Editor’s Note: On March 4, 2023, as one of the global events of UNESCO World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development, Engineering and Engineering Education — Monographs of Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) Member ZHU Gaofeng and ICEE Book Series Publication Symposium took place at Tsinghua University. The symposium focused on the theme of the new book series of Engineering and Engineering Education by CAE member ZHU Gaofeng, SUN Yongfu, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) member GU Binglin, Prof. YU Shouwen, and ICEE.  WANG Shuguo, a member of ICEE Governing Board and President of Xi’an Jiaotong University, delivered a speech. The following are the key points of his speech.

I was greatly touched by the predecessors’ years of devotion to engineering education. As a person with an engineering background, I have deep feelings about engineering problems. What particularly moves me is the deep attention and research of the predecessors present today on engineering education.  I have read Prof. Zhu Gaofeng's book many times, and the viewpoints of more than a decade or even several years ago still have guiding significance for today's engineering education.

Prof. GU Binglin, former President of Tsinghua University, has accurately pointed out some problems existing in China’s engineering education, and I strongly agree with him. In this era of rapid development, we will suffer great losses if we do not value engineering education. The stranglehold problems are mostly about engineering and don't underestimate engineering issues. We always think that theoretical research is very important, but it should also be noted that its ultimate goal is to tackle complicated engineering problems in socio-economic production.  This is our re-cognition and re-shaping of theoretical knowledge, and even in the process of practice, we condensed and discovered new theoretical problems, which is a natural law of science.

Engineering is a branch of learning, but unfortunately, it has not yet formed a system. Both Prof. ZHU Gaofeng and Prof. GU Binglin talked about this issue a moment ago. Prof. SUN Yongfu further proposed the cultivation of comprehensive qualities in international people-to-people exchanges. All this poses new problems about our education.

I am very glad to see the leaders from CAE and the Ministry of Education who are present at this meeting today. I appeal to everyone to join hands and make a solid contribution to socio-economic development and talent cultivation through joint efforts. Taking today’s symposium as an opportunity, let’s draw close attention to engineering education in the circles of industry and education. If we fail to do so, we will suffer great losses, remain dependent on others, and our socio-economic development will be affected. I hope that we can work together to promote the development of engineering education in China and even around the world.

Group photo