associate Professors• 3 fellows of the Chinese Academy of Science/

Engineering• Chair professors

– Andrew Yao– Thomas S. Huang

• http://www.cs.tsinghua.edu.cn


Brief introduction (2)

• 36 PhD Supervisors who must fulfill the following conditions– Full professors

– Currently have ongoing projects

– Have published academic papers in last two years

• It’s different than US universities


Present situation (1)

• Ranked first in the national academic estimation of computer science in 1996, and was one of the first 3 departments to obtain the authorization for PhD degree in computer science

• Ranked first in three indices (academic faculty, student cultivation, and academic reputation) among the total of four in the national academic evaluation of computer science in 2002



• Since 1978– 307 students have obtained the PhD degree

• Four national excellent doctoral thesis awards– Zhigang zhu (Advisor: Chunyi Shi, Guangyou

Xu)– Fuchun Sun (Advisor: Bo Zhang, Zengqi Sun)– Junhai Yong (Advisor: Jiaguang Sun, Shimin Hu)– Yuan Feng (Advisor: Mingsheng Ying)



• Doctoral students at present– 395 students

• Enrolled PhD students in recent years– 51 students, 2003

– 64 students, 2004


– 49 students, 2006 (planned)



• Graduated PhD students in recent years– 42 students, 2003





• More and more excellent doctoral students– Yuan Feng

• Published high quality papers• IEEE Transactions on Information Theory• Physical Review

– Yuchun Ma• Published high quality papers• IEEE Transactions on CAD of Integrated Circuits

and Systems• ACM Transactions on Design Automation of

Electronic Systems


Student enrollment (1)

• Excellent students who earned their bachelor’s degree in our department may enroll without entrance exam– 21 students in 2003

– 25 students in 2004

– 23 students in 2005



• Excellent students who earned their bachelor’s degree at other key universities may enroll without entrance exam

• They must be ranked in the top 3% in their university– 19 students in 2003– 22 students in 2004– 17 students in 2005



• Students with a master’s degree enrolled with entrance exam– 11 students in 2003– 17 students in 2004– 16 students in 2005

• The face-to-face interview is the most important item in the doctoral entrance exam


Basic requirements (1)

• Terms of Study– 3 to 5 years for doctoral students who

hold a master’s degree

– 4 to 6 years for doctoral students who hold a bachelor’s degree



• Courses– At least 34 credits for doctoral students

who hold a bachelor’s degree• Typically 9 to 11 courses

– At least 18 credits for doctoral students who hold a master’s degree • Typically 3 to 4 courses



• Courses– Including both basic theory courses and

advanced research courses– Basic theory

• 10 courses on mathematics and other basic theory• Students can take some courses in the mathematics

department

– Advanced research courses• Over 50 advanced research courses cover most

research areas in our department



• Graduation requirements of the State– Come from “National Academic Degree statute”– Solid and wide basic theory, and systematic and

deep major knowledge– The ability to independently conduct scientific

research– Obtain creative fruits in science or special

technology research



• Graduation requirements of the university– To publish at least 4 papers and meet the

following requirements– At least one paper published in an international

journal indexed by SCI, or– At least two papers published in international

conferences indexed by SCI, or– At least two papers published in international

conferences or journals indexed by EI, and at least one journal paper between them



• Graduation requirements of our department– There is no minimum number of papers required if the

following requirements are satisfied– Publishing one paper in international journals that are

indexed in ISI Web of Science and the impact factor is more than 1.0, or

– Publishing several papers in international journals that are indexed in ISI Web of Science and the total impact factor is more than 1.5

• Goal: to encourage the publishing of high quality papers


Principal problems (1)

• The overall quality needs to be improved– Obvious gaps compared to the top-class

universities in the world• The academic time for doctoral students is

relatively insufficient– Universities are demanded to play an important

role in national construction since China is a developing country

– A lot of time is spent in the engineering projects


Principal problems (2)

• There are not so many high-quality papers– Limited by the English level– Not enough international communication

• The ability of professors also needs to be improved– Obvious gaps compared to the top-class

universities


Initiatives to improve the quality (1)

• Setting up a more reasonable educational system

• Providing more chances for international intercommunion

• Encouraging the publishing of high-quality academic papers



• Setting up a more reasonable educational system– Qualified examination of doctoral students

• Department is the organizer• Including both the course grade and the face-to-face interview

grade• The bottom 20% of students will fail, and have to take another

exam

– Anonymous review of doctoral thesis– Annual academic report

• Doctoral students should submit their annual academic reports every year

• Department will review these reports and will give some feedback to both student and advisor



• Providing more chances for international intercommunion, going out– Encouraging doctoral students to do

collaborative research with top-class international universities

– Supporting doctoral students for vacation internships in prestigious academic institutes

– Funding doctoral students to participate in high-level international conferences



• Providing more chances for international intercommunion, coming in– Chair professors

• Andrew Yao• Thomas S. Huang

– Short-term courses by professors from overseas universities



• Encourage publishing of high-quality academic papers– No paper number requirement if students

have one high-quality paper published in high-level international journals• IEEE Transactions…• ACM Transactions…



• Some considerations– Cultivating top students vs. covering all students– Improving construction of educational

mechanisms and assuring the cultivating quality– Introducing psychological estimation in the

entrance examination– “Exit” mechanism for doctoral students


Future Prospective

• After 5-10 years of effort, the quality of education for doctoral students is expected to catch up with or get closer to the top 30 computer departments in US


Thank you!

department of computer science, tsinghua university 2006.5.23 introduction to the phd program of the...

Documents

department of computer

excellent students

students enrolled phd

graduated phd students

planned slide

phd degree

mingsheng ying slide

chuang lin slide