Navigating Research Productivity and Delayed Graduation Challenges among Graduate Students in China during COVID-19: Findings from a Questionnaire Survey

The study focuses on how COVID-19 has affected the research productivity and degree completion of graduate students in China. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 2298 Chinese graduate students to gauge their perception of COVID-19’s impact on their research productivity, delayed graduation, research engagement time and research output. The study found that a majority of Chinese graduate students (64.6%) experienced a temporary reduction in their research productivity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study concludes that the pandemic has affected graduate students in different ways and offers recommendations for policies to help them adapt to recent university changes.