BEIJING -- Lawmakers on Friday voted to adopt a law on academic degrees to optimize the awarding of such degrees.

The law, which was passed at a session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the national legislature, will take effect on Jan 1, 2025.

The law, consisting of seven chapters, stipulates the qualifications, conditions, and procedures for conferring academic degrees, including bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees.

The new legislation also clarifies the circumstances of rejecting or revoking academic degrees, including the malpractice of ghostwriting, plagiarism, and counterfeiting, and such offenses as grabbing enrollment in others' names and obtaining graduation certificates illegally.

The adoption of the law is expected to protect the interests of academic degree applicants better and ensure high-quality academic degree awarding, thus serving the building of a modern socialist country.