Enrollment

Teaching

admissions

Gearing to the ever deepening reform in enrollment on the national and provincial levels, Yunnan University adopted a series of new measures which ensure the access of higher quality students with better composition.

In recent years, its enrollment assumes the following features:

1. Students are enrolled on the basis of the need and capacity of its subordinate institutes, departments and branches of study

Starting from the year 2000 Yunnan University adopted the new ways for enrollment on the basis of the need and capacity of its subordinate institutes, departments and branches of study with exception of a few subjects whose students are still enrolled in the same old way. According to the new method, all freshmen should take the fundamental courses for all students in the university and for all students in the department or the institute. Only in the second academic year can students choose their specialties according to their scores, interests, and the planned composition of specialties of a given institute.

2. Base-run class mode

Now we have base-run classes in history, biology, mathematical theory, and comprehensive liberal arts. The aim of these classes is to let students go through all courses for bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and all the way to doctor’s degree. This is to drive the students to enhance their comprehensive quality and widen the scope of their knowledge, thus training senior personnel of innovation and practical ability.

3. Recommending a proportion of undergraduates to further study for master’s degree without taking routine examinations.

Ratified by the National Education Ministry, Yunnan University can recommend a small proportion of brilliant graduateing students to further study for master’s degree either in Yunnan University or in other universities or colleges within or outside the province without taking part in the routine national examinations for admission.

4. Cooperation in equivalent enrollment exchanges

Since 1995 Yunnan University carried out a cooperation on increasing scale with other universities and colleges in equivalent exchanges of a certain number of enrolled students. This program allows Yunnan University to exchange the same quota of enrollment with the coordinating universities and colleges of other provinces, thus enabling more Yunnan students to study in the counterparts of Yunnan University in other provinces, and vice versa. This cross-province enrollment program witnesses a steady increase and improves the student composition of our university, hence the rise of the students’ quality in our university. Meanwhile this provides opportunities for more Yunnan students to study in other provinces. Thus other provinces also contribute to Yunnan’s development by training more personnel of different specialties for Yunnan. In 2000 Yunnan University enrolled 900 students according to this program. Besides, Yunnan University also enrolls a proportion of recommended candidates, say, 3% of its total number of planned enrollment from the first degree comprehensive schools of the province, prefectures and some nationality middle schools.

Teaching administration

Yunnan University is run with a set of teaching administration regulations unanimously stipulated by the university comprehensive administration office. In recent years, with the deepening of reform in education system and increasing improvement of it, Yunnan University has also been undergoing constant revision and improvement in this aspect. Now its regulations form a unity of their own, covering faculty and students administration systems that prove to be comparatively scientific, rational, practical, and complete, meeting the need of the university.

Among its major regulations for undergraduate administration are:

1. College Students’ Moral Code (interim)

2. Regulation for Implementation of overall credit system in Yunnan University (interim)

3. Enforcement Regulation for Administration of Undergraduates (interim)

4. Guide for Course Selections

5. Rules for Examination in Yunnan University

6. Regulation for the Use of Classrooms for Yunnan University

7. Regulation for Students’ Identity Cards and Badges in Yunnan University

8. Enforcement Regulations for Conferring Bachelor’s Degree to Undergraduates

9. Method for Comprehensive Appraisal of the Proficiency of Students in Yunnan University

10. Methods for Grading Prizes to Undergraduates and Professional Training Students in Yunnan University

11. Punishment for Students’ Violation of Rules and Regulations in Yunnan University

12. Measures for Students’ Loan in Yunnan University

13. Interim for Administration of Dormitory of the Students in Yunnan University

14. Additional Regulations for Target Administration of Students Dormitory

Besides, there are specific rules for the administration of students for doctor’s degree, master’s degree and those in Australian classes.

Course Construction

In order to ensure the smooth implementation of overall credit system, Yunnan University has made some corresponding adjustment and improvement on its course construction, covering compulsory courses for all university students and those for their major subjects, optional courses for specific specialties, proficiency courses in science and liberal arts, social survey and practice of their specialties, graduation thesis (or design), annual paper writing (or innovative experiment), with a view to rendering their composition more scientific and rational, setting out the features of their specialties, and enhancing students’s proficiency in both versatility and in their specialties.

Credit System

The overall credit system is first experimented in 1997 in the Institute of Humanities and that of Biochemistry. The core of it is this: enrolling enough number of students for the institutes to cope with, setting tuition fees according to the credit worth of specific courses, double guides in the same class, flexible duration of study, and category teaching. Here is some further explanation.

Enrolling enough students for the institutes—the institutes enroll students according to its plan and capacity and give them all the elementary courses. A year later students can choose their specialties within the institute according to their preference and the need of the institute.

Different tuition fees for subjects and courses of different credit values—the university will charge the students according to the credits of the courses they take.

Double guides in the same class—class master and tutors combine in student management

Flexible duration of academic years—undergraduates are allowed to graduate in 3 to 6 years so long as they get 160 or more credits, at the same time the practice of repetition of the year’s work ceases to work. Those who fail in the final examination will have to study the course again for the next examination. Those who have finished their courses within 3 years can graduate or go on with the second Bachelor’s degree, or enter themselves for postgraduate entrancing examination.

