On April 8, 2017, the “Innovative Engineering Education Conference for Leading Engineering Universities” was held at Weijin Road Campus, Tianjin University (TJU). The symposium aimed at further deepening the reform of engineering education and promoting the construction and development of visionary engineering education. Over 200 professors and representatives from comprehensive universities and advanced engineering universities including Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tongji University, Zhejiang University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, and Harbin Institute of Technology attended the symposium.  

Li Jiajun the Party Secretary of TJU and Wang Jing the Director of the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission made the opening statements, while Zhang Daliang the Director of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China delivered a keynote speech. Yu Jianxing the Vice President of TJU and Wu Aihua the Director of the Office of the Science and Technology of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China hosted the symposium. Han Yun the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Higher Education Press attended the symposium.  

Zhang Daliang analyzed the latest trends in economic development, and indicated that rapid development of the economy demands visionary engineering talents. He summarized the early exploration of China's new construction of engineering disciplines, implying that colleges and universities should speed up their cultivation of industry talents. To advance the level of China's engineering education to the top level world-wide: 

1.      Strengthen the core orientation of cultivating emerging engineering talents; 

2.      Strength the evaluation system for first class engineering education; 

3.      Strengthen the responsibility for serving national strategies and regional development; 

4.      Strengthen the pursuit of values for making contributions to the country and society; 

5.      Establish the goal of promoting the technological level of our nation; 

Zhong Denghua, academician of China Engineering Academy, the President of TJU, introduced the general achievements in engineering education. He mentioned that TJU would promote collaborative education, cultivate engineering talents who are compatible with the national development strategy, and reform the educational evaluation system. Yang Bin, the Vice President of Tsinghua University, and Xu Xiaofei, the Vice President of Harbin Institute of Technology, introduced the concept and practices designed to cultivate visionary engineering talents at Tsinghua University and Harbin Institute of Technology. 

At the symposium, representatives from colleges and universities delivered speeches on the subject of "deepening emerging engineering education at comprehensive universities, engineering advanced universities, and regional universities". It has been reported that, in order to promote the construction and development of emerging engineering, the Ministry of Education will start the "Emerging Engineering Research and Practice" project, to develop the innovative spirit of universities, and promote new concepts in engineering education. 

By: Qin Mian

Editor: Christopher Peter Clarke