At the beginning of March, while many graduates of the class of 2025 were busy writing their graduation theses, Zhu Jiaqin, a fresh graduate of Class 211 of the New Agricultural Science Truth Seeking Experimental Class at Jixian College, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, was focused on conducting scientific research. I can submit papers that have already been published in journals as research achievements and use them as the basis for graduation assessment, without the need to rewrite my graduation thesis. This gives me more time and energy to pursue further studies in the field of insect pathology that I am interested in Zhu Jiaqin told reporters. Zhu Jiaqin's choice is not an isolated case. Nowadays, many college graduates choose to replace the traditional graduation thesis assessment with publishing journal articles and producing innovative achievements. In recent years, many universities including Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Tianjin University, Hangzhou University of Electronic Science and Technology, etc. have allowed students to participate in graduation defense by winning subject competitions, publishing academic papers, and publishing works instead of their graduation thesis. This has also sparked heated discussions: is graduation thesis still an effective way to assess the quality of talent cultivation, and how to explore the establishment of diversified undergraduate graduation assessment standards? For this purpose, reporters from Science and Technology Daily interviewed relevant experts. The forms of graduation assessment have gradually diversified. For a long time, graduation thesis has occupied an important position in the higher education assessment system, and its importance has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts. According to the Interim Measures for the Implementation of the Degree Regulations of the People's Republic of China promulgated in 1981, undergraduate students applying for a bachelor's degree must submit their thesis and pass the defense. This regulation has made the graduation thesis an important component of undergraduate education, which has continued to this day Professor Li Qi from the Higher Education Research Institute of Beijing Normal University said that according to the "National Standards for Teaching Quality of Undergraduate Majors in Ordinary Higher Education Institutions" issued by the Ministry of Education in 2018, among the 92 undergraduate majors and 587 undergraduate majors included in the catalog of undergraduate majors in ordinary higher education institutions, there is generally a requirement for a graduation thesis. In other words, paper writing has always been one of the core indicators for measuring the quality of undergraduate teaching. However, in recent years, domestic universities have gradually shown a diversified trend in undergraduate graduation assessment and evaluation. Not long ago, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University issued relevant regulations allowing fresh undergraduate graduates to replace their graduation thesis (design) with achievements from scientific and technological innovation activities and obtain corresponding credits. This year, 13 students from the school, including Zhu Jiaqin, became the first to "eat crabs". They come from various majors such as animal medicine, wood science, applied chemistry, big data, and tea studies. Not only Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, but in 2020, the School of Science and Technology at Ningbo University issued a diversified implementation method for graduation design (thesis), which stipulates that students who have published works on well-known online literature platforms as contracted authors and meet specific requirements can apply to replace traditional graduation theses with online works. Not long ago, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications released the "Undergraduate Teaching Quality Report for the 2023-2024 Academic Year", proposing to carry out undergraduate team graduation projects (papers) for the first time this academic year, encouraging students to complete graduation projects (papers) across majors and disciplines... The reporter noticed that when implementing diversified assessment methods, each university will formulate specific rules and requirements based on its own positioning and training objectives. Taking the School of Science and Technology at Ningbo University as an example, the school has formulated a diversified implementation method for graduation design (thesis), providing more graduation assessment channels for students from different majors from multiple aspects such as hosting vertical scientific research projects, literary and artistic creation, etc. Each channel has strict and detailed requirements. Whether it is necessary to write a thesis has sparked heated discussions. Nowadays, although the forms of graduation assessment in universities tend to be diversified, the specific method should be adopted, and the opinions of different experts vary. Some experts believe that as a graduation task independently completed by college students, the writing process of graduation thesis itself is a highly self-management exercise. In this process, students need to search for materials, organize their thinking and language, and construct paper frameworks on their own, which further enhances their academic literacy and comprehensive abilities. Therefore, the assessment method based on graduation thesis is still necessary. The graduation thesis reflects students' writing and written expression abilities, and is a summary evaluation of the school's teaching quality Li Qi said that in contemporary society that emphasizes effective communication and exchange, cultivating students' written expression ability is particularly important. Associate Professor Li Xuan from the School of Literature at Henan University also holds the same view. She has guided the writing of papers for two courses, modern and contemporary literature and subject Chinese language. She believes that writing a graduation thesis is a learning and growth process for most college graduates who are no longer pursuing further education. This not only exercises students' thinking ability, but also has significant implications for their future work and life. Choose a problem worth studying and answer it in the form of a paper, which includes multiple methods for discovering, analyzing, and solving the problem, "said Li Xuan. Xiong Bingqi, the president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, has a different opinion on this. He believes that in order to comprehensively and objectively evaluate students' comprehensive qualities and abilities, we cannot rely solely on the graduation thesis as a single indicator. In the current job market, companies are increasingly focusing on the practical abilities and vocational skills of job seekers. Therefore, cultivating students' practical abilities through graduation projects, internships, and practical training may be more direct and effective. More importantly, it is important to focus on enhancing students' thinking and practical abilities, so that they can grow into the people needed by society, "said Xiong Bingqi. Establishing multidimensional assessment standards is key globally, as universities in different countries have unique requirements for the assessment of undergraduate graduates. Li Qi explained that taking the United States as an example, whether undergraduate students need to submit their thesis and pass the defense mainly depends on the requirements of different schools and majors. For schools that offer honor courses, as well as those with strong research or theoretical disciplines, students are usually required to submit their graduation thesis and conduct a defense. However, there are also some schools that allow students to meet graduation requirements through completing projects, internships, or comprehensive exams. Nowadays, many universities in China have carried out innovative practices in this area. But how to build a diversified evaluation system to cultivate high-quality talents is still a long exploration process. Guo Jianzhong, Director of the Academic Affairs Office of Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, said, "We have established a graduation assessment mechanism that effectively combines students' published papers with their graduation papers, which has stimulated their enthusiasm for participating in innovative practical activities. In recent years, the number of papers published by undergraduate students has been increasing, and the level has gradually improved. This mechanism has played a positive role in cultivating innovative talents. The ideal graduation assessment plan should be multidimensional assessment, and different majors can formulate different measurement standards according to their characteristics." Liu Kun, Associate Professor of the School of Literature at Nankai University, said that in addition to rigid standards, universities can also explore flexibly to provide broader growth space for talents. For applied majors, more emphasis should be placed on differentiated assessments, focusing on testing students' practical abilities and their ability to meet industry demands. Diversification is the future direction and trend of undergraduate graduation assessment and evaluation in China. As the stratification and classification characteristics of universities become increasingly apparent, the relationship between undergraduate teaching quality and market selection becomes closer. Higher education will pay more attention to evaluating the quality of talent cultivation in input, process, output, and effectiveness verification through its internal and external guarantee and improvement mechanisms Li Qi said. (New Society)