WUST News

From November 9 to 10, an expert panel commissioned by the China Engineering Education Accreditation Association (CEEAA) conducted the second round of on-site accreditation inspection for the Mechanical Engineering program at Wuhan University of Science and Technology (WUST). The panel was led by Professor Zheng Qingchun, Secretary of the CPC Committee and President of Tianjin University of Technology and Education. Its members included Zhu Wuxing, Chief Engineer and Professor-level Senior Engineer of Shaanxi Huanghe Engineering Die & Mould Co., Ltd., Professor Zhao Yuyang, Director of the Academic Affairs Office of Wuyi University, Professor Zhang Jian from Liaoning Shihua University, and Dr. Lei Jichong from Hunan Institute of Technology. Ni Hongwei, Secretary of the CPC WUST Committee, Lü Yong, President of WUST, and Ma Teng, Vice President, attended relevant events.

On the morning of November 9, the Opening Meeting with the expert panel was held at the Roadshow Hall of the Library on Qingshan Campus.

On behalf of the university, Lü Yong extended a warm welcome and sincere gratitude to the expert panel for their on-site diagnosis and meticulous guidance. He noted that the university has always regarded program accreditation as an important lever for testing talent training quality and advancing educational and teaching reform. This inspection serves not only as a comprehensive review of the program’s development outcomes but also as a valuable opportunity for the university to identify shortcomings and improve teaching practices. The university will fully cooperate with the panel’s work, provide authentic materials and give truthful responses to all inquiries, and sincerely welcomes comments and guidance from the experts.

On behalf of the expert panel, Zheng Qingchun introduced the purpose, tasks and work schedule of this on-site inspection. He stated that the panel would strictly benchmark against accreditation standards, focus on verifying the implementation of the “main thread” and “bottom line” requirements of the program, and form independent and objective inspection opinions through document review, on-site visits, interviews and focus group discussions.

Wang Zhaohui, Executive Dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering, reported on the development of the program, systematically presented its educational achievements and distinctive features, and provided supplementary explanations on relevant issues in the Self-Assessment Report. The panel raised evidence-based inquiries on matters including the alignment between Program Educational Objectives and Student Outcomes, which were answered one by one by persons in charge of relevant university functional departments, the school, and program faculty.

During the inspection, the panel paid on-site visits to the Materials Science and Technology Hall, the National Demonstration Center for Experimental Mechanical Engineering Education, the Key Laboratory for Metallurgy Equipment and Control Units of the Ministry of Education, the Hubei Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmission and Manufacturing Engineering, and specialized laboratories. They also conducted virtual inspections of relevant teaching facilities such as the Engineering Practice and Innovation Center and basic laboratories.

The panel conducted interviews with university- and school-level administrators, full-time faculty, experimental teaching staff, current students, employer representatives and alumni representatives. They reviewed a full range of documents and records covering teaching management and operation, program development and quality assurance at both university and school levels, as well as graduation design (theses) and supporting materials of the past two cohorts of Mechanical Engineering undergraduates, and course projects such as machine design. They also spot-checked teaching materials from the past two academic years for core courses including Theory of Machines and Mechanisms and Machine Design, as well as reports for various experiments and internships such as production internship, graduation internship and comprehensive machine design experiments.

On the afternoon of November 10, the Inspection Feedback Meeting was held at Room 1610 of the Main Building on Qingshan Campus.

Zheng Qingchun delivered the overall inspection feedback on behalf of the panel, and each panel member presented individual feedback based on their on-site findings. The panel acknowledged that the Mechanical Engineering program, with a long educational history and distinctive industrial features, has delivered solid outcomes in talent training, curriculum development and practical teaching. Meanwhile, they put forward constructive comments and suggestions on areas including credit recognition, rationality evaluation of Program Educational Objectives, curriculum system support, improvement of faculty’s engineering practice competence, and laboratory safety and equipment maintenance.

Lü Yong made a response statement on behalf of the university. He stated that the panel’s comments are objective and precise, and the university fully accepts all feedback without reservation. The university will conduct a thorough review and in-depth analysis of the suggestions, formulate a targeted rectification plan and clarify corresponding responsibilities. Taking this accreditation as an opportunity, the university will continue to deepen the renewal of educational and teaching concepts, coordinate and optimize the allocation of educational resources, focus on building a high-caliber faculty team, promote the overall improvement of the Mechanical Engineering program and all engineering disciplines across the university, and continuously enhance talent training quality to make new and greater contributions to serving national strategies and the high-quality development of the regional economy and society.

It is learned that the Mechanical Engineering program first passed the national engineering education accreditation in 2020, and this marks its second round of on-site accreditation inspection.

Heads of relevant university functional departments, members of the leadership team of the School of Mechanical Engineering, program directors of Mechanical Engineering and faculty representatives attended the above events.

(Undergraduate School)