Research on Supervisor's Consent Dispute in Degree Awarding Process

In the practice of degree awarding in mainland China, postgraduate students cannot obtain degrees without the consents of their supervisors. This may damage the legitimate rights and interests of graduate students while checking the quality of dissertation. From the perspective of Hohfeld theory of legal relations, it is the privilege of the supervisor to perform the duty of consent, and no other person or organization has the right to interfere, but this privilege cannot resist the immunity of the degree granting right. The reason for the frequent occurrence of supervisor's consent disputes is that the time point of the behavior is located in the "middle zone" of the connection between graduate training activities and degree granting activities, which leads to the idling of degree granting procedures and the lack of remedies for graduate students' rights. In order to solve the problem supervisor's consent disputes further, it is suggested that supervisors should abide by the principle of equality and procedural justice when giving consent, colleges and universities establish rights relief mechanisms such as mediation and appeals, and graduate students should also obey awful duties.