ARTICLE
26 July 2026

Development and Implementation of an Innovative, Application-Oriented Talent Training System for Mechanical Engineering

Jin Du1* ,  Chonghai Xu1 ,  Yuexia Lv1 ,  Mingdong Yi1 ,  Juan Ge1 ,  Ming Song1
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1 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250353, Shandong, China
CEF 2026 , 4(7), 50–59; https://doi.org/10.26689/CEF.v4i7.15977
© 2026 by the Author. Licensee: Bio-Byword Scientific Publishing Pty Ltd, Australia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

The digital and intelligent transformation of manufacturing has placed new demands on mechanical engineering education. Current training practices are facing challenges including insufficient integration of value education with professional education, weak connections among curricular learning, research and innovation activities, and industry-based practice, and limited coordination among universities, research institutes, and enterprises. To address these issues, Qilu University of Technology developed an innovative, application-oriented talent training system based on science-education integration and industry-education collaboration. The proposed system integrates three components: value development embedded in professional education, progressive competency development across three learning settings, and collaborative education involving multiple stakeholders. Its implementation improves students’ engineering practice and technological innovation capabilities, and supports the development of academic programs, curricula, faculty teams, and practical training platforms. The system has also been adopted beyond the original programs, indicating its applicability to mechanical engineering education at other application-oriented universities.

Keywords
Talent training
Mechanical engineering
Innovative and application-oriented talents
Science-education integration
Industry-education collaboration
Funding
Shandong Province Undergraduate Teaching Reform Research Project (Project No.: Z2025232, Z2025236), Jinan Urban University Integration Development Strategic Engineering Project (Project No.: JNSX2025029, JNSX2024041) and Special Research Project on “Educational Digitalization and Industry-Education Collaboration” of the Ministry of Education of China (Project No.: CSDP26LF1G211); Qilu University of Technology “Craftsmanship” Faculty Studio Project (Project No.: GZS202603)
References

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[4] Yuan ZS, Wu SX, Zheng LJ, et al., 2025, Exploration of Teaching Reform in Fundamentals of Mechanical Manufacturing for Emerging Engineering Education. Frontiers of Modern Education, 6(2): 119–122.

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[6] Ding L, Wang HX, Zhou BJ, et al., 2022, Interactive and Collaborative Teaching Model for Mechanical Engineering Programs from the Perspective of Emerging Engineering Education: A Case Study of West Anhui University. Journal of Xichang University (Natural Science Edition), 36(3): 108–113.

[7] He P, Zhang XC, Jiang MF, 2024, Talent Training Model Based on Deep Industry-Education Integration for Mechanical Engineering Programs at Application-Oriented Universities. Heilongjiang Education (Higher Education Research and Evaluation), 5: 54–56.

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