2025-11-04
Marine ecology, remote sensing, marine resource development practice... After three years at Tianjin University’s School of Marine Science and Technology, Malaysian student Yang Zhiyu feels confident tackling real-world marine challenges.
Yang Zhiyu is enrolled in the ASEAN-focused program for marine technology, which builds an emerging engineering education curriculum for international students around “marine resource development and environmental governance” to meet the needs of both China and ASEAN nations. “China’s emerging engineering education taught me to integrate marine theory with AI and big data analytic. This cross-disciplinary training model broadened my horizons,” Yang said.
As global tech innovation and industrial transformation accelerate, society demands more from engineering talent. In 2017, China launched emerging engineering education initiatives focusing on new concepts, discipline structures, training models, quality standards, and development systems. Keywords like “cross-boundary,” “integration,” “convergence,” “sharing,” and “innovation” now define China’s emerging engineering education.
Leading the National Emerging Engineering Education Working Group and among the first to implement the Outstanding Engineer Education and Training Program, Tianjin University has consistently stood at China’s emerging engineering forefront—enriching its substance while contributing Chinese perspectives to global engineering education reform.
Cross-boundary integration to cultivate future-oriented talents
At Tianjin University’s Smart Manufacturing Center, first-year student Lin Zhiyuan is taking an unconventional course. There are no thick textbooks or ready-made slides—only a challenging mission: design and build an automated ping-pong ball launcher from scratch.
“From needs analysis and structural design to parts machining and system integration, every step requires our own hands,” Lin says. “Disciplinary boundaries are broken down here. We learn by doing and do by learning, applying our knowledge to solve real engineering problems.”
Supporting this new pedagogical model is a 30-member cross-disciplinary teaching team drawn from five majors including mechanical engineering, energy and power engineering, and mechanics, providing end-to-end project guidance. The model replaces traditional final exams with a dynamic assessment mechanism that runs throughout the project life-cycle.
Song Chunfeng, Deputy Director of Tianjin University’s Academic Affairs Office, notes that today’s engineering education differs greatly from the past. These redesigned interdisciplinary courses aim to help students internalize engineering thinking through practice. Most students embrace such reforms, showing noticeably improved learning initiative.
“Emerging engineering education encompasses new engineering disciplines, elevated professional requirements, and entirely new fields born from deep interdisciplinary integration,” says Sun Tao, Party Secretary of Tianjin University’s School of Mechanical Engineering. He believes it shifts educational focus from knowledge transmission to capability development, cultivating composite, high-caliber talent ready for future challenges.
Tianjin University is dismantling disciplinary barriers and building cross-disciplinary talent platforms to meet future demands. It has established over 100 project-based courses and more than 50 interdisciplinary teaching teams. The university’s Future Intelligent Machines and Systems Platform integrate resources from 16 majors across six schools, creating an open, shared curriculum system that supports cross-major course selection and awards micro-credentials and certifications.
This transformation is driven by the “from future to future” educational philosophy. Tianjin University Party Secretary Yang Xianjin explains that the first “future” represents insights into future societal needs based on the present, which informs educational innovation to prepare students for what lies ahead. The second “future” is students leveraging those capabilities and knowledge to lead industry development and create new value in the society to come.
As global demand for engineers grows, many countries are experiencing waning interest among youth in engineering studies and careers—a phenomenon known as the “exodus from engineering.” Against this backdrop, China's emerging engineering education offers an innovative solution. By targeting frontier, revolutionary, and disruptive technologies, China is cultivating future technology leaders and building a complete cultivation ecosystem spanning traditional and emerging interdisciplinary fields.
The results are evident. At the 2025 WFEO General Assembly held recently in Shanghai, Chinese achievements featured prominently in the “2025 Global Top 10 Engineering Achievements”—from DeepSeek’s open-source large language model and humanoid robots to the Taklamakan Desert border project. These demonstrate how Chinese engineering and technology are playing key roles in addressing global challenges.
Seeking solutions in real-world industry
Walking into the workshop of Hitachi Energy (China) Co., Ltd. in Beijing, large screens display real-time data on production scheduling, energy consumption, and equipment status. Lu Fengwei, a 22-year-old senior, listens attentively, taking notes intermittently.
