The 2023 Chinese College Student Engineering Practice and Innovation Ability Competition opened on Nov 25 at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, Northwest China. 

The competition is held on Nov 25 in Xi'an. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Over 1,000 participants from 198 universities and 275 teams from 31 provinces, cities and autonomous regions gathered together to showcase the youthful spirit of college students in the new era. 

The competition is one of the largest engineering innovation practice competitions in China.

The primary objective of the competition is to fully integrate the cultivation of moral values, deepen the reform of higher engineering education, strengthen the training of exceptional engineering talents, and to highlight interdisciplinary coordination, innovation, and creativity. The aim is to create a distinctive Chinese engineering innovation education platform.

The competition is currently under way. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Over the course of the three-day competition, outstanding students who have excelled in school-level preliminary competitions and provincial rematches across the country will compete in two events: solar electric vehicles on the new energy vehicle track and the digitalization of the virtual simulation track engineering scenes at the university. These competition projects are closely related to engineering practices, encompassing comprehensive knowledge and technological applications in mechanical design and manufacturing, new energy, electronic information, control science, artificial intelligence, and other fields.

In recent years, the host university has increasingly emphasized the cultivation of students' innovative abilities and the establishment of innovation bases, endeavoring to shift from basic engineering ability training to training in innovative engineering abilities in order to facilitate the industry’s transformation and high-quality development.

Zhang Ziyu, a participant from the School of Aeronautics at Northwestern Polytechnical University, mentioned that his main takeaway from the competition is the crucial role of engineering practices in finding and solving problems, rather than confining knowledge to textbooks.

Professor Jiang Jianjun, director of the Engineering Practice Training Center at Northwestern Polytechnical University, emphasized that this multidisciplinary competency reflects students' grasp of fundamental knowledge, the utilization of tools, and technological design.

"Through this competition, we aim to achieve comprehensive training effects. Throughout the entire process, we not only reinforce students' fundamental knowledge but also enhance their innovative and practical abilities, laying a robust foundation for their future growth," Jiang remarked.