In 1981, SIA began to offer master degree programs with a goal of training and educating elite individuals. In the past twenty plus years, SIA has greatly expended its elite education programs. Today, SIA offers both Ph.D. M.S. programs in Mechatronic Engineering, Pattern Recognition and Intelligent Systems, and M.S. programs in Control Theory and Control Engineering, and Computer Applied Technology. In addition, it offers post-doctoral programs in Mechatronic Engineering, Pattern Recognition and Intelligent Systems. At present, SIA annually enrolls about 100 graduate students, among whom approximately 40% are Ph.D. candidates. Up till now, more than 700 graduate students have earned M.S. or Ph.D. degrees from SIA. At present, more than 20 post-doctoral candidates are working at SIA.
Adequate research projects and funds
SIA annually succeeds in applying for hundreds of scientific and technical projects and patents. This provides abundant funds to support scientific research and contributes to the creation of a high-level platform for graduate students. Every year, hundreds of research papers are published in various fields, including academic journals, periodicals and conferences both at home and abroad. By actively participating in research projects such as National Natural Science Foundation Projects, National High Technology Research and Development Program (“863” Program), students can take the opportunity to improve their capabilities and talents of conducting research projects.　
High-level teaching staff
SIA has a high-level team of teachers and researchers with rich experience. There are nearly one hundred supervisors, including two academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering, experts and chief scientists in national key scientific and technological projects of 973 Projects and 863 Programs, as well as several senior visiting scholars abroad.
Unique cultivation methods
Graduate education of SIA is divided into two stages. First, master students or graduate students of Master-Doctor Combined Program will take some basic courses in USTC (University of Science and Technology of China) for half a year or one year accordingly. After they return, SIA offers more than 30 professional-knowledge-oriented courses, which tracks the latest developments in scientific and technical projects.
International academic exchanges
Until now SIA has established collaborations and conducted exchanges with many of the world’s famous universities, institutes and high-tech companies from the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, etc. SIA actively affords graduate students to participate in international academic exchanges. Annually, tens of graduate students are sent abroad for scientific and technological exchanges.
Abundant library and network resources
SIA library holds a rich collection of books amounting to 50,000 volumes and almost one thousand journals, which cover a broad range of subjects mainly focusing on natural science, engineering and technology. Two national academic journals, “Robot” and “Information and Control” are edited and published by SIA, and “Robot” was indexed by the EI. SIA also has a comprehensive operating system with a variety of network resources, so students can find information through online databases.
Generous awards
Education of SIA is tuition free for graduate students. Graduates can get a grant of ￥500 per month, and PhD students ￥700 per month. After taking part in researches, students can get extra allowance. In order to educate high quality graduate students, some additional grant systems are implemented such as “research-assistant subsidy”, “outstanding graduate scholarship”, and “master-doctor combined program graduate scholarship”.
Excellent studying and living environment
In July 2001, a newly built residential building for the graduate students and visiting scholars became available, which offers 114 apartments, a cafeteria, an entertainment center, a fitness center, and multimedia study rooms to provide broad accommodations.Furthermore, to make the campus life more colorful, the student union holds various activities such as New Year’s Party, Basketball game, English Speaking Contest, Spring Outing and so on. 　
Good job prospects
With solid knowledge foundation and practical capabilities, graduate students of SIA often outstand in job-hunting. They are highly appreciated and have become backbone elements in their company. After graduation, some students choose to continue studying abroad, and some seek employment in research institutes or high-tech enterprises in eastern coastal cities. Employment rate of SIA can reach nearly 100%.