University-Enterprise Cooperative Education Mode in the Context of Emerging Engineering Disciplines

Abstract

From the strategic perspective of adapting to the development of economy in the new era, the Chinese Ministry of Education has recently proposed a new concept of "Emerging Engineering Disciplines", aiming to strengthen and deepen the reform and innovation of Chinese higher engineering education. The implementation of university-enterprise cooperative education to enhance students’ innovative abilities is one of the focuses of that. With the new concept, this paper gives an account of a case study conducted at Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) to investigate the implementation plan of cooperative education between universities and enterprises. The university-enterprise cooperative education mode was introduced in the context of emerging trends in engineering. In this mode, universities and enterprises cooperate to formulate cultivation program, construct a practice training system and an open teaching system, trying to emerge the mechanisms of integrating social resources, a project-driven training, and a participation in entire industry process.