From May 26 to 27, the annual conference of the Engineering Education Committee of the China Association of Higher Education (CAHE) and the first Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Engineering Education Forum were held in Guangzhou.

The Engineering Education Committee of the CAHE and the Institute of China’s Science, Technology and Education Policy (ICSTEP) of Zhejiang University announced the 2023 National Development and Reform Commission on the Pioneering Case of Engineering Education Reform based on five indicators: advanced concepts, extensiveness of reforms, depth of reforms, performance measurement, and process effectiveness.

The School of System Design and Intelligent Manufacturing (SDIM) at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) was successfully selected for its educational practice and outstanding educational achievement.

Zhenghe XU, Dean of the College of Engineering at SUSTech, and Limin ZHOU, Associate Dean of SDIM, were invited to attend the conference as representatives of the University.

Since the Ministry of Education (MOE) promoted the construction of new engineering in 2017, new engineering education has moved from a concept and design to a stage of implementation, promotion, and quality improvement. There is an urgent need for advanced experience and practical methods to solve the problems faced in developing new engineering education.

SDIM creatively proposed the “Synchronized Cultivation of Knowledge and Abilities in Multidisciplinary Integration” based on the fundamental laws of education, integrated the essential attributes of engineering, and implemented the educational concept of “Synchronized Cultivation of Knowledge and Abilities in Multidisciplinary Integration” into its curriculum construction.

It created a physical and psychological environment for cultivating leading interdisciplinary talents, where design and engineering are deeply integrated, alternates theory and practice, and integrates knowledge, ability, and value. At the same time, it is hoped that in such an environment, students can gain the courage, vision, and ability to learn independently and pursue their passion.

SDIM provides students with a balanced and broad knowledge base of design and engineering through three “Integrated System Design” course modules of increasing difficulty, and then chooses one of the four directions of industrial design, artificial intelligence, robotics, and intelligent manufacturing according to the student’s interests, and develops professional expertise with five elective courses.