The Engineering Training Center (College of Innovation) at China Jiliang University was established in December, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as "the Center"). The Center traces its origins to the Experimental Factory of Hangzhou Metrology Technical College founded in 1984, and was later renamed the Electromechanical Plant of China Jiliang University in 1995. In 2006, the Center became the first among provincial universities to pass the ISO9001 quality system certification for teaching management. In 2007, it was recognized as a Zhejiang Provincial Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, followed by being named one of the first provincial-level teaching teams in Zhejiang in 2008. In 2010, the Center was the only higher education institution in Zhejiang to receive the title of "Advanced Group in Creating Learning Organizations and Striving to Become Knowledge-Based Employees". In 2012, it passed the provincial evaluation for Experimental Teaching Demonstration Centers with excellence and was also honored as an Advanced Group in Laboratory Work among Zhejiang universities. In 2019, the Center was designated as a "13th Five-Year Plan" Provincial Key Construction Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, and in 2020, it once again received the title of Advanced Group in Laboratory Work among Zhejiang universities. The Center currently serves as the Deputy Director Unit of the Engineering Training Branch of the Zhejiang Higher Education Society and is a Standing Council Member Unit of the Engineering Training Teaching Association for universities in the East China region.
The Center comprises four departments: the Office, Metalworking Internship Teaching Department, Electronics Comprehensive Teaching Department, and Innovation Practice Department. Additionally, it has established a Teaching Committee, an Academic Committee, and a Teaching Supervision Group. The Center currently employs 39 staff members, including 9 with senior professional titles and 25 with intermediate professional titles, with those holding intermediate titles or above accounting for 87.18% of the total staff. Among the staff, 24 hold a master's degree or higher, representing 61.54% of the total, with 2 members currently pursuing their doctoral degrees.
The Center currently occupies a building area of over 10,000 square meters and houses the Precision Measurement and Intelligent Manufacturing Engineering Research Institute. It is equipped with 19 functional laboratories, including those for Mechanical Manufacturing, Advanced Manufacturing, Mechatronics, Electronics Technology, Rapid Prototyping, Metrology and Testing, Fischertechnik Robotics, and ARM Innovation. Additionally, the Center features 2 multimedia classrooms and 3 computer classrooms.
The Center has achieved significant results in practical teaching, including one national virtual simulation experiment project, two provincial-level first-class courses, one provincial-level ideological and political demonstration course, one provincial-level virtual simulation experiment project, one university-level first-class course, and three university-level key construction courses focused on curriculum ideology and politics. Faculty at the Center have led and completed four projects that received the Zhejiang Province Teaching Achievement Second Prize, and 13 university-level achievement awards. They have also won numerous accolades, including First Prize in the National Youth Teacher Microlecture Competition for Engineering Training, Excellence Award in the Third National Youth Teacher Microlecture Teaching Evaluation for Metalworking/Engineering Training, Third Prize in the National Teaching and Education Equipment Competition, First Prize in the East China Universities Engineering Training Lecture Competition, Second Prize in the Provincial Higher Education Teachers' Educational Technology Achievement Award, Second Prize in the Experiment Skills Special Competition of the Third Provincial University Teachers' Teaching Innovation Competition, and two Second Prizes in the National Multimedia Courseware Competition, as well as two Second Prizes in the Sixth Provincial University Teachers' Teaching Software Competition.
The Center primarily serves over 30 majors across various disciplines at China Jiliang University, including engineering, management, science, economics, and medicine (pharmacy). It offers engineering training, electronic internships, comprehensive engineering practice, innovation practice capability training, and graduate-level practical teaching. Currently, the Center comprises three platforms, one center, and one engineering research institute:
- Engineering Practice Teaching Platform: This platform primarily focuses on engineering training, electronic internships, and integrated electromechanical practice teaching. The Engineering Training Center annually serves over 5,000 students, completing more than 60,000 student-days of engineering training and electronic internship teaching tasks. It offers the university-wide platform course "Comprehensive Engineering Practice" to more than 10 majors, and provides 11 general education elective courses to all students, including "Creative Robotics Development and Practice" and "3D Printing and Demonstration of Robot Dogs". Since 2018, the platform has also offered practical courses for professional master's degree students.
- Innovation Workshop Training Platform: This platform is dedicated to organizing and guiding student technological innovation activities and cultivating innovation practice abilities. It includes several specialized bases, such as the Engineering Maker Base, Electronic Competition Base, Mechanical Innovation Base, Aeromodelling Training Base, Robotics Training Base, and 3D Printing Training Base. The center serves as the university’s internal organizer for major academic competitions like the National Undergraduate Engineering Practice and Innovation Ability Contest, National Undergraduate Electronic Design Contest, and National Advanced Mapping Technology & Product Information Modeling Innovation Contest. Since 2012, students participating in these Category A competitions, organized by the center, have won a total of 360 provincial third-place awards or higher, including 2 national grand prizes, 16 national first prizes, 21 national second prizes, and 83 provincial first prizes.
- Scientific Research Service Platform: Focused on supporting faculty and student research processing and collaborative development, this platform emphasizes openness and resource sharing both within and outside the university. The center leverages high-quality equipment and technical resources to offer research processing services to faculty and students. Equipped with a wide range of processing machinery, the platform is capable of handling complex parts, including flat surfaces, curved surfaces, and variable-angle components. The experienced processing technicians ensure the precision and quality of manufacturing processes for research projects.
- Institute of Precision Measurement and Intelligent Manufacturing Engineering: Built on the principles of measurement and quality, this institute seamlessly integrates both real and virtual environments, embodying the university's unique focus on metrology, standards, and quality. The institute is a collaborative effort between the university and Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence Technology (Qingdao) Co., Ltd., and comprises several specialized laboratories, including the Digital Standards System Research Laboratory, Ultra-High Precision Measurement Laboratory, Intelligent Quality Big Data Laboratory, and the CAD/CAM/CAE Mechanical Product Design Laboratory. It is equipped with cutting-edge measurement technologies, precision instruments, and a comprehensive knowledge system. The institute boasts advanced software and hardware assets valued at over 30 million RMB, including a smart quality management system for the entire product lifecycle, CAD/CAM/CAE software, various coordinate measuring machines, and optical inspection devices. These resources support every stage of product quality enhancement and research development, from design and simulation to testing and manufacturing.
The center fully leverages its role as a provincial-level teaching demonstration center by actively sharing educational resources. It provides internship and training programs to over 3,500 students from other institutions, including Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Zhejiang University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Xingzhi College of Zhejiang Normal University, and Zhejiang Vocational College of Economics and Trade. The center also actively engages in school-enterprise collaborations with companies such as Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence Technology (Qingdao) Co., Ltd., Shenzhen JLC Technology Development Co., Ltd., ARM-BAKERON, Hangzhou Weiheng Technology Co., Ltd., and Zhejiang Sanguo Technology Co., Ltd. These partnerships aim to explore and implement joint training models, thereby enhancing students' practical skills and employability.
In the future, the center will be guided by Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It will adhere to the development principles of engineering training in higher education, focusing on cultivating innovative and practical talent. Upholding the philosophy of "quality first, practice emphasized, and innovation as the core", the center will continue to deepen educational reforms, enhance the quality of engineering training, and strive to become a national-level experimental teaching demonstration center, aiming to establish itself as a top engineering training center among universities in China.
(Updated in April, 2024)
