Notice on Work Schedule for 2025 Degree Application

To All Schools and institutes,

The graduate degree applications schedule for the year of 2025 is hereby noted. Please check out the deadlines and arrange the graduates degree application work accordingly. Please notify your graduate students in advance to complete their thesis proposal, mid-term inspection, pre-review, review, thesis defense, and degree application in strict accordance with the schedule, ensuring the quality of the degree thesis.

1.The degree application for the year of 2025 is divided into three batches: spring, summer, and autumn. Before submitting their theses for review and defense, applicants must upload their thesis proposals and review forms in the system. Doctoral students must upload the required files one year before the submission, while master’s students half a year in advance. The thesis proposal should be uploaded to the Integrated Service Platform for Graduate Students （https://yjs1.ustc.edu.cn/）– “Student development” – “Application of Thesis Opening Management”

2.Schedule of thesis review, thesis defense, and degree application:

(1) The first batch

Both the doctoral dissertations and the master’s theses should be submitted for review by January 17th (inclusive). After passing the plagiarism detection, applicants are to remind their schools or departments to continue the review process as soon as possible. Once all review comments turned out to be a “pass”, degree applicants should revise their thesis based on the review feedback and fill in the “Feedback Form for Revisions based on Thesis Reviews” (Appendix 3). The Form should be reviewed and signed by the thesis advisor and uploaded to the Degree Thesis Review System, after which the thesis defense can be organized and scheduled. Please note that the thesis submission system will be suspended from January 18th to March 5th.

The thesis defense should be completed by March 3rd (inclusive). Degree applicants should revise their theses according to the comments from the Defense Committee, and fill in the “Feedback Form for Revisions Based on Thesis Defense Comments” (Appendix 4). The Form should be reviewed and signed by the advisor and uploaded to the Degree Application System before the degree application submission.

Applicants should submit their degree application materials to the department by March 7th.

Departments should submit all the materials to the Office of Academic Degree Committee by March 11th. No supplementary submission or withdrawal due to personal reasons will be approved after March 11th. Any withdrawal of application submission due to personal reasons should be requested by March 11th, and it will be informed to both the department and Academic Degree Committee. Along with a graduation submission, the degree application must also be withdrawn simultaneously. Requests after the due time for application withdrawal will not be accepted.

(2) The second batch

The doctoral dissertation should be submitted for review by April 3rd (inclusive), while the mater’s theses should be submitted by April 11th (inclusive). After passing the plagiarism detection, applicants are to remind their schools or departments to continue the review process as soon as possible. Once all review comments are turned out to be a “pass”, degree applicants should revise their thesis based on the feedback and fill in the “Feedback Form for Revisions based on Thesis Review” (Appendix 3). The Form should be reviewed and signed by the thesis advisor and uploaded to the Degree Thesis Review System, after which the thesis defense can be organized. Please note that the thesis submission will be suspended from April 12th to June 30th.

The thesis defense should be completed by May 26th (inclusive). Degree applicants should revise their theses according to the comments from the Defense Committee, and fill in the “Feedback Form for Revisions Based on Thesis Defense Comments” (Appendix 4). The Form should be reviewed and signed by the advisor and uploaded to the Degree Application System before the degree application submission.

Applicants should submit their degree application materials to the department by May 30th.

Departments should submit all the materials to the Office of Academic Degree Committee by June 3rd. No supplementary submission or withdrawal due to personal reasons will be approved after March 11th. Any withdrawal of application submission due to personal reasons should be requested by June 3^rd, and it will be informed to both the department and Academic Degree Committee. Along with a graduation submission, the degree application must also be withdrawn simultaneously. Requests after the due time for application withdrawal will not be accepted.

