The General Office of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration ("NFGA") has recently issued the Interim Administrative Measures of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration for the Development of Key Academic Disciplines (the "Measures"), immediately effective from the date of issuance.
The Measures state that institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutes, serving as the bodies undertaking the development of NFGA's key academic disciplines, take charge of their internal development and management of NFGA's key academic disciplines, specifically including preparing the plan for academic discipline development, proposing new academic disciplines, developing the key academic disciplines, assessing academic discipline related work, and using and managing the funds allocated for academic discipline development. Meanwhile, the Measures clearly state that institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutes shall prepare scientific plans for academic discipline development, in consideration of needs of the country, the forestry and grassland industry and regional economic and social development and according to their own advantages and characteristics in academic disciplines, and focus on establishing links between such plans and arrangements made by the country and provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) for the development of first-class academic disciplines. Generally, the period for academic discipline development is set at five years, and the plan for academic discipline development should cover goals of academic discipline development, development tasks, safeguard measures, and expected results.