On September 27, the 2nd International Conference on Outstanding Engineer Cultivation was held in Beijing. With the theme of "Cultivating Outstanding Engineers, Building a New Open Ecosystem," the conference aimed to advance the international layout of outstanding engineer cultivation and international mutual recognition of engineering education, and accelerate the construction of an outstanding engineer cultivation system with Chinese characteristics and world-class standards. The conference was hosted by the China Alliance for Outstanding Engineer Cultivation, and co-organized by Beijing Jiaotong University, Central South University, South China University of Technology, China Communications Construction Group, Ltd., GEM Co., Ltd., China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd., and other institutions. Guests and experts from over 120 universities, enterprises, scientific research institutions, and associations from more than 30 countries and regions attended the conference.
Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng attended the conference and delivered an address. He stated that the Chinese government attaches great importance to engineering technology innovation and engineering education development. In recent years, China has continued to increase investment in higher education, particularly engineering education, and has established the world's largest-scale and high-quality higher engineering education system, with over 9 million enrolled students. China has explored a new pathway for cultivating outstanding engineers through the integration of science and education and the fusion of industry and education, effectively supporting national and regional economic and social development, providing effective reference for the reform and development of international engineering education, and sharing with the world the concepts, practices, and methods of Chinese engineering education.
At the conference, President Li Jiancheng, on behalf of the university, signed agreements with representatives from the Bandung Institute of Technology, GEM Co., Ltd., SANY Group Co., Ltd., and PT. QMB New Energy Materials to jointly establish the China-Indonesia Elite Engineers College. The college will focus on key fields required for China-Indonesia economic cooperation, including earth sciences, mining engineering, metallurgy, new energy materials, construction machinery, and artificial intelligence, to cultivate interdisciplinary talents with international vision, cross-cultural collaboration capabilities, and engineering practice abilities.
Central South University and GEM Co., Ltd. co-organized Parallel Session I of the conference, the "International Conference on Outstanding Engineer Cultivation." University and enterprise experts conducted in-depth discussions on pathways for outstanding engineer cultivation. Representatives from Chinese universities introduced education systems integrating industry-education and science-education fusion. Enterprise representatives shared practical experience in promoting localization of talent cultivation and internationalization of standards through the Belt and Road platform. Representatives from French and Indonesian universities respectively shared their countries' explorations in engineering education model innovation and talent cultivation. All parties agreed that outstanding engineer cultivation should further strengthen university-enterprise collaboration and international cooperation, build a competency framework with both global consensus and regional characteristics, and promote the standardization, scaling, and international mutual recognition of outstanding engineer cultivation.
As the University Chair of the conference, Li Jiancheng introduced how Central South University, in the process of cultivating outstanding engineers, has actively broken down boundaries between traditional and emerging disciplines, between university research and industrial practice, and between domestic and international spheres. The university strives to build a cultivation practice featuring interdisciplinary integration, open collaboration, and connectivity between China and the world, as well as a "university-led, government-supported, enterprise-practiced" trinity international talent cultivation mechanism. He stated that the university will be guided by national strategic needs, strengthen international dialogue, deepen university-enterprise collaboration, promote innovative development of global engineering education, cultivate more engineering leaders with innovative spirit and practical capabilities, and inject Central South power into the construction of a manufacturing powerhouse.