Why a product can now earn a doctorate in China
China is piloting a new path to the PhD that lets students graduate with a working product or an engineering design instead of a traditional thesis. The goal is to break stubborn engineering bottlenecks in strategic sectors as the technology race with the United States intensifies. Harbin Institute of Technology, a flagship science and engineering campus with strong links to defense research, is among the first to try the model. In September, engineer turned doctoral candidate Wei Lianfeng became the first student at the university to earn a doctorate based on practical results. His research centered on vacuum laser welding processes and the design and manufacture of associated equipment. For his oral defense, the panel included industry experts who evaluated whether the system worked as claimed, could be built at scale, and met performance and reliability targets.
The pilot is part of a broader national effort launched in 2022 by the Ministry of Education with several other agencies to refocus engineering education on real world outcomes. It targets semiconductors, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, aerospace, and other strategic fields where access to foreign technology is restricted and breakthroughs are urgent. The principle is straightforward: if a doctoral project delivers a robust prototype, a manufacturable process, a scalable design, or a new standard that removes a bottleneck, that outcome can carry the same weight as a dissertation. Candidates still face rigorous evaluation, but the yardstick is practical impact measured through performance data, reliability testing, cost models, and evidence that the work can be translated into factories, laboratories, or field sites.
At a leading engineering campus like Harbin Institute of Technology, removing academic papers as a mandatory requirement signals a meaningful shift. Publication remains valued, yet it is no longer the only currency for earning a doctorate. A successful graduate might leave behind a functioning machine, a validated process, a new material, or a set of engineering standards, backed by technical documentation, test records, and reviews by people who build and operate complex systems.
How the pilot works and what counts as a PhD outcome
The scheme still expects high level originality, a clear research problem, and sound methods. The difference is that the primary output is a practical solution, not a bound volume. The oral defense is grounded in function and translation. Committees weigh whether the candidate proved novelty, achieved repeatable performance under realistic conditions, and showed a path to adoption. Panels can bring in industry engineers alongside professors to test claims, probe edge cases, and judge manufacturability, safety, and maintainability.
What evidence replaces a thesis
Universities piloting the model are building rubrics that recognize technical artifacts and measurable results. Evidence can include:
- A working prototype or complete system validated under industry conditions with quantitative benchmarks.
- Engineering drawings, source code, and operations manuals with enough detail for replication by qualified teams.
- Patents filed or granted, with clear documentation of the candidate’s original contribution.
- Contributions to technical standards or protocols adopted by industry consortia or agencies.
- Manufacturing processes proven on the shop floor, with yield, throughput, and cost data.
- Field trials with third party or independent test reports, including reliability and safety results.
- Letters of technical acceptance or pilot deployment agreements from partner companies.
- Lifecycle analysis, risk assessments, or compliance reports for regulated sectors.
- Training materials and knowledge transfer plans to embed the innovation in production or service settings.
Quality control and academic integrity
Replacing a paper with a product raises fair questions about rigor. Universities can keep standards tight by combining academic and industrial examiners, requiring public defenses where security permits, and mandating archived technical dossiers that capture design rationale, experiments, test data, and negative results. Where intellectual property or national security limits disclosure, institutions can require redacted public summaries alongside confidential appendices reviewed by cleared examiners. Clear authorship records and contribution logs can help protect student credit on team projects.
Metrics also matter. Committees can grade novelty, engineering depth, and social or economic value, not just whether a device runs. Students should show that the work advances knowledge for practitioners, for example through new methods, models, or standards, even if the output is not a journal article.
Why now: bottlenecks, sanctions and a crowded job market
The timing reflects pressure on several fronts. Export controls by the United States and partners have restricted access to advanced chips, lithography systems, and key software tools. That leaves China to build or reinvent complex platforms at home. Closing the gap requires more than theory. It demands prototypes that survive vibration, heat, and long duty cycles, manufacturing lines that hit yield targets, and control software that runs in real time on domestic hardware. A product centered PhD is designed to move research out of the lab and into production more quickly, with a tight loop between design, testing, and deployment.
The shift also aligns with a labor market where academic paths have become crowded. In 2024, China produced more than 97,000 PhD graduates, roughly double the level a decade earlier, while new academic positions have grown slowly. Surveys and recruitment data show that competition for faculty jobs is fierce, and many graduates struggle to secure roles that match their training. Expectations in universities have risen sharply, with young scholars often judged by publication counts and grant records. A doctoral path that rewards real world results can open doors into industry and public research labs, where managers want people who can design, build, test, and deliver.
