Live streamed by Tencent (VooV) Meeting and Bilibili, the academic forum for graduate students was successfully held on April 25, 2020. It was jointly designed and organized by enrolled students of the Master of Taxation Education Center under UCASS School of Public Policy and Management,with the guidance of the Tax Policy and Governance Research Center.

Themed asTaxation Theories and Practice with a Perspective on Modernization of State Governance, the forum included three panel sessions: 1) tax legislation strengthened for better governance system; 2) tax reform accelerated for stronger pandemic control and prevention; 3) tax levy and administration enhanced to optimize business environment.

Following the launch of UCASS “GS Innovation Initiative” (Innovation for Graduate Students Education) in December 2019 to encourage research by graduate students, theUCASS Academic Forumbecame the first successful event initiated by graduate students. With the support of their tutors and faculties, the team has gone through call for papers, experts review, papers selection and revision, among other preparations.

Rising above the circumstances of COVID-19, the forum was organized as webinar with report contributions by 14 students from institutions of higher education, such as UCASS, Central University of Finance and Economics, Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, Beijing Technology and Business University and Jilin University. As part of the forum, professors and scholars were invited to offer their comments and guidance and to select award-winning contributions based on quality of paper, performance of presentation and experts review. Certificates of awards were granted thereafter to two first-prize winners, four second-prize papers and eight third-prize contributions.