BEIJING – On April 3, a meeting was held in Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications to launch the 2018 series of China Postgraduate Practical Innovation Competitions, and was attended by Du Zhanyuan, Vice Minister of the MOE and Xu Yanhao, Vice Chairman of China Association for Science and Technology (CAST).

Vice Minister Du stressed in his speech that, as the major channel for cultivating high-level talent, postgraduate education must be quality-oriented following the guidance of the “Double First-Class Initiative”, to serve the country’s innovation-driven development strategy. Focusing on this mission, this year’s competitions should aim to become a more effective platform offering more opportunities for postgraduates to try their hand at producing innovative designs, models or business concepts that can meet the practical needs of different industries.

The China Postgraduate Practical Innovation Competition Series is a joint initiative inaugurated by the MOE’s Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center and the CAST’s Children and Youth Science Center in 2013. Over the past five years, these competitions have attracted the active participation of nearly 500 graduate training institutes and cumulatively 300,000 postgraduates.