How the hottest engineering education resonates wi

How does engineering education resonate with the times?

first class engineering education must be closely combined with the progress of science and technology to realize the same frequency resonance of science and engineering. The cultivation of innovative ability is the main melody of contemporary first-class engineering education. It must adapt to the development of the times and match the progress of science and technology. The key is to cultivate students' innovative spirit and practical ability, which is the most essential feature of engineering education and the highest requirement for engineering education today

Wang Zhikang

since the establishment of the Institute of mining and metallurgy in Freiberg, Germany in 1702, the engineering education in school form has officially entered human history. In more than 300 years, the development of engineering education has cultivated a large number of high-level and professional engineering and technical talents for all countries in the world, which has significantly promoted the industrialization process of all countries

at present, with the acceleration of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial reform around the world, the new economy characterized by new technologies, new formats, new industries and new models is booming. There is an urgent need for a large number of diversified, innovative and outstanding engineering and technological talents, and Engineering education has also entered a new stage of development

under this background, what new requirements and challenges do international engineering education put forward? How should China's engineering education develop? To clarify these problems, we might as well start from the current development situation of China's engineering education, which occupies a place in the world's higher education

according to a message released by the Ministry of education in June this year, by the end of 2017, the higher education teaching evaluation center of the Ministry of education and the China Engineering Education Professional Certification Association had certified a total of 846 engineering majors in 198 colleges and universities across the country, marking that the quality of 846 Engineering Majors in China has achieved international substantive equivalence and entered the first array of global engineering education. At present, the professional certification of Engineering Education in China has covered 21 professional categories, and it is planned to achieve full coverage of all major categories by 2020

according to statistics, at present, more than 1100 schools in China hold engineering education, with more than 19000 engineering majors, about 5.5 million students and more than 1.2 million graduates. In terms of quantity, the number of engineering majors enrolled, the number of students in school and the number of graduates in Chinese Ordinary Colleges and universities all rank first in the world

in addition to the advantages in quantity, in connotation, the Ministry of education, the Chinese Academy of engineering and other departments have also actively promoted the education and training of outstanding engineers. We have reduced the number of process steps, accelerated the construction and development of new projects, strengthened the awareness of engineering ethics, and called for the return of craftsmanship. Recently, Li Xiaohong, President of the Chinese Academy of engineering, pointed out at the first international engineering education forum held at Tsinghua University that internationally, China is 1 Transmission is actively promoting the formation of China's engineering education quality standard system and contributing Chinese wisdom and experience to world engineering education. All these undoubtedly established China's status as a major country in engineering education

in recent years, China has taken the opportunity of applying to join the Washington Agreement to gradually deepen the reform of engineering education, and has made many breakthroughs in engineering education, such as continuous optimization of structural layout, and more emphasis on the setting of training levels, types and types to adapt to industrial development and coordinate with regional development

in addition, the Ministry of Education launched the construction of new engineering courses in 2017, transformed and upgraded traditional engineering majors, accelerated the development of emerging engineering majors, and made great efforts to promote China from a big country in engineering education to a powerful country in engineering education

however, with China's engineering education in line with the international and in-depth development, many challenges facing the global engineering education have already surged

in his view, one of the challenges is the weakening trend of engineering education

globally, there is a phenomenon that engineers are trained in the way of science education in engineering education to varying degrees. There are many problems, such as the lack of engineering background of engineering teachers, the low practical ability of engineering students, and the insufficient participation of industry enterprises in the talent training process. Qiu Yong said that in many developed and developing countries, the gap between the economic income of engineers and those of businesses, management, law and other professions is growing. The attraction of the profession of engineers to young people continues to weaken, and outstanding young people have reduced their interest in engineering majors and even fled engineering

the weakening trend of engineering education, especially in China, is also what Lin Zhongqin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering and President of Shanghai Jiaotong University, is worried about

in his view, the success of engineering education benefits from the success of engineering education training, but the effectiveness of engineering education talent training in China often lags behind. From the perspective of talent training, there are three main shortcomings, namely feelings, literacy and vision. In terms of feelings, engineering is no longer the first choice for domestic excellent students; Drive system in literacy: including electromechanical drive, the lack of professional education makes engineering education become a talk on paper; In terms of vision, the content of education is far from keeping up with the development of engineering technology

for the challenges faced by engineering education, Chen Hong He, President of Tsinghua University in Taiwan, creatively put forward the concept of engineering education 5.0

