Page 152 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2018 Vol. 43

Extended English abstracts of articles published in the Chinese edition of
Journal of Library Science in China
2017 Vol.43

No. 1

Forty years of development and innovation: Postgraduate education of
Library and Information Science in China
CHEN Chuanfu〇, CHEN Yi, SI Li, RAN Congjing & FENG Changyang
〇a*
Postgraduate education is a kind of high-level school education that takes on the mission of
developing advanced professionals in the field. On the basis of policy research, questionnaire
survey, interviews and field observation, this paper sums up the history and development trend
of Library and Information Science postgraduate education in China. The authors divide the
history of Library and Information Science degree authorization into four decades: the first
decade(1981-1990): Master Program of Library Science in Peking University and Wuhan
University were established with the approval of the Ministry of Education in 1981, ushering in
the graduate education for Library Science in China; the second decade(1991-2000): the first
authorization of Doctoral Program of Library Science and the first authorization of Doctoral
Program for Information Science were established in Peking University and Wuhan University
respectively with the approval of the State Council Academic Degree Committee in November
1990, representing the transformation of Library and Information Science education to high-level
academic education; the third decade(2001-2010): Peking University and Wuhan University were
approved as two programs for doctor degree of first-level discipline (the discipline of “Library,
Information and Archives Management” by the State Council Academic Degree Committee in
2000; the forth decade(2011-2020): The Establishment Conference of National Education Steering
Committee for Finance and Other Professional Degrees was held in Beijing in 2011. During the
conference, it was approved to set up the professional degree of Master of Library and Information
Science, marking the beginning of MLIS degree education. The authors believe that the
development of library undertaking and the professionalization of information service, the teaching
content reform of library and information, the career development of library and information and
innovations of library and information services are internal forces to drive the transformation of

* Correspondence should be addressed to CHEN Chuanfu, Email: cfchen@whu.edu.cn, ORCID: 0000-0003-1163-7691