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Professional doctorates in China: which professional degree categories reach doctoral level

Sources checked

Yes. Professional degrees in China run to doctoral level, and the dividing line is a single mark in the official catalogue. Under explanatory note 5 of the Graduate Education Discipline and Programme Catalogue (2022), a professional degree category whose name is followed by "*" may be awarded only as a professional master's degree; the others may be awarded as professional master's or professional doctoral degrees. Outside the military discipline category (11), 33 of the professional degree categories listed carry no "*".

The catalogue is attachment 1 of notice 学位〔2022〕15号 of the State Council Academic Degrees Committee and the Ministry of Education, dated 13 September 2022, and it applies from 2023. The Degree Law separates the two families of degrees at the top: degrees are bachelor, master and doctor, and they include academic degree and professional degree types, awarded by discipline category or professional degree category (Degree Law, Article 2).

The English wording on this page is this site's own translation of the Chinese text.

How the rule works

The catalogue sets out discipline categories (two-digit codes), first-level disciplines and professional degree categories (four-digit codes); where the third digit of a four-digit code is "5" or higher, the code marks a professional degree category (note 3). Professional degree categories award the degree in the name of the category itself (note 5). Note 5 then makes the distinction that matters here: a name followed by "*" is master's only; every other category may be awarded at master's or doctoral level.

The catalogue is the basic basis for degree-authorization review and discipline and programme management, and for degree-awarding institutions carrying out degree awarding and talent training; it applies to master's and doctoral degree awarding, enrolment and training, discipline development, education statistics and career guidance services (note 1). It was compiled on the basis of the earlier Degree Awarding and Talent Training Discipline Catalogue issued in 2011 and revised in 2018 (note 2).

The categories that reach doctoral level

The table below lists every professional degree category outside discipline category 11 (military) whose name carries no "*", grouped by discipline category. The catalogue gives Chinese names and codes only; it does not use English short names such as "MBA", so the renderings here are this site's translation.

Discipline category Code Chinese name English rendering
03 法学 Law 0351 法律 Law
03 法学 Law 0352 社会工作 Social Work
04 教育学 Education 0451 教育 Education
04 教育学 Education 0452 体育 Physical Education
04 教育学 Education 0453 国际中文教育 International Chinese Language Education
04 教育学 Education 0454 应用心理 Applied Psychology
05 文学 Literature 0551 翻译 Translation and Interpreting
05 文学 Literature 0553 出版 Publishing
07 理学 Science 0751 气象 Meteorology
08 工学 Engineering 0854 电子信息 Electronic Information
08 工学 Engineering 0855 机械 Mechanical Engineering
08 工学 Engineering 0856 材料与化工 Materials and Chemical Engineering
08 工学 Engineering 0857 资源与环境 Resources and Environment
08 工学 Engineering 0858 能源动力 Energy and Power
08 工学 Engineering 0859 土木水利 Civil Engineering and Water Conservancy
08 工学 Engineering 0860 生物与医药 Biology and Pharmacy
08 工学 Engineering 0861 交通运输 Transport
08 工学 Engineering 0862 风景园林 Landscape Architecture
09 农学 Agriculture 0951 农业 Agriculture
09 农学 Agriculture 0952 兽医 Veterinary Medicine
09 农学 Agriculture 0954 林业 Forestry
10 医学 Medicine 1053 公共卫生 Public Health
10 医学 Medicine 1057 中医 Chinese Medicine
10 医学 Medicine 1058 医学技术 Medical Technology
12 管理学 Management 1253 会计 Accounting
12 管理学 Management 1257 审计 Auditing
13 艺术学 Arts 1352 音乐 Music
13 艺术学 Arts 1353 舞蹈 Dance
13 艺术学 Arts 1354 戏剧与影视 Theatre, Film and Television
13 艺术学 Arts 1355 戏曲与曲艺 Traditional Opera and Quyi
13 艺术学 Arts 1356 美术与书法 Fine Arts and Calligraphy
13 艺术学 Arts 1357 设计 Design
14 交叉学科 Interdisciplinary Studies 1451 文物 Cultural Relics

Three discipline categories list no category of this kind at all: 01 哲学 (Philosophy), 02 经济学 (Economics) and 06 历史学 (History) contain only "*" categories, which is why they do not appear above.

