August 25, 2022, UNESCO International Centre for Engineering Education (ICEE) held the concluding review meeting for the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE)'s consulting project titled Engineering Education and International Cooperation in the Post-Pandemic Era: Challenges and Countermeasures at Tsinghua University. Prof. ZHENG Weimin, professor at Tsinghua University and academician of the CAE, served as head of the Review Expert Group. The members of the Expert Group include Prof. ZHOU Ji at Tsinghua University, academician of CAE, Prof. LEI Qing and Prof. MA Yonghong at Beihang University, Prof. HE Haiyan at Beijing Institute of Technology, Prof. WANG Xiaoyang at Capital Normal University, as well as Prof. LU Darong and Prof. LI Yue at Tsinghua University. Prof. WANG Sunyu, Deputy Director and Secretary-General of ICEE, Dr. QIAO Weifeng, Assistant Researcher at ICEE, and the rest of the research team members attended the meeting.

At the meeting

The meeting began with the project introduction by Academician ZHOU Ji. Then, Prof. WANG Sunyu made a concluding report and overviewed the research during the COVID-19 pandemic. On behalf of the research team, Dr. QIAO Weifeng introduced the background and results of the project in the six aspects, namely challenges and opportunities in engineering education and international cooperation after the pandemic; development trend of engineering education; new progress in engineering education accreditation; development and reform path of engineer qualification accreditation; cooperation trend among international organizations; and policy recommendations, as well as research activities conducted during the research period.

The Expert Group held expensive discussions after listening to the report and reviewing relevant materials. According to the Expert Group, by taking the pandemic as an important turning point, the research team analyzed the development trend in engineering education and relevant challenges to international cooperation after the pandemic and discussed in depth the new progress in engineering education accreditation and engineer qualification accreditation at home and abroad, as well as new initiatives taken by typical international organizations to boost international cooperation. Finally, it proposed policy recommendations concerning post-pandemic international collaboration in engineering education in China.

The Expert Group

The Expert Group believed that the project team had accomplished all tasks with high quality, achieved fruitful research results, and put forward strategic and forward-looking recommendations. Particularly, the team's involvement in the revision of international standards and in piloting the second-level disciplines of engineering education boosted China's participation in governance over international engineering education and the development of China's engineering education. Therefore, the Expert Group unanimously agreed that the research project passed the acceptance.

The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated the changes in the global landscape unseen in a century and exerted a profound impact on the development of engineering education and international cooperation. The research team of ICEE will continue to conduct in-depth research to contribute to the reform of engineering education in China. Dr. XU Lihui, Assistant to the Secretary-General of ICEE, Postdoctoral Fellows  CHEN Huimin, WANG Yujia, PAN Xiaochun, and FU Jie, as well as research assistants ZHU Pan, LI Jingjing, and LI Chao at the Institute of Education Tsinghua University and ICEE attended the meeting

(Edited by WANG Yujia; Reviewed by XU Lihui, WANG Sunyu)