Against the backdrop of new-quality productivity driving rapid iteration in emerging industries, the interdisciplinary integration and swift technological advancement characteristic of new engineering fields have set higher standards for undergraduate students’ learning capabilities and career awareness. This paper systematically reviews relevant research findings, focusing on the current status of core learning competencies and career cognition among undergraduate students in new engineering disciplines. The paper conducts an in-depth analysis of structural issues in talent development and clarifies the intrinsic bidirectional relationship between these two aspects. The study reveals that students commonly face rigid learning patterns, deficiencies in higher-order skills, fragmented career understanding, and weak alignment in career planning—factors that mutually constrain each other and result in suboptimal talent development outcomes. To address these challenges, this paper proposes improvement measures from three dimensions: competency cultivation, cognitive development, and industry-education collaboration, offering insights for reforming undergraduate education in new engineering fields and enhancing the alignment between talent development and industrial needs.