(3) The third batch

The doctoral dissertation should be submitted for review by September 5th (inclusive), while the mater’s theses should be submitted by September 12th (inclusive). After passing the plagiarism detection, applicants are to remind their schools or departments to continue the review process as soon as possible. Once all review comments are turned out to be a “pass”, degree applicants should revise their thesis based on the feedback and fill in the “Feedback Form for Revisions based on Thesis Review” (Appendix 3). The Form should be reviewed and signed by the thesis advisor and uploaded to the Degree Thesis Review System, after which the thesis defense can be organized. Please note that the thesis submission will be suspended from September 13th to November 30th.

The thesis defense should be completed by October 27th (inclusive). Degree applicants should revise the thesis according to the comments from the Defense Committee, and fill in the “Feedback Form for Revisions Based on Thesis Defense Comments” (Appendix 4). The Form should be reviewed and signed by the advisor and uploaded to the Degree Application System before the degree application submission.

Applicants should submit their degree application materials to the department by October 31st.

Departments should submit all the materials to the Office of Academic Degree Committee by November 4th. No supplementary submission or withdrawal due to personal reasons will be approved after November 4th. Any withdrawal of application submission due to personal reasons should be requested by June 3rd, and it will be informed to both the department and Academic Degree Committee. Along with a graduation submission, the degree application must also be withdrawn simultaneously. Requests after the due time for application withdrawal will not be accepted.

schedules for three application batches:

3.All departments shall carry out their own blind reviews. Given the duration for blind review (generally 30-40 days) and plagiarism detection (1-2 days), degree applicants are requested to schedule their time, finalize the thesis and upload it to the system in time.

4. Each department establishes a degree thesis review committee to: 1) review the workload, originality, formality and discipline compliance of the thesis before the formal review submission (in the pre-review stage), to ensure the thesis quality; 2) review students’ modification after the review and their feedback to the expert comments upon the defense, before the academic committee meeting. Emphasis is especially paid on some unfavorable conditions: “approaching maximum length of study years” or “degree application more than one year after the defense, and “relatively low review scores”. These focused pre-reviews are to be conducted and the results must be submitted in written forms to the academic committee.

5.To optimize the review process, all institutes shall maintain and update the database of review experts (for interdisciplinary fields, minor or obscure disciplines with a relatively small number of experts, the database must be pooled and expanded soon), and a list of review misconduct should be established to ensure the quality and impartiality of the review process.

6. Starting from January 2022, academic graduate students must submit degree application materials within 2 years after passing the thesis defense. Any applicant who fails to submit the materials within 2 years will be deemed as having given up the degree application, and the degree application will not be accepted after 2 years (see Appendix 5 for relevant documents).

7. For graduate students who submit their degree applications one year after their thesis defense, their theses and academic achievements should be reviewed and verified by a group of at least 3 experts assigned by the school (Appendix 6). Graduate students can submit their degree applications only after uploading the forms approved and signed by experts to the Degree Application System.

8.The thesis defense must be organized in accordance with the Procedures for Graduate Thesis Defense of the University of Science and Technology of China. The finalized thesis must be signed by the thesis advisor and uploaded to the Graduate Degree Application System.

9. Degree applications will not be processed for students who fail to submit their graduation applications or whose graduation applications are not approved by the review deadline for the corresponding batch.

10.Contact details for the Office of Academic Degree Committee:

Tel: 0551-63600090, 63606165.

Address: Room 252 & 253, Old Library, East Campus

Appendix 1: Thesis Pre-review Form学位论文预评审表.doc 

Appendix 2: Application Form for Thesis Submission 学位论文送审申请表.doc

Appendix 3: Thesis Review Feedback Form 学位论文评审意见修改反馈表.docx

Appendix 4: Thesis Defense Feedback Form 学位论文答辩意见修改反馈表.docx

Appendix 5: Supplementary Regulations of University of Science and Technology of China on Applying for a Degree After Thesis Defense (Trial) 中国科学技术大学关于研究生答辩后申请学位的补充规定（试行）.pdf

Appendix 6: Relevance Checklist for Thesis and Academic Achievements 学位论文与学术成果相关性审核表.docx