Tibet University awards its first doctorates to 4
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Four students from the southwest Tibet Autonomous Region have been awarded doctorate degrees by a Tibetan university in its first such move.
The students — who majored in high-altitude medicine, Tibetan history, language and literature — attended the graduation ceremony at Tibet University last Friday.
The region had lacked an academic doctorate in Tibetan Buddhism until now. Previously, a “Gexe Lharampa,” a title similar to a doctorate in Tibetan Buddhism, was the highest academic qualification awarded to Tibetan lamas.
“As one of the first doctorate holders who are indigenously cultivated in Tibet, I appreciate very much the accomplishment of study under the government policy to protect and inherit ethnic culture,” said Soinam Cering, 32, a farmer’s son in the region’s Xigaze area.
When he was young, Cering loved reading books left by his grandfather, who had received private tutoring and engaged in filing historic archives after the emancipation of Tibet.
Having read many history books, Cering developed a strong interest in Tibetan history. After graduating from university, he worked for the Xigaze government before enrolling for a master’s degree course at Tibet University, majoring in Mandarin and Tibetan translation.
“I had never dreamed of becoming a doctorate holder before 2014,” he said, adding that the high cost of living away from home made him hesitate in applying to universities outside of Tibet.
In 2014, when Cering graduated from his master’s degree course, he topped the enrollment examination for the doctorate course and became the first doctorate student of Cedain Zhaxi, head of the university’s China Tibetology research institute.
In the the past three years, Cering wrote more than 10 papers. He was also awarded a scholarship for doctorate studies three times in a row. It was funded by the central and regional governments.
According to Zhaxi, young people like Cering have a good command of Mandarin and foreign languages, enabling them to learn new research methods and helping them to innovate in their study of Tibetan history.
“Their broad vision will help fill the gaps of our previous generations,” said Zhaxi. “They are lucky, born in a new era with the rapid educational development of our country.”
Before Tibet’s emancipation, only 5 percent of Tibetans — who came from the families of landlords or rich merchants — had opportunities to receive an education, mostly at monasteries or old-style private schools.
“Tibetologists like us mostly received education after the emancipation,” said Zhaxi, adding that he was one such beneficiary.
In 1985, Zhaxi graduated from Tibet University and became a lecturer there. Four years later, he was sent to Minzu University in Beijing for further studies.
Tibet University was authorized to award master’s degrees in 1998, and doctorates in 2013. Zhaxi said the university’s progressive ability to offer higher education degrees reflected the development of tertiary education in Tibet.
Over the past six decades, the region has built a modern educational system that covers every level of education. It offers 15 years of free education from kindergarten to senior high school — one of the first provincial regions to do so.
For the children of Tibetan farmers and herders, the college admission rate reached 75.4 percent this year, said education authorities.
“The higher education of Tibet has now started a new page,” said Tao Ran, an official at the regional education department.
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