By Yang Xuepeng, Wu Xu and Guan Xuning

BEIJING, Oct. 28 -- The military academies and research institutes have recently rolled out their postgraduate recruitment plans for 2021, kicking off the comprehensive recruitment work for the next year. Candidates may apply to military academies and research institutes by the end of October 2020, and preliminary exams are scheduled for late December this year.

This year’s postgraduate recruitment by the military emphasizes on three points. First, the military has stepped up efforts to cultivate new-style and urgently needed talents and added special cultivation programs targeting relevant expertise in emerging fields, such as aerospace, electronics, cyberspace and joint combat guarantee. Second, the recruit quota for disciplines related with joint operations has been greatly increased. Third, priority is given to frontline troops and more in-service cadres will be recruited to encourage them to improve their education.

Moreover, on October 17th and 18th , the military self-study examinations for the second half of 2020 were held in 290 prefecture-level and higher-level cities nationwide, during which 35,000 students sat 123,000 exams. As an essential component of military occupational education, the self-study examination is a primary form of continued education for service members, and it plays a vital role in raising their scientific and cultural competence and job-fulfilling capability. In the past year, more than 10,000 service members have obtained a college or junior college degree.