"Last month, Zheng Hehui gave an oral defence of his PhD in civil engineering at Southeast University in Nanjing, China. But Zheng had not written a thesis. Instead, he talked about a product he had developed: a set of Lego-like blocks, made with reinforced steel, that fit together to form a bridge pylon. Zheng is among the first cohort of Chinese doctoral students to be assessed on the basis of practical achievements that lead to new products, techniques, projects and installations."
"Since September, at least 11 such 'practical PhD' students, all engineers, have obtained their doctoral degrees through this route. Their work includes the development and application of a welding technique and its equipment, and the creation of a fire-fighting system for a large seaplane. Universities in other countries offer 'industrial PhDs', where students work closely with a company, but many of these degrees still require a written thesis."
Chinese universities now allow engineering doctoral candidates to earn PhDs based on practical achievements such as new products, techniques, projects and installations instead of a traditional thesis. One example is an engineer who presented a set of reinforced-steel, Lego-like blocks that assemble into a bridge pylon and whose invention is used on a major Yangtze River cable-stayed rail and road bridge. Since September, at least 11 engineers have graduated through this practical-PhD route, developing welding equipment and a seaplane fire-fighting system among other outputs. Reforms since 2010 and a 2024 law encourage university-industry graduate colleges to cultivate elite, innovation-focused engineers.
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