The Reform of Engineering Education Based The CDIO Approach
Jin Zhang
School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
(zj4023@yahoo.com.cn)
Abstract - For the construction of innovation-oriented
country, a large number of high-quality engineering talents
are needed. Current engineering education in China, to a
large extent, prioritizes teaching of theory, while it does not
pay enough attention to practice which emphasizes the
ability cultivation. This paper will propose a CDIO-based
engineering education model with the perspective of the
collaboration between industry and university, after
summing up the problems and challenges of engineering
education in china. The positive effects of the model to the
reform of engineering education will be illustrated in the
term of curriculum design, teaching, workspace, students
learning assessment. It is expected that CDIO-based
engineering education model can meet the requirements of
modern industry in China.
Keywords - Engineering education, CDIO approach,
Collaboration between industry and university, Engineer
I. INTRODUCTION
Engineering education is an important part of
modern education, it is crucial to the construction of an
innovation-oriented country in China. Development of
engineering education and national industry are mutually
reinforcing and restraining, so the reform of engineering
education has to be carried out according to the needs of
industries. (Etzkowitz, 1998; Geisler and Rubenstein,
1989) point out that build new alliances between
universities and industry has become a cornerstone of
research throughout the OECD area [1-2]. (Fransman, 1995;
Ahn,1995; Geuna,1997; Sanchez,1995;) emphasize the
mechanisms that have been developed for the interaction
between universities and industry, and the benefits which
can be derived from such collaborations [3-6]. With the
arrival of the knowledge-based economy, (Etzkowitz et
al., 2000; Bettis and Hitt, 1995; Etzkowitz and
Leydesdorff, 1997; Hwang et al., 2003) stress that the role
of university as a source of new knowledge has become
more important than in the past, universities not only
discover knowledge, but also aid in industrialization[7-10].
China is currently in the process of industrialization,
national economy, security and people's daily lives
closely rely on the innovation of science and technology,
and engineering is a key component. The cultivation of
various engineering talents at all levels is not only to
solve specific problems, but also to create and disseminate
the knowledge. In this situation, traditional model of
engineering education faces great challenges and modern
engineers have to be trained as specialists who master
increasing levels of knowledge, personal and
interpersonal skills in a range of technologies for dealing
with complicated and comprehensive engineering issues.
It is very important to find a new model for the reform of
engineering education. The CDIO approach is an
international cooperation plan based on the CDIO concept
in the reform of engineering education; it includes CDIO
concept, the corresponding syllabus and standards, and a
series of theory and practice resources. Based on the
successful experiences of implementation of CDIO in
other institutions in the USA and Europe, the College of
Engineering should consider adopting the CDIO Initiative
and redevelop engineering education.
In this paper, based on reviewing the development of
engineering education in china, the problems and
challenges are analyzed and the CDIO-based engineering
education model is developed to describe how to
effectively support the talent training in engineering
education. The positive effects of the model to
engineering education reform are shown in different
aspects.
II. PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES OF
ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN CHINA
Engineering education in China started in 1904; the
Qing government promulgated the first modern Chinese
education system “Guimao Education System”. After
more than 40 years, science, engineering, agriculture and
medicine education had been developed significantly in
the scale and speed [11]. To the time of the founding of
new China, a major action in 1952 was mass adjustment
in colleges and universities to learn “the Soviet model” of
higher education, which had timely trained a large number
of engineering and technical personnel. Because of the
contradictions between economic development and
education have become more and more prominent since
1990s, gradually the reform of engineering education has
been the most urgent task.
In 1994, the reform plan for the 21st century
teaching content and course system of higher education
was formulated, which opened the prelude of Chinese
engineering education reform [12]. Especially since 2010,
national program for Medium-to long-term educational
reform and development (2010-2020) and the Training
Plan for Excellent Engineers had demonstrated the
national determination to speed up the promotion of
engineering education in the new round of reforms.
Today, experiencing a sustained and rapid economic
development in reform and opening up, China has become
the 2nd largest economy in the world, however, the
extensive development mode of China is a low-value and
low-profit growth, the industrial structure mainly is
resource and labor intensive. To maintain steady and rapid
economic development in the future, China must change
the mode of economic development and speed up
industrial restructuring and upgrading.
