On November 27th, the 8th Advanced Symposium on Engineering Cultural Quality Education, jointly hosted by the Tsinghua University Fundamental Industrial Training Center and the National Cultural Quality Education Base for College Students, was held online.
Wang Wei delivers a speech
Wang Wei, the deputy director of the Academic Affairs Office of Tsinghua University and the executive deputy director of the National Cultural Quality Education Base for College Students, said in his speech that since the first symposium was held in 2012, it has been ten years. Holding this meeting under the severe and complex epidemic situation in the near future is of more unique significance. He hoped that the participating experts and scholars could generate more intellectual collisions and contribute more crystallization of wisdom.
Wang Wei delivers a speech
Li Shuangshou, director of the Tsinghua University Fundamental Industrial Training Center, reviewed the development process of the symposium. In 2012, the Tsinghua University Fundamental Industrial Training Center and the National Cultural Quality Education Base for College Students first carried out discussions around “engineering cultural quality education,” combining engineering majors with humanities and social science majors. Previous symposia have invited well-known experts in many fields such as engineering practice, engineering education, philosophy, and art to jointly discuss, and have received extensive attention in the field of engineering training in domestic universities. He said that the Training Center will continue to explore and build an interdisciplinary curriculum system and continuously explore the cultivation model of new engineering talents.
Bai Fengshan delivers a speech
Bai Fengshan, a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Tsinghua University, with the topic of “Large-scale Engineering Education from the International and Historical Perspectives,” combined with the background of the Agricultural Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and the Information Revolution, pointed out the importance of “large-scale engineering education” at present and proposed new cultivation methods such as an open and interdisciplinary discipline system and focusing on the content of the unknown. He mentioned that the information age makes “personalized education” possible, and engineering education should match the new demands of the information age.
Cao Yin delivers a speech
Cao Yin, an associate professor in the Department of History at Tsinghua University, with the topic of “Infrastructure and Daily Technologies in Modern Asia,” analyzed cases such as the drinking water project in the tropical frontier of the Ottoman Empire, street traffic in British India, the Port of Colombo in the imperialist discourse, sewing machines in the Dutch East Indies, large machinery and small engines in the Mekong River Delta, and modern kitchens in Manila, explaining the complexity and diversity in the modernization process of Asian countries.
Yang Jianxin delivers a speech
Yang Jianxin, the deputy director of the Tsinghua University Fundamental Industrial Training Center, introduced the construction situation of the high-quality general education course “Manufacturing Engineering Experience.” “Manufacturing Engineering Experience” is a cultural quality core course and a general education course in the science course group with the characteristics of practical teaching, which was first offered by the training center in 2013. It has carried out teaching reforms twice in 2018 and 2021, forming a practical teaching model of “large-scale and small-class.” After the teaching reform, the course has achieved good teaching results, is very popular among students, has been rated as a school-level excellent course, and has been selected into the high-quality general education course construction plan.
Wang Jun (left) and Yang Shanhong deliver a speech
Wang Jun, a research librarian of the Palace Museum, with the topic of “The Space-time Formula of the Ancient Chinese Building System,” told the connection between the ancient Chinese astronomical and humanistic traditions and the genetic code of ancient Chinese architecture. Yang Shanhong, the chief engineer of the Anhui Comprehensive Transportation Research Institute, with the topic of “Bridge Aesthetics Practice and Innovation,” taking bridges in Anhui as the main representatives, told about the aesthetics and philosophy in bridge design.
Group photo of the online participating guests
The first Advanced Symposium on Engineering Cultural Quality Education was held in 2012, and it has been successfully held for eight sessions so far, having a wide influence in colleges and universities across China.