Category teaching—All courses are classified into four categories: compulsory courses for all university students and optional ones for them, compulsory courses for students of a given institute and optional ones for them. For each category there is a minimum credit requirement for students to fulfil.

The implementation of overall credit system enables the students to choose their teachers, specialties, the second Bachelor’s degree specialties, they can also plan for themselves the tempo of progress and composition of courses from a long list of different courses.

The regulation for Yunnan University’s overall credit system involves 8 aspects:

1. on teaching plan

2. on course plan

3. on second major and second bachelor

4. on course selection

5. on examination

6. on tutor system

7. on graduation and bachelor conferring

8. on others

Meanwhile, to better carry out the overall credit system, Yunnan University further improved the system of separation of examination conduction from teaching by the same teacher. For this reason, there have been revisions in the corresponding parts of the following documents: Enforcement Regulation for Administration of Undergraduates, Regulation for Tutor System for Undergraduates, and the Procedure for Selecting Courses on Credit Basis for Yunnan University. All these have effectively brought into play the positive factors from both the students and teachers.

Graduate Education

This is an important constituent of education work in Yunnan University. In recent years, postgraduate education has witnessed a rapid development. Up to now the university has produced over 1000 masters and doctorates. And in 2000 as many as 775 postgraduates of various kinds were in school, among them 41 are studying for doctorate degree, and 328 are studying for master’s degree. Besides, 63 teachers are taking graduate courses, altogether 895 students of different backgrounds are taking graduate courses, and 80 law students are now studying for master’s degree and another 90 people with senior professional posts will be enrolled to study for master’s degree.

There are about 50 specialized curriculum provisions available for postgraduate candidates from all over the country to choose, among which are ethics, political economics, statistics, economic law, world history, ethnology, folklore, English, French, mathematics, chemistry, biology, management, zoology, and science of archive administration.

Postgraduates are enrolled according to the programs set for them, with tutor system at work. The management of these postgraduates is in accordance with the regulations prescribed in the respective national documents and The Working Manual For Postgraduate Administration in Yunnan University. All these documents have altogether 32 detailed provisions and clauses, covering enrollment, students’ status, degree, examination, teaching, prizes, punishment, and graduation. They render all work of postgraduate education standardized.

Adult Education

In order to better meet the need of Yunnan’s economic construction and social development, the Adult Education Institute of Yunnan University, with its aim at “guaranteeing quality, keeping on reform, and developing steadily”, has taken some positive action in adjusting its objectives of training, subject composition, and its existing specialties, and in opening many new ones. Now it has a comparatively complete set of specialties with distinctive features of its own, covering different fields of learning, with a long range of objectives to cater to the students of vastly different backgrounds and needs.

In recent years, the Adult Education Institute has been giving more emphasis on such subjects as finance, law, administration, foreign language, computer application, applied electronic technology. Nowadays, it is running classes of various levels, ranging from pre-college education, professional college education, undergraduate study, the second Bachelor degree courses, to advanced courses for those who have already got bachelor’s degrees.

At present, correspondence students and evening students each take up 50% of all its spare time students, among whom the pre-college students take up 5%, professional training students take up 54, undergraduate students take up 17, the second major students take up 28%. There are more than thirty specialties for its candidated to choose from, including literature, history, science, engineering, finance, law, management and pedagogue, with 30% pure science specialties against 70% applied sciences. Over 85% of these spare time students are studying applied sciences much needed in society. Every year there are 3 to 4 applicants applying for one actual enrollment opportunity.

Besides, the Adult Education Institute also makes full use of all facilities available in the university to develop new applied specialties needed by the society and create favorable condition for students from all walks of life to study in it.

Base Classes

This is a reform and an effort to train students with comprehensive knowledge integrated with different branches of learning and different specialties. It is an innovation in the sense that it breaks through the limitation of the traditional division of knowledge into strictly different branches of study that confined students within a narrow scope, depriving them the chance of becoming personnel of versatile ability in their school days. This pattern of education helps to foster senior personnel with solid foundation, wide scope of knowledge and versatile adaptability and with pioneering spirit and much ability in practice. Yunnan University applied for the right to run base classes in 1994 and now its history, biology, mathematics and physics departments have been ratified by the national Education Ministry to be the bases for fostering personnel of fundamental sciences and for scientific research in base class pattern.

Base class in history began to enroll students in 1994, up to now 189 students have been enrolled for this class, in 2000 alone it had enrolled 31 students.

Base class for mathematical theory started to enroll students in 1995, up to now it has enrolled 233 students. In this year another 29 students will be enrolled.

Base class for biology started to enroll students in 1995, up to now it has enrolled 233 students, In this year it will enroll 32 students.

Besides, this year the experimental class for liberal arts was ratified and it had enrolled 30 students.

The feature of these base classes are as follows:

1. They aim at a complete set of courses starting from study for bachelors up to study for masters and doctors.

2. A special curriculum is set and special textbooks are uses for them with a view to giving them a solid foundation and wide range of knowledge.

The table of course and credit distribution in all institutes of Yunnan University