In August 2022, the Ministry of Education and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council jointly launched the pilot construction of the National Graduate College for Elite Engineers.
Southeast University established the National Graduate College for Elite Engineers (hereinafter referred to as " the Zhuogong College") in June 2023. A 6,000-square-meter educational facility was launched on the south side of the Jiulong Lake Campus of Southeast University, providing an integrated platform for practical training, experimentation, and computing for joint talent cultivation between university and enterprises, as well as venues for curriculum training and exchange. A management team consisting of nearly 20 positions was established, responsible for ideological and political education, enrollment, training, degree evaluation, student management, scientific research coordination, and platform construction. The Zhuogong College has implemented a council governance system, adopting a “one university, multiple enterprises” collaborative model. The first batch of invited partners includes leading enterprises in various industries, jointly establishing the Excellent Engineer Technology Center. Combining the characteristics of multiple engineering colleges at Southeast University, and following the layout of "one college, one enterprise, one center", the university-enterprise Excellent Engineer Technology Center was constructed.
The National Graduate College for Elite Engineers has adopted a project-based system as the fundamental model for student enrollment and development. Focusing on major engineering projects, high-demand industries, and bottleneck technologies, and in accordance with government guidance and enterprise demands, Southeast University selected Internal supervisor teams led by academicians and national high-level talents, as well as external supervisor teams led by chief engineers, chief designers, chief scientists and other senior engineering professionals. The College recruited top-notch students exempted from the entrance examination and top performers in the postgraduate entrance examination to jointly carry out organized scientific research and technological breakthroughs, as well as joint talent cultivation. The college has deployed Zhuogong projects in fields such as integrated circuits, new-generation information and communication technology, smart energy, low-carbon construction, smart transportation, new-generation artificial intelligence technology, cutting-edge cross-disciplinary electronic materials, key electromagnetic space technology, and millimeter-wave and sub-millimeter-wave technology. The number of projects and the enrollment scale have been steadily increasing. Focusing on major demands and local industrial characteristics, the College has promoted special Zhuogong projects in Suzhou, Wuxi, and Nantong. A work-study integrated training model based on the project-based system was designed. For master's degree students, the academic duration is three years, with a minimum of one year of research and practice in enterprises. For doctoral degree students, the academic duration is four years, with a minimum of two years of research and practice in enterprises. The College has participated in the development of the Ministry of Education’s “Core Course Video Library for Outstanding Engineers” and “High-quality Online Courses for Professional Postgraduates in Engineering”, and built a high-quality curriculum system.Focusing on cultivating engineering and technological innovation capabilities, the College has accelerated the reform of the achievement evaluation system for engineering master’s and doctoral students. Centered on improving the ability to tackle key core technologies and independently solve complex engineering problems, the College takes research on new engineering technologies, major engineering design, new product development, and new device development as important criteria for graduation and degree conferral.
Relying on the construction of the National Graduate College for Elite Engineers, Southeast University has cultivated a core Supervisors team, developed core courses, tackled core technologies, and created a "model room" for the cultivation of excellent engineers. It has implemented the "four co-operations and four interconnections" mechanism, which includes joint enrollment and training between schools and enterprises, joint topic selection, sharing of achievements and teachers, interconnected courses, integrated platforms, and smooth policies. It has solidified the community of industry-education integration for talent cultivation and explored a new paradigm of organized joint training for engineering master's and doctoral students. In the future, a world-class National Graduate College for Elite Engineers with Chinese characteristics will be established.