The root of the upgrade industries is to rely on
talents. Total number of Chinese engineering
graduates reached 2,770,808 in 2010 which ranked first in
the world, but their qualities are very far from the
developed countries’. Number of graduates of higher
engineering education in China is about 4 times higher
than United States and 10 times than Germany, but GNP
(gross national product) was created by Chinese engineers
average is 5~10% of United States and Germany
engineers [13].
Under the influence of traditional culture, social
value of the engineering behinds the development of newtype industrialization that influences the development of
engineering education and reduces the social status of
engineers. Although national educational expenditure has
been increasing in recent years, the percentage
of educational expenditure to gross domestic product has
been below 4%, which is lower than the developed
country and many developing countries. Per capita
educational expenditure even decreases, due to increase in
infrastructure costs.
It is a tendency that many universities blindly pursue
and upgrade to a higher level, and characteristics of the
various training levels are similar. YE Feifan (2010) points
out the program are usually supported by a single
discipline in the traditional engineering education that is
facing great challenges. Modern engineers have to be
trained based on interdisciplinary environment to develop
the abilities for dealing with complicated and
comprehensive engineering issues [14]. Specially, teaching
system of engineering education has been lagging behind
in China. Disciplinary curriculum is divided too thin and
lack of interdisciplinary curriculum. Students are suffered
from “narrow” knowledge which is harmful for students
to develop their abilities in interdisciplinary environment.
The proportion of classroom teaching is too large,
engineering practice and “double-qualified” teachers with
abundant engineering and academic backgrounds in
teaching are lacking.
Collaboration between industry and universities is
very important to the reform of engineering education.
(Gassol, 2007; Siegel, Waldman, Atwater and Link 2003)
consider the cultural differences between industry and
university are often portrayed as barriers to collaboration
and a constraining factor on the transfer and diffusion of
knowledge [15-16]. First, universities and industry do not
pursue to one consistent goal, which is not conducive to
the long-term cooperation. Second, it is difficult to assess
performance of collaboration between industry and
university.
All these studies point out the fact that modern
students are limited in their knowledge and abilities
required from industry, we have to find solutions to
traditional model of engineering education. The reform of
designing curriculum, teaching, workspace facilities, as
well as teaching assessment should be paid more attention.
III. METHOD
CDIO (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate) was
created by MIT and several Sweden universities under the
financial support from WALLENBURG Foundation in
2004. This educational pattern is set in the context of
conceiving, designing, implementing, and operating
products, processes, and systems. The CDIO syllabus and
standards allow students to acquire the knowledge and
ability initiatively which include personal scientific and
technical knowledge, lifelong learning, communication
and teamwork skills, as well as building products and
systems under the environment of the society and
enterprise [17].
The CDIO syllabus and the CDIO standards will
meet needs of students in a program. The syllabus is a
rational, relevant, and consistent set of skills for an
engineer. Specific learning outcomes for graduating
students are set jointly by the stakeholders who include
industry, university faculty, and society, which codified in
the CDIO syllabus form the basis for an integrated
curriculum design. The features of this integrated
curriculum are active and experiential learning and are
continuously improved through a robust, quality
assessment process, which is reflected in twelve CDIO
standards.
IV. THE CDIO-BASED ENGINEERING EDUCATION
MODEL IN CHINA
The CDIO-based engineering education model is
designed to highlight the common participation of
industry and university in terms of curriculum design,
workspace, teaching and learning assessment, according
to the provisions of the ministry of education and
demands of the industry. Fig.1 shows the structure of the
CDIO-based engineering education model.
This model is conducive not only to train technical
skills, interpersonal and professional skills which are
required in engineering career for students, but also to
contribute to realize the win-win result between industry
and university.
A. Curriculum Design
Based on the CDIO approach, the best way to design
curriculum should be consistent with learning outcomes
experiences must be integrated into the curriculum. It has
dual impact, first, it can teach students teamwork spirit
and communication skills, at the same time reinforce
knowledge which they have learned. Second, it can be
motivating and attracting students to engineering practice.
The CDIO Approach
Collaboration between Industry
and University
Demands of the Industry
The Provisions of the Ministry
of Education
Fig.1. Structure of the CDIO-based engineering education model
which are validated by faculty, students, alumni and
industrial representatives, according to the provisions of
the ministry of education and demands of the industry.
Students are expected to achieve a comprehensive set
of learning outcomes, so curriculum content not only
include fundamentals of mathematics and the sciences,
engineering science, and practice courses, but also have
humanities and social sciences. General education and
training of engineering practical ability are important to
solve the practical problems. Clear about the position of
major, condense theory courses and strengthen application
skill courses. Having established the curriculum content
and learning outcomes, the key aspects of curriculum
design are structure, sequence, and mapping.
