Introduction to the College of Engineering at Zhejiang Normal University

Formerly known as the College of Transportation established in 2004, the history of the college can be traced back to Jinhua Railway Driver School established in 1958 and Zhejiang Normal University Vocational and Technical Education College established in 1995. In 2004, Jinhua Railway Driver School was merged into Zhejiang Normal University;  In March 2010, the College of Transportation was renamed as the College of Engineering;In April 2012, the College of Engineering and the College of Vocational and Technical Education merged to establish the College of Engineering and the College of Vocational and Technical Education;  In October 2018, the College of Engineering and the College of Vocational and Technical Education were separated and renamed as the College of Engineering; From then on, the development of the college entered a new stage.

Strong teaching staff and reasonable talent pool.  There are currently 167 faculty members, including 125 full-time teachers, 8 doctoral supervisors, 79 master's supervisors, 23 professors, 43 associate professors, 100 doctoral supervisors, 6 foreign teachers, 4 national high-end foreign experts, 1 recipient of the Provincial Outstanding Youth Fund, 3 innovative leaders in provincial universities, and 5 young and middle-aged discipline leaders in provincial universities.

High level of education and complete talent cultivation system.  There are currently interdisciplinary doctoral programs in intelligent manufacturing engineering, three academic master's degree programs in mechanical engineering, intelligent transportation technology, and vocational and technical education, as well as three professional master's degree programs in mechanical engineering, transportation, and vocational and technical education (direction: processing manufacturing, information technology, transportation), and three undergraduate majors in intelligent manufacturing engineering, transportation, and robotics engineering, forming a talent training system that integrates undergraduate, master's, and doctoral programs.  Among them, Intelligent Manufacturing Engineering (formerly known as Mechanical Design, Manufacturing and Automation) is a national first-class major, and Transportation is a characteristic major and first-class major in Zhejiang Province.  There are currently 1212 full-time undergraduate students, 540 regular master's and professional degree students, and 34 international students.

Excellent teaching and experimental conditions, complete facilities.  It has national level platforms such as the National Development and Reform Commission's Rail Transit, Intelligent Manufacturing Industry Education Integration Training Base, the Ministry of Education's National Key Construction Vocational Teacher Training Base, the Ministry of Railways' Railway Locomotive Driver Training Base, and the Modern Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center jointly built by the central and local special laboratories. It has been approved as one of the first provincial practice platforms in Zhejiang Province to support modern industry colleges, Zhejiang Province's university experimental teaching demonstration centers, Zhejiang Province's engineering practice education base, and Zhejiang Province's university students' off campus practice base. The Zhejiang Rail Transit Industry Education Integration Alliance, jointly initiated with Zhejiang Rail Transit Operation Management Group, has been included in the Five Batches project of Zhejiang Province's industry education integration.  The college has jointly established laboratories and product research and development centers with well-known enterprises and institutions such as Siemens AG, Zhejiang Wanliyang Transmission Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Jiaotou Expressway Operation Management Co., Ltd., and Jinhua Transportation Investment Group Co., Ltd. It has also cooperated with more than 60 well-known enterprises to establish college student internship practice bases, and multiple enterprises have set up various outstanding student scholarships in the college.   

The disciplinary platform is solid, and there are fruitful achievements in academic research and teaching research.  We have provincial-level research platforms such as the Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Intelligent Operation and Maintenance Technology and Equipment for Urban Rail Transit and the Zhejiang 2011 Collaborative Innovation Center for Urban Rail Transit Operation Safety Technology and Equipment. We have also established eight school level research institutions, including the Modern Vocational Education Research Institute, Precision Machinery and Intelligent Structure Research Institute, Ultra Precision Machining Technology Research Center, Intelligent Manufacturing and Industrial Robot Research Center, Road and Transportation Engineering Research Center, Rail Transit Research Center, Equipment Condition Monitoring and Intelligent Maintenance Technology Research Institute, and Composite Material Design and Intelligent Forming Technology Research Center.  Accurately aligning with regional economic and social development, we have established cooperation service platforms such as Jinhua Intelligent Manufacturing Research Institute and Jinhua Machine Replacement Service Center, and established long-term stable cooperative relationships with more than 100 enterprises.  In the past five years, the teachers of the college have undertaken two new engineering research and practice projects of the Ministry of Education, two typical cases selected for the School Enterprise Cooperation Double Hundred Plan at the China Higher Education Expo, more than 30 national and provincial education reform projects approved, five provincial-level first-class courses, more than 10 national and provincial-level planned textbooks, and won five provincial and ministerial level university teaching achievement awards.  Hosted over 40 national level scientific research projects, more than 80 provincial and ministerial level projects, undertaken over 450 cross disciplinary projects related to school enterprise cooperation, and received nearly 150 million yuan in research funding.  Published over 1000 academic papers, retrieved over 350 SCI papers, authorized over 300 invention patents, and converted 56 patent achievements.  Received 1 first prize of China Machinery Industry Science and Technology Award, 1 second prize of China Railway Corporation Science and Technology Award, 1 second prize of China Transport Association Science and Technology Progress Award, and 1 third prize of Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Award.  According to the Basic Disciplines Database (ESI), engineering ranks in the top 1% of global research institutions.

International exchanges and cooperation are extensive, and a regional pattern of international cooperation has initially taken shape.  The college adheres to the development strategy of specialization, internationalization, and regionalization, focuses on the forefront of development, adheres to the four in one of platform, talent, project, and mechanism, strengthens the construction of international talent science and technology innovation high-end platforms, and has been approved as a provincial-level platform such as Fluid and Heat Transfer Technology Zhejiang International Science and Technology Cooperation Base and Zhejiang Foreign Expert Workstation (Intelligent Manufacturing). It continues to introduce foreign high-end talent teams that can break through key core technologies, drive the development of emerging disciplines and industries, cultivate more innovative talents, and produce more fruitful scientific and technological achievements.  At present, the college has established long-term and deep technological cooperation with foreign research institutions such as the United States, Japan, Belarus, Ukraine, etc. in the fields of intelligent manufacturing, and has jointly carried out a series of research work in the areas of intelligent manufacturing technology, heat transfer and power engineering.  At the same time, international majors such as Intelligent Manufacturing Engineering (internationalization) and Transportation (internationalization) have been established, and the scale of international students has gradually expanded, taking the international teaching work of the college to a new level.

Cultivating distinctive features, the college has achieved remarkable results in educating students.  We will vigorously implement pilot programs for cultivating new engineering talents around the integration of industry and education, as well as the integration of science and education. With innovation studios and doctoral studios as the starting points, we will vigorously promote the construction of four-year integrated mentorship and focus on improving students' comprehensive quality and innovation ability.  In the past five years, our students have won three national gold prizes in China's Internet plus Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. They have made good achievements in national competitions such as the Challenge Cup National Undergraduate Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Works Competition, the National Undergraduate Mechanical Design Competition, the China University Intelligent Robot Creativity Competition, and the National Undergraduate Transport Science and Technology Competition. They have won more than 170 national awards and more than 600 provincial awards. The college's undergraduate and graduate enrollment rate is more than 42%, the graduate enrollment rate is more than 10%, and the initial employment rate of graduates is more than 95%. In total, they have received more than 100,000 social training and trained various talents.