Employers in China are leaning toward practical competence, cultural adaptability, and problem solving over prestige on a diploma. Guidance for returnees to China highlights that firms in fast growing areas like high end manufacturing, artificial intelligence, biotech, semiconductors, green energy, and the digital economy seek evidence of applied experience. That trend strengthens the case for recognizing a well documented product or process as a valid doctoral outcome, provided the academic core remains strong.
How this compares with global models
Practice based doctorates have existed for years in fields like design, architecture, and the arts, where a portfolio and a critical essay can replace a monograph. Some countries also offer professional doctorates in engineering that integrate long industry placements and applied research. China’s pilot takes that logic into core engineering and deep technology fields, and it does so with explicit national goals in mind.
Other countries are searching for ways to keep innovation engines running. In Japan, years of shrinking base funding for national universities have limited stable positions for young researchers and slowed publication growth. Policymakers there are experimenting with new graduate programs and funding models to sustain breakthroughs. In Africa, universities such as Makerere are shifting resources toward graduate training and innovation support, including efforts to translate research into products and services despite funding constraints. The common thread is a desire to connect research with real economic and social value.
Industry programs also point toward practical training. Global companies like Nestlé, Audi, Shell, and Goldman Sachs run structured graduate tracks with rotations, mentoring, and challenging projects aimed at building skills for the workplace. These do not award degrees, yet they signal what employers want: graduates who can move from ideas to implementation. In the United States, political leaders have floated policies to retain foreign graduates, including pledges to grant permanent residency to top students, underscoring the global competition for high skill talent.
Benefits and risks for students, universities and industry
For students, a product based doctorate can be motivating and career friendly. It rewards building things that work, not just writing about them. The model can speed technology transfer, convert doctoral work into patents and deployments, and attract mentors from factories, research institutes, and startups. For universities and industry partners, it can create tighter partnerships and faster feedback loops, with doctoral research aimed at concrete national and commercial needs.
There are risks if implementation drifts. Programs could tilt toward short term deliverables at the expense of theory, reproducibility, or long horizon curiosity. Resource intensive projects might crowd out students without access to expensive equipment. Intellectual property and national security restrictions can limit transparency, making it harder to assess originality and enable others to build on the work. Clear rules on authorship, contribution tracking, documentation, and public disclosure are needed to keep standards high.
Shankar Venugopal, an industry executive and academic who commented on the model, argued that a carefully run product path can accelerate applied research.
This shift in approach to awarding a PhD can greatly accelerate progress in the deep science or tech space.
Strong guardrails can address most concerns. Universities can require a detailed technical dossier that reads like an engineering counterpart to a dissertation, covering problem framing, design rationale, experiments, verification, and limits. Panels should include senior engineers who have shipped complex systems and scholars who can test novelty and methods. Where secrecy is required, redacted public summaries, controlled archives, and independent reviewers with clearance can balance openness and protection. A transparent rubric that scores novelty, engineering rigor, and value to society will help candidates aim at the right targets.
What to watch next
The pilot’s reach and results will be watched closely. Key signals include how many universities join, how many candidates opt for the product route, which sectors dominate, and whether graduates secure roles where they continue to build and deploy advanced technology. Patents that turn into licensed products, processes that run in factories, and tools that are adopted by research labs are tangible markers of success.
International recognition will also matter. Will employers and universities outside China view these doctorates as equivalent to research PhDs, provided the documentation and defense are rigorous. Accreditation frameworks and detailed program descriptions can help answer that. If the model works, it could influence how engineering doctorates evolve in other countries that are also trying to speed up translation without lowering academic standards.
Key Points
- China is piloting a PhD path that accepts a product or design in place of a thesis in strategic engineering fields.
- Harbin Institute of Technology awarded its first such doctorate to a candidate who built a vacuum laser welding system.
- The national pilot began in 2022 under the Ministry of Education with support from several agencies.
- Evaluation focuses on function, reliability, manufacturability, and a path to adoption, not only publications.
- Evidence can include prototypes, patents, standards, field trials, and detailed technical documentation.
- The shift aims to address bottlenecks created by technology restrictions and supply chain pressures.
- China’s ballooning number of PhD graduates and tight academic job market make applied paths attractive.
- Global models show growing emphasis on practical training and translation, though degree rules vary.
- Benefits include faster technology transfer and stronger industry links; risks include weaker theory and limited transparency.
- Outcomes to track include commercialization, factory deployments, job placement, and international recognition.
