Curriculum Design in New Engineering Education: A Case Study of Two Emerging Engineering Programs in China

CONTEXT Cognizant of the burgeoning needs for reforming engineering education to respond to the accelerating development of the new industrial revolution, China launched the “New Engineering” initiative in 2017. Among which, the interdisciplinary Emerging Engineering programs accounted for an essential but entirely new field, with hardly any existing experiences in curriculum design, which was decisive to the construction of these programs. PURPOSE OR GOAL This study focused on curriculum design based on a modified Vision-Teaching-Support framework, to investigate the student outcomes, curricular structure, and contributing factors in curriculum design of the Emerging Engineering programs, and therefore share possible lessons and experiences with other engineering programs from practice perspective, as well as contribute to current interdisciplinary engineering education literature. APPROACH OR METHODOLOGY/METHODS This study adopted the comparative case study approach, and conducted a three-phase data collection and analysis process to investigate the student outcomes, curricular structure, and contributing factors. Particularly, the “Internet +” program at University A and the “New Engineering” program at University B were selected. ACTUAL OR ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES This study offers preliminary insights towards interdisciplinary curriculum design, results show that general engineering, interdisciplinary innovation, and future-oriented competencies constitute student outcomes in Emerging Engineering programs, and lead the whole process of curriculum design. Therefore, student-centred curriculum with cross-department involvement is designed to achieve these outcomes, and internal supports at university, academic departments, and individual levels along with external supports from industrial partners jointly contribute to designing and implementing these interdisciplinary curricula. CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS/SUMMARY Curriculum design of the Emerging Engineering programs is a holistic project that requires coordination between vision, teaching, and support. Further study is needed to include pedagogical insights based on multiple cases in different countries.