Frontiers of Teaching and Learning Innovation in Engineering Education in China: A Case of Tsinghua University

Abstract

This investigation concerns the latest teaching and learning innovations in Chinese engineering higher education with special reference to Tsinghua University in Beijing, a leading university of China. Set in the context of rapid enrolment expansion in Chinese higher education since entering the 21st century, the study addresses how university engineering education innovated their contents and modes of teaching and learning to foster top-level talent, enhance relevance and responsiveness of education against rising number of students, scale of knowledge, and labour market demand, through content analysis of 163 award-winning programmes. The study also presents five case studies from Tsinghua University that have won recent regional and national awards under China's Higher Education Teaching and Learning Award scheme in 2012-2013 and in 2014 respectively. The data for the present investigation comes from a rich set of first-hand data of those wining institutions' award applications and collected from field visits by the present authors. The study further proposes a framework for designing and implementing engineering education programme. It is hoped that such a Chinese perspective could contribute to the global dialogue on teaching and learning in engineering education.