The thesis defence in China: committee size, voting and the public-defence rule

The thesis defence in China is governed by the Degree Law of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国学位法). Under Article 25, before the degree-awarding institution organises the defence it shall send the degree applicant's thesis or practical results to experts for review, and only work that meets the degree-awarding institution's own rules enters the defence procedure. Under Article 26, the defence committee is organised by discipline or speciality and has at least three members for a master's degree and at least five for a doctorate, of whom at least two must be experts from outside the degree-awarding institution; the committee votes by ballot, passes the defence by a two-thirds or more vote of all its members, announces its resolution on the spot, and the defence is public unless the content involves state secrets. The English on this page is this site's own translation of the Chinese text of the Degree Law.

Expert review before the defence

Article 25 applies to applications for both master's and doctoral degrees. It requires the degree-awarding institution, before organising the defence, to send the degree applicant's thesis or practical results to experts for review. Only work that meets the degree-awarding institution's own rules proceeds to the defence procedure. Article 25 requires that the work meet the degree-awarding institution's own rules but sets out no content for those rules; this page states no university's requirement.

The defence committee

Article 26 requires the degree-awarding institution to organise the master's and doctoral defence committees by discipline or speciality. It sets the size of the committee and the work that must be sent to its members:

• For a master's degree, the defence committee shall have no fewer than three members, that is, at least three.
• For a doctorate, the committee shall have no fewer than five members, that is, at least five, and among them the experts from outside the degree-awarding institution shall be no fewer than two, that is, at least two external experts.
• Article 26 states no requirement for external experts on a master's defence committee.

The thesis or practical results shall be sent to the members of the defence committee for review before the defence, and the members shall perform their duties independently and responsibly (Article 26).

Point	Master's	Doctorate	Article
Expert review before the defence	Thesis or practical results sent to experts; only work meeting the institution's rules proceeds	Same	Article 25
Committee size	At least three members	At least five members	Article 26
External experts on the committee	Article 26 states no requirement	At least two experts from outside the degree-awarding institution	Article 26
Work sent to the committee before the defence	Required	Required	Article 26
Voting	By ballot; passed by a two-thirds or more vote of all members	By ballot; passed by a two-thirds or more vote of all members	Article 26
Resolution	Formed on whether the candidate passes the defence and announced on the spot	Same	Article 26
Public defence	Public unless the content involves state secrets	Public unless the content involves state secrets	Article 26
Length or language of the defence	Article 26 gives no length for the defence and names no language for the defence	Article 26 gives no length for the defence and names no language for the defence	Article 26

Voting, announcement and the public-defence rule

Article 26 requires the defence committee to organise the defence according to the prescribed procedure, to form a resolution on whether the degree applicant passes the defence, and to announce that resolution on the spot. The vote is by ballot. The defence is passed by a two-thirds or more vote of all members of the committee. Except where the content involves state secrets, the defence shall be held publicly (Article 26).

Article 26 gives no length for the defence and names no language in which the defence is held.

After the defence: the award of the degree

Under Article 28, the degree evaluation committee shall, on the basis of the defence committee's resolution and after examining the degree application, make a resolution on whether to award the master's or doctoral degree.

Under Article 29, the degree-awarding institution shall, on the basis of the degree evaluation committee's resolution to award bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees, publish the list of persons awarded the degree, issue the degree certificate, and submit the degree-awarding information to the provincial degree committee. The provincial degree committee files the degree-awarding information of its administrative region with the State Council Degree Committee for the record (备案).

Questions people ask

Does Article 26 set a length for the defence?

Article 26 gives no length for the defence. It requires only that the defence committee organise the defence according to the prescribed procedure.

Does Article 26 name a language for the defence?

Article 26 names no language in which the defence is held.

Must a master's defence committee include experts from outside the institution?

Article 26 states no requirement for external experts on a master's defence committee. It requires at least two experts from outside the degree-awarding institution only for a doctoral committee, which must have at least five members.

Is the defence public?

Under Article 26, the defence shall be held publicly, except where the content involves state secrets.

Sources

• Degree Law of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国学位法) — Ministry of Education of the PRC (moe.gov.cn), text sourced from the National People's Congress website

Checked 11 October 2026

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