Page 73 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.47, 2021

072 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.13, 2021

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suspended . Although the University of Scientific and Technological Information of China and the
Department of Scientific and Technological Information were only a flash in the pan, they could
still be regarded as the beginning of the development and education of information science in
China.
In 1978, Wuhan University was the first to establish the School of Scientific and Technological
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Information and began to enroll undergraduate students of information science . In view of
the special conditions of China at that time, the school could not entirely copy the model of
education on information science from other countries. Therefore, the only pillar for the school
was the existing system for scientific and technological information in China, which included the
procedure, major tasks and organizational structure of the work on scientific and technological
information. Back then, the discipline system of information science was largely centered on
scientific and technological development and exchanges of literature. Therefore, information
science mainly focused on the study of the patterns of information exchange in scientific and
technological literature.
In terms of training for postgraduate students, the China Institute for Scientific and Technological
Information began to enroll postgraduate students in scientific and technological information
in 1978. In November 1990, the School of Library and Information Science (now the School
of Information Management) of Wuhan University, with the approval of the Academic Degrees
Committee of the State Council, set up the first doctoral program on information science in China,
marking that education of information science in China had a complete system of three levels
of degrees—bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctoral degree. In terms of postdoctoral
training, in 2002, the China Institute for Scientific and Technological Information set up the first
postdoctoral research workstation of information science, and in 2003, Wuhan University set up
the first postdoctoral research mobile station of information science in China.
In addition to the School of Scientific and Technological Information, other disciplines also
began to carry out talent training and related research in information science. In 1979, the First
Branch of Renmin University of China (now affiliated to Beijing Union University) enrolled the
first group of undergraduate students majoring in social science information; in 1985, Norman
Bethune University of Medical Science enrolled the first group of undergraduate students for
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medical library and information science ; Nanjing Agricultural University established the School
of Library and Information Science in 1985, and enrolled the first group of undergraduate students
for library and information science in the field of agriculture in 1986; in 1990, the Information
Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences was authorized to grant
master’s degree in scientific and technological information, and became the first master’s program
to recruit students majoring in agricultural information; in 1986, the PLA Institute of International
Relations (now incorporated into the National University of Defense Technology) took the lead
in recruiting undergraduate students in military intelligence, and it established the first master’s
program in military intelligence in 1990, and the first doctoral program in military intelligence in