On October 21, 2014, the Discussion Meeting for Doctoral Program of European Studies was held in the conference room of GRIIS. Ph.D. supervisor of European Studies Sui Guangjun, the Party secretory of GDUFS，Ph.D. supervisor of European Studies Yang Xiejun, Li Qing, secretary-general of GRIIS, Chen Hanxi, director of Center for European Studies, the postdoctors in the research station and all Ph. D students attended the seminar.
Shi Youqi, vice president of GDUFS and Ph.D. supervisor of European Studies chaired the seminar.
The participants discussed on how to improve the Doctoral Program of European Studies. Shi Youqi introduced the reform of the doctoral program and pointed out that we should improve the program to meet the need of our country’s development. So the program must make a comprehensive reform in terms of enrollment, training model, assessment of quality, supervisor power and obligation mechanism, including the requirements of the courses, credits and papers. For example, the doctoral candidates must publish at least two papers in CSSCI before graduation with the signature of GRIIS of GDUFS. He also hoped that GRIIS would provide guarantees of all aspects to enhance the team cooperation and achieve more innovative results.
At last, Sui Guangjun made a summary speech. He hoped that the doctoral candidates would have a better understanding and correct attitude towards the doctoral studies. And he raised three expectations for them: firstly, mastering the theory. Apart from what the teachers taught in class, they should read through the theoretical works on European studies, so that they were able to utilize the resources provided by GRIIS and seek new breakthroughs with initiatives and creativity. Secondly, conducting research activities. They must write more and think more about how to do research, instead of being a nominal theorist. Thirdly, emphasizing practice. China has been confronted with many problems during its development. Therefore, the doctoral candidates of European studies should pay close attention to the forefront issues about Europe because they might find out the resolutions of the problems by learning from Europe. Sui Guangjun pointed out that during the Ph.D studying period, the students should lay foundation of theoretical study, improve the language ability and learn the methodology of doing research. He suggested that the doctoral candidates form a report club and take turns to make presentations. Besides, they can invite their supervisors or other professors to join in the club, or regularly exchange with each other. This model was in favor of establishing a European studies team.