The curriculum structure must allow the disciplinary
courses to be mutually supporting, and it must allow the
personal and interpersonal skills to be interwoven in the
engineering curriculum. Sequence suggests the
appropriate progression of learning outcomes, and
mapping is their assignment to specific courses and
learning experiences. The result of the curriculum design
will ensure that students learn full set of knowledge, skills,
and attitudes that engineering students should possess as
they leave the university.
B. Workspaces
Workspaces are indispensable components that
support the CDIO initiative, and they are the basic
condition for promoting CDIO personnel training model.
With the support of industry, university can establish the
infrastructure and facilities to support educational
initiatives. Workspaces will be designed to actively
engage students in creative and experiential learning and
support the entire curriculum.
Students will have an opportunity to learn from each
other, interact with groups, and use modern engineering
tools, software, and laboratories to develop the knowledge,
skills, and attitudes in the workspaces. Because of this
important role in engineering education, practical
C. Teaching
About teaching, teachers are very important for
students. In the engineering education based on the CDIO
approach, teacher team consists mainly of teachers and
professional engineers with rich experience in industry. In
order to meet the requirements for training “double
qualified” teachers, young teachers need opportunities to
improve their engineering experience by going into the
industry to solve practical problems.
The CDIO-based teaching has the characteristics of
openness, synthesis and practicality, it requires teacher to
impetus student’s learning initiative in teaching process,
enlighten his positive thinking and lead his exploring new
knowledge. Practical elements have been significantly
added in the teaching to allow students to develop their
ability to utilize and apply knowledge to practical
problems. Through active and experiential learning
methods, such as discussions with partners or small
groups, practice by project-based learning, simulations,
and case studies, engineering education based the CDIO
approach integrate the learning of personal and
interpersonal skills, and disciplinary knowledge is more
attractive to students.
D. Student Learning Assessment
Student learning assessment measures the extent to
which each student achieves specified learning outcomes.
The process of assessing student learning has four key
phases: the specification of learning outcomes, the
alignment of assessment methods, the use of a variety of
assessment methods to gather information of student
learning, and the use of assessment results to improve
teaching, which is displayed in Fig.2. In the CDIO-based
engineering education, industry and university should
participate in learning assessments jointly. Learning
assessment not only focuses on disciplinary content, but
also an equal emphasis needs to be placed on assessing
the personal and interpersonal skills.
Teachers can use many methods for collecting
information that students are achieving intended learning
outcomes, such as, written and oral questions,
performance ratings, product reviews, and other
assessment measures. These methods can collect
information of student progress and achievement in a
variety of teaching-learning environments. Appropriate
learning assessment methods contribute to know what
students have learned and improve teaching and learning
in the process of designing disciplinary curriculum.
V. CONCLUSION
education.
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Fig.2. The process of assessing student learning
It is obvious that this CDIO-based engineering
education model will be implemented effectively.
Different resources from industry and university can be
integrated for an engineering program in order to meet
new challenges and rapid changes in the engineering
education.
Furthermore, it is more important to conduct such a
reform for engineering education in China, because the
CDIO-based engineering education model is set in the
context of conceiving, designing, implementing, and
operating products, processes, and systems can make
engineering students master knowledge and skills to
survive in modern engineering environment.
In addition, there are two other advantages that are
discussed in following:
The first advantage of this model is that the CDIO
initiative supports internationalization and mobility by
providing a well-developed international model, because
it is developed in collaboration by leading universities
around the world. Participating universities will develop
materials and approaches to share with others, so all
university engineering programmes can adapt to their
specific needs. With internationalization of engineering
education, universities should strengthen international
exchange and cooperation with famous universities,
research institutions and enterprises in the world through
establishing jointly Sino-foreign educational institutions,
setting exchange programs, recruiting overseas students to
create international campus atmosphere and promoting
international accreditation of engineering education.
The second advantage of the model is a close
connection between international accreditation and the
CDIO syllabus. Because part of the syllabus in CDIO
directly corresponds to the requirements of ABET
EC2000 which is a famous accreditation criteria in the
world attracted many international programs to apply for
accreditation. From the above, it is expected that the
CDIO-based engineering education model can boost the
qualities of the engineering students and improve the
international competitiveness of Chinese engineering
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