Successful Pre-Defense Held for 2025 International Students' Master's Theses
The pre-defense for the master's theses of international students in the 2025 cohort at the Shanghai National Accounting Institute (SNAI) was held on March 22. A total of 18 international students from 11 developing countries along the Belt and Road participated in the pre-defense. The pre-defense committee consisted of 10 experts and scholars from SNAI, as well as institutions such as Fudan University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
These international students began their academic journey in China in September 2023. Prior to the pre-defense, they had completed various stages of training and evaluation in accordance with the requirements of the International Education Center, including selecting advisors, proposing research topics, mid-term assessments, data collection and thesis writing, and plagiarism checks, before proceeding to the defense stage.
Before the pre-defense officially began, Center for International Educational Programs convened a preparatory meeting with all committee members to provide a detailed introduction to the procedures and evaluation criteria for the pre-defense.
During the defense, the committee members provided comprehensive and constructive feedback on each thesis, covering aspects such as topic selection, theoretical framework, research methodology, case studies, data analysis, research conclusions, structure, and the translation of Chinese abstracts and tables of contents. This not only helped the 2023 cohort recognize the shortcomings in their research and encouraged further refinement of their theses but also provided the attending 2024 cohort with a clearer understanding of the quality requirements, formatting standards, and defense procedures for degree theses.
Moving forward, the International Education Center will continue to follow SNAI’s thesis evaluation procedures, organizing the second pre-defense, double-blind peer review, and the final defense. Through rigorous process management, the Center will ensure thesis quality and provide support for qualified international students to successfully pass their defenses and obtain their master's degrees, thereby continuously improving the quality of international education.
