On March 16, the Centre successfully completed the admission interviews for applicants of MASTA and DOCSTA Programmes in 2023. Twenty (20) applicants from eight (8) countries, including Algeria, Pakistan, Bolivia, Peru, Nigeria, Venezuela, Turkey and Mongolia, passed the initial examination of materials and participated in the interview.

To ensure the transparency and openness of the selection process, the Centre established an Interview Review Committee, arranged a unified interview process, and for the first time added a written test on basic academic literacy to further examine the English level and professional foundation of the applicants. The entire process of the written test was invigilated via video, which could not only monitor the candidates’ answer status in real time, but also remind those with abnormal answers online, so as to guarantee the smooth progress of the test.

As the new specialty added by the Centre this year, it was the first time for the major of “Space Project Management” to enroll overseas graduate participants. More than ten (10) teachers of Beihang University from three (3) majors as Satellite Communication and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (SC&GNSS), Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (RS&GIS), and Space Project Management participated in the interview. For applicants recommended by the Member States of Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO), the interviews were conducted by professors from Beihang University together with experts from APSCO. The interviews were carried out by a combination of online video conference and on-site interview, while the whole interview process was videotaped, which mainly evaluated the applicants’ language proficiency, professional background, education and work experience, academic ability and professional knowledge.

In 2023, the Centre enrolled MASTA&DOCSTA candidates in three (3) majors: Satellite Communications and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (SC&GNSS), Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (RS&GIS), and Space Project Management. Among them, Space Project Management is a new direction offered this year. It is hoped that the expansion of professional directions can further adapt to the changes in demand, optimize the allocation of teaching resources, improve the training effectiveness, and promote the new development of talent training of the Centre. In the future, the Centre will continue to advance major construction and institutional improvement, and keep on enhancing the service capability to contribute to the high-quality development of “Programmes on Space Applications”.