The categories that stop at master's level

Outside the military category, 25 professional degree categories carry "*" and are therefore master's-only under note 5. One of them is 1251 工商管理 (business administration), the category generally known in English as the MBA; the Chinese name is the one the catalogue uses, and the mark after it is what limits the level.

What a professional doctoral candidate has to show

The Degree Law sets the level, and it sets it separately for the two degree types (Degree Law, Article 21). A doctorate is awarded where the applicant has received doctoral education, has passed the required course assessments or completed the corresponding credits, has completed academic research training or professional practice training, has passed the dissertation defence or the prescribed defence of practice results, and has shown that he or she:

  1. has a solid and comprehensive grasp of basic theory and systematic, in-depth specialised knowledge in the discipline or professional field;
  2. has the ability to undertake the work independently — for an academic degree applicant, academic research; for a professional degree applicant, professional practice;
  3. has produced innovative results — for an academic degree applicant in academic research; for a professional degree applicant in professional practice.

The detailed standards behind these levels are published by each degree-awarding institution itself (Degree Law, Article 22). The Degree Law was adopted on 26 April 2024 by the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress and took effect on 1 January 2025, when the Regulations on Academic Degrees were repealed (Degree Law, Article 45).

A category in the catalogue is not a place at a university

The catalogue tells you what exists as a category, not what any institution may award. It is the basis for degree-authorization review (note 1), and the detailed standards are the institution's own (Degree Law, Article 22). Under Order No. 42, a higher education institution determines its own international student enrolment plan and programmes on the basis of its conditions and training capacity, except where the state provides otherwise (Order No. 42, Article 10), and it formulates and publishes its own international student admissions brochure and recruits according to the conditions and procedures set out in that brochure (Order No. 42, Article 11). Order No. 42 was signed on 20 March 2017 and took effect on 1 July 2017 (Article 48).

So whether a university offers any of the categories above, and whether a given category is open to international students, is published in that university's own admissions brochure. The provisions quoted on this page do not cover either point, and nothing here should be read as a statement that any university offers any of these categories.

One planning suggestion, not a rule: use the code. Fix the four-digit code of the category you mean from the catalogue first, then search the admissions brochure for that same code, since the Chinese name alone can be rendered in several ways.

Questions people ask

Is there such a thing as a professional doctorate in China?

Yes. Degrees include academic and professional types at bachelor, master and doctoral level (Degree Law, Article 2), and a professional degree category may be awarded at doctoral level unless its name carries "*" (Graduate Education Discipline and Programme Catalogue (2022), note 5).

How many professional degree categories can be awarded at doctoral level?

Outside the military discipline category, 33 of the listed categories carry no "*" and therefore fall under the master's-or-doctoral rule of note 5. The remaining 25 outside that category carry "*".

Does having a category in the catalogue mean a university can award it?

Not by itself. The catalogue is the basis for degree-authorization review and discipline management (note 1), while the detailed standards are published by each degree-awarding institution (Degree Law, Article 22), and a university determines its own international student programmes and publishes its own admissions brochure (Order No. 42, Articles 10 and 11).

Are these categories open to international students?

The provisions quoted on this page do not cover that. Under Order No. 42, a university determines its own international student enrolment plan and programmes and publishes the conditions and procedures in its own admissions brochure (Articles 10 and 11); that brochure is where the answer for a particular university and category is published.

Sources

Checked 11 October 2026

This page is an unofficial summary; it is not published by or affiliated with the Ministry of Education, the China Scholarship Council, CHSI or any university, it is not legal advice, and the official text and the current notice of the university or authority handling your case prevail where they differ.

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