This is a hands-on industry course. Over the next ten months, Lu Fengwei and 21 other interdisciplinary, cross-grade students from Tianjin University’s various schools will work on the front lines, focusing on industrial green transformation and digital upgrading to tackle global climate challenges through engineering thinking.
This innovative practice stems from the “International Center for Excellence in Engineering Talent Development” established in late September. Jointly built by over ten Chinese and foreign universities and enterprises, the center covers 37 frontier fields including aerospace technology, artificial intelligence, and energy.
“Students face not only technical challenges but also shared issues concerning humanity’s future,” said Liu Yanli, Vice Dean of Tianjin University’s International School of Engineering. “China’s emerging engineering education is systematically cultivating future engineers capable of solving complex engineering problems and excelling in cross-cultural collaboration, equipping them to provide solutions to global challenges.”
As global economic and social structures become increasingly complex and industrial upgrading accelerates, China’s emerging engineering education is also actively empowering local enterprises’ globalization.
In the production workshop of Jinan No. 2 Machine Tool Group Co., Ltd., a high-speed heavy-load manipulator robot on an automotive panel stamping production line is undergoing precise debugging.
“This robot can stably grasp and place large automotive panels at a rate of 20 times per minute,” said Wang Dong, Director of the Equipment Development Department at Jinan No. 2 Machine Tool Group Co., Ltd.
The robot’s innovative design originated from actual enterprise needs. Guided by faculty, student teams conducted engineering practice from conceptual design to product manufacturing, successfully developing the high-speed heavy-load manipulator after two years of dedicated research.
Mahfuz from Bangladesh chose to continue his graduate studies at Tianjin University’s School of Chemical Engineering after completing his undergraduate degree there. “During my internship at Befar Group, I witnessed industrial-scale production firsthand. The university’s teaching prevents theoretical knowledge from isolation—we can quickly verify and apply it, which is crucial for tackling real industrial challenges.”
In the “dual carbon”-themed, enterprise-based project course at Tianjin University’s International School of Engineering, students from China, France, Malaysia and other nations designed a real-time refrigerant monitoring and visualization management system at Danfoss’s “Lighthouse Factory” in Denmark, and deployed lightweight AI models on microcontrollers at NXP’s AI innovation practice base. “This project course is a microcosm of China’s emerging engineering education ‘going global.’ We will continue promoting China’s engineering education models and training systems to the world,” said Liu Yanli.
Working with the world to ignite innovation capacity
In August this year, an international student team from the School of Chemical Engineering at Tianjin University won the Grand Prize in the international track of the 19th National College Student Chemical Engineering Design Competition for their design of a 5,000-ton-per-year dimethyl sulfoxide project for CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Co., Ltd.
“The school’s training system has broken down my mental barriers,” said Dai Yiwen from Myanmar, her eyes shining with confidence. “It enables me to rapidly and accurately identify the breakthrough points when facing complex real-world problems and to clearly see the broad application prospects of chemical engineering.”
As one of the team members, Aksha, an international student from Pakistan, also attributed her growth to China’s distinctive emerging engineering training model. “From theoretical learning to hands-on practice and then to innovative practice in design competitions, this stepwise pathway has built a bridge from knowledge to practice and equipped us with key capabilities for responding to industrial change,” she said.
China’s emerging engineering training model is attracting more students from around the world. Alex from EPF Graduate School of Engineering in France is taking courses in both the School of Medicine and the International School of Engineering at Tianjin University, which allows him to combine knowledge in precision medicine with applied machine learning. “In my semester project on developing a real-time gesture recognition system, I was able to immediately apply cutting-edge theory to solve practical challenges. This model not only imparts engineering knowledge but also cultivates innovation capability,” Alex said.
At the International Engineering Education Development Conference held in Tianjin in late September, Wendy Larner, President of Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, remarked: “Tianjin University offers valuable reference for universities worldwide in terms of innovation and engineering education.”
Elizabeth Taylor, President of the International Engineering Alliance, believes that as dialogue on international engineering cooperation becomes more diverse, China is becoming an important driving force, bringing new insights and confidence to global development. (Reporters: Shao Xiangyun, Song Rui and Li Yating, Reference News)
(Source: Online Tianjin)
