The nurturing of creative talent in basic and higher education has been a burgeoning movement in China. However, there is a lack of solid theoretical foundation and methodological guidance as to how talent identification and learning process evaluation can be done. This article proposes a three-phase theoretical framework of creative talent development based on developmental science. It uses the framing concepts of “proximal processes” and “dynamic changes” for situated appraisals and decision-making. It further proposes five application scenarios (selection, diagnosis, nurturing, counseling, and self-assessment), each carrying its own objectives, foci, and methods. The main argument is that assessment and evaluation need to go hand-in-hand with educational activities so that they become an integral part of nurturing creative talent and supporting optimal development. In this spirit, with the support of AI, we look forward to a future when a self-directed learning can be enhanced with an automated assessment/guidance system, and many students can learn to develop an innovative edge and make creative contributions in their own ways.

Scientists are critical drivers for the evolution of world centers of education, technology and talent. The evolution of the three major centers is positioned around scientists, showing high correlation with knowledge accumulation and scientists’ mobility. Constructing a database of 204,643 scientists on education, technology, and talent, through correlation analysis, principal component analysis, OLS regression analysis, and Granger causality analysis, it is found that scientists take center stage to the three major centers and significantly contribute to the development of economy, education and technology. Cohort analysis and Kernal density estimation analysis reveal that the evolution of three centers is consistent. Scientist cultivation in era of big science can focus on three aspects: clarifying the centrality of scientists in an epistemological sense, shortening the time lag between the transformation of scientists’ human capital and social value, and considering the national government a leading force in the identification and nurturing of scientists.

Building a scientifically valid and operationally feasible measurement indicator system for adolescent innovation capability that aligns with contemporary developmental demands is crucial for identifying innovative talent and advancing the autonomous cultivation of top-tier innovators in China. Given the inconsistent validity of indicators in prior studies, this study employs meta-analysis to comprehensively analyze 45 quantitative studies (including 35,424 independent samples) from the Web of Science database, focusing on measurement indicators and influencing factors of adolescent innovation capability. The results reveal that five first-level dimensions—learning agility, problem-solving ability, practical operational ability, teamwork competency, and resilience—significantly predict adolescent innovation capability. Among the second-level indicators, ideational fluency demonstrates the strongest correlation with innovation capability, whereas empathic ability shows the weakest predictive effect. Furthermore, the meta-analysis identifies sample mean age, gender, and measurement tool type as significant moderators of the relationship between these indicators and innovation capability, while cultural background exhibits no moderating effect. The study proposes a multidimensional measurement system for adolescent innovation capability based on these findings, comprising five primary dimensions and 14 specific indicators.

The mobility and clustering of international academic talent is changing fundamentally. Under the change of global “center-periphery” system, “clustering talent through international education” and “clustering talent through international academic professional opportunity” have emerged as two major approaches to attracting and assembling international talent. Based on the analysis of overseas returnees and foreign scholars in “double first-class universities” in China, the study finds that China has established the brain circulation relations with the center countries of world academic system. International education of international students, and reversed returning of overseas Chinese undergraduates have become the weak approaches to “clustering talent through international education”. Overseas Chinese academic returning to China and inflow of foreign international scholars have respectively been the weak and strong approaches to “clustering talent through international academic professional opportunity”. It is suggested that conductive institutional measures need to be implemented so as to lure more scholars working in China, and the pace of building up the regional higher education hub and global talent center should be sped up.

In the new trend of childbirth in our country, studying the trends of fertility motivations of highly-educated women across different generations is of forward-looking significance for understanding the future societal trends in childbirth. Based on Miller et al.’s classification of fertility motivation and the theory of planned behavior, this paper constructs a child-specific fertility motivation measurement framework for highly-educated women of childbearing age, and investigates the generational differences in fertility motivations among 1,030 female doctoral degree holders and candidates in our country. The results show that: the fertility motivation for having one child among female doctorate holders and candidates is strongly individualistic, with value and emotional motivations having the most positive impact; time cost and career development opportunities are the primary negative motivations, with older generations being heavily constrained by health conditions and younger generations being significantly constrained by economic costs. The fertility motivation for having a second child places greater emphasis on family factors, with the motivation for child development being the most important, and the motivation for gender preference growing stronger among younger generations; the influence of family resource constraints on fertility intentions is more pronounced for second-child aspirations compared to first-child decisions. Samples with compromised health status demonstrate fertility motivations that are predominantly driven by familial and societal factors, while those who are either only-children or married exhibit familialism-oriented fertility motivations. In order to stimulate positive fertility motivations and mitigate the impact of negative fertility motivations among highly-educated women of childbearing age in China, it is recommended to explore flexible working arrangements and parental leave, reduce the time cost for women to care for their families; provide high-quality and inclusive childcare services to ensure the continuity of career development before and after childbirth; expand the coverage of maternity and medical insurance, and reduce the age and health condition restrictions on childbirth; comprehensively reduce the economic costs of raising multiple children, and relax the economic resource constraints on families of childbearing age.

In the context of the dual pressures of high-level talent cultivation strategies and intensifying employment competition, pursuing a graduate degree has become one of the primary educational choices for the majority of Chinese youth. The extension of higher education duration not only represents a vertical extension of one’s academic career but also has profound effects on the construction of individual life courses. This extension may exacerbate the “education-employment-marriage-childbearing” temporal squeeze, potentially accelerating the process of low fertility rate in China. Based on data from the national university student tracking survey, this study investigates the impact of graduate education choices on college students’ future marriage and childbearing intentions. The findings reveal that graduate education significantly inhibits students’ marriage intentions, delays their expected age at first marriage, reduces their childbearing intentions, and lowers their expected number of children. Notably, the inhibitory effects are more pronounced among female students and those from low-income family backgrounds. This study expands the theoretical perspective on the relationship between education and marriage/childbearing, providing empirical evidence for future collaborative reforms in higher education systems and population policies.

In recent years, the reform of compulsory education has been continuously deepened, but the phenomenon of insufficient student motivation remains widespread and tends to affect younger students. This continues to be a significant challenge in the field of education. To effectively improve students’ intellectual development, it is crucial to understand the characteristics and developmental patterns of students’ learning motivation. Based on the situated expectancy-value theory, this study explored the latent transitions of primary school students’ motivation profiles and examined the impact of gender, socio-economic status, and parenting styles on these transitions. The study conducted three rounds of one-year follow-up surveys and found that students’ perceptions of their learning ability, value, and cost could form four typical motivational profiles: the average motivation group, well-adapted group, poorly adapted group, and high-cost group. These profiles generally remained stable over the year, but there were also trajectories of transitions between different profiles. In terms of influencing factors, the results showed that girls exhibited more positive changes in learning motivation, while family economic status did not significantly affect motivational transitions. Furthermore, parental autonomy support positively influenced motivational transitions, whereas parental psychological control had a negative impact. These findings provide a scientific basis for understanding the patterns and developmental trends of primary school students’ learning motivation in China.