An Exploration on the Reform of China’s Engineering Education under the Background of 'Made in China 2025'

Abstract In 2015, Chinese government proposed Made in China 2025, which is the first ten-year strategy of upgrading the country’s manufacturing sector under the background of the new scientific and technological revolution and industry transformation. This strategy puts forward the basic development guidelines of “innovation driven , quality prioritized, structure optimized, and talent oriented”, and decides to gather all kinds of innovation resources in the ten key areas such as new information technology, high-end numerically-controlled machine tools and robotics, aerospace and aeronautical equipment, ocean engineering equipment and high-tech ships, modern railway equipment, engineering saving and new energy vehicles, power equipment, agricultural machinery, new material, biological medicine, and high performance medical equipment, in order to enhance the development of these industries. The goal is to become a powerful manufacturing country by the 100th anniversary of China (2049) through “three-step” strategic goal. The implementation of Made in China 2025 and the realization of the goal of China’s becoming a powerful manufacturing country requires a group of manufacturing talents with good quality, considerable quantity and reasonable structure. Without doubt, engineering talents are the most important component of this group, and they are significant to the development of manufacturing industry. This raises a new challenge to the higher engineering education in China, requiring which to connect with Made in China 2025 comprehensively in aspects such as talents quality, quantity, major structure, hierarchical structure and regional structure, and meet the demands of ten key fields on engineering talents. The current situation of higher engineering education in China still has a big gap with the requirements of talents in Made in China 2025. It is represented in the engineering talents’ lack of competence to adapt to the development of future industry, the lack of talents supply to the ten key industries, and that the talents’ level are too low to meet the demand of advanced manufacturing industries on high-end areas such as research and development as well as designing. These gaps could be narrowed with the reformation and improvement of higher engineering education in China. This research would make a further analysis on the current situation of Chinese higher engineering education and the its problems facing the demand of Made in China 2025 through methodologies like literature reading, data analysis, interview and case study. It would propose (1) new standard of talents, (2) scale, structure and new system of engineering talents cultivation adapted to manufacturing industry development,(3)new pattern of engineering talents cultivation coordinating knowledge, ability and quality, as well as (4)new mechanism of engineering talents cultivation in which academy, enterprise and government have profound cooperation. This study would provide a new angle for scholars in China and abroad to comprehensively understand Made in China 2025 and how higher engineering education in China responds to it. The solutions and proposals in this study could also provide beneficial reference for Chinese government and universities to improve higher engineering education.