engineering education 4.0 is a customized education for individuals. At present, engineering education has changed from 2.0 to 3.0, but it still uses standardized learning methods and one-way knowledge dissemination. Therefore, at present, the challenge of engineering education is only to catch up with 4.0. He said that the challenge for future engineering education is engineering education 5.0, that is, due to the empowerment of knowledge by artificial intelligence and big data, more and more knowledge can be replaced by virtual reality. At this time, we must think about how to educate future engineers

facing the needs of transformation

the challenges faced by current engineering education are reflected in the fact that engineering must be transformed in order to adapt to the development of the future world. This transformation has also brought many demands to engineers

according to Gongke, the president designate of the World Federation of engineering organizations and former president of Nankai University, the first is the need for knowledge methods and principles, that is, engineers must integrate knowledge and capabilities, which means that their knowledge and capabilities must exceed the current widely accepted professionalism and technical standards to achieve interdisciplinary

Zhou Yu, President of Harbin Institute of technology, also thought so

what engineering education now faces is not engineering itself, but actually the intersection of disciplines and the integration with other disciplines. For example, he said, genome engineering should be the business of medicine itself, but now it is precisely the engineering and bioinformatics researchers of the computer college who undertake the genome project and then cooperate closely with medicine; For another example, their papers on structural molecular biology to solve AIDS published in the journal nature actually rely on advanced engineering equipment

future engineers must master Internet, artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain and other contents. Therefore, we need to carry out more training to enable engineers to form concepts and build knowledge frameworks. Gongke added that at the same time, they must also be able to better understand social and humanistic issues and knowledge, and achieve effective interdisciplinary learning and innovation. However, in the current engineering education, the wall between different disciplines is still very high, and restrictions exist widely

in addition, in Gongke's view, it is also necessary to establish a globally unified engineering capability standard and put it into application, so as to achieve world certification in engineering education, so as to alleviate the complexity of international engineering cooperation

a promising way out in the future

in fact, in the face of the above challenges and needs, the international engineering education community has been thinking about and taking corresponding measures

for example, MIT launched the new engineering education transformation plan in August 2017, which aims at the new machine and new engineering system in the future, and opens an interdisciplinary major centered on projects, emphasizing the cultivation of students' way of thinking and comprehensive ability

it mainly takes the subject or project as the main line to encourage students to realize cross college course selection and learning; By establishing groups, students can interact with diverse groups and achieve a balance between classroom learning, digital learning and experimental learning; There is a relatively simple control to select new types of computers worldwide. We should select top talents and teachers, strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, and jointly promote the development of engineering education. Massachusetts Institute of technology Deputy Provost Richard Lester said

the dean's Council of the Global Institute of technology emphasizes the adaptability and diversity of engineering education and the cultivation of students' innovative consciousness and society. As Natasha dipola, the president of the Council, said, engineering is the core of the development of global industry 4.0, and innovation must be achieved through collaboration. Specifically, engineering education should speed up the development of platforms and tools suitable for global collaboration; We should reform teaching methods and cultivate high-quality talents to meet future challenges; Through in-depth dialogue with the industry, we should realize the combination of industry, University and research, and seek an overall solution

in June 2016, Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of engineering also jointly established the UNESCO International Engineering Education Center, which aims to build a high-level talent training base, think tank research and consulting center and international exchange platform, and promote the establishment of a global engineering education community based on equality, inclusiveness, development and win-win results

similar to Natasha Deborah's view, Qiu Yong believes that the future engineering education should also strengthen the education of consciousness, the cultivation of innovation ability, and the communication and cooperation

modern engineering has more and more profoundly affected and changed the world we live in. Engineers are shouldering a larger and larger society. They should not only pay attention to technology, but also learn to pay attention to people, society and nature. Therefore, engineering education must pay more attention to cultivating students' sense of society. Qiu Yong said that engineering is not the application of single discipline knowledge, but a complex and comprehensive practical process, so universities should improve the system and mechanism of interdisciplinary and build a interdisciplinary talent training system. At the same time, we should strengthen the education of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in engineering education, strengthen practical teaching, and let students improve their innovation ability in solving practical problems

for the future development of engineering education, Zhou Yu also emphasized the cultivation of innovative practical ability

in this regard, the development of engineering education must keep pace with the times, and colleges and universities should