DGUT-CNAM Institute sheds light on Sino-foreign collaborative education
Dongguan University of Technology, or DGUT, located in South China’s Guangdong province, is undergoing significant development through collaborations with French educational institutes and a series of teaching reform projects.
Established in 2017 through collaboration between DGUT and the Paris-based Conservatoire national des arts et metiers, or CNAM, the DGUT-CNAM Institute is a secondary college for international education at DGUT. In 2023, it successfully passed an evaluation by the Ministry of Education and gained the qualification to provide Sino-foreign collaborative education. The institute offers three majors: software engineering, telecommunications engineering as well as mechanical design, manufacturing and automation.
By implementing a localized engineering education reform and leveraging DGUT’s mature engineering education model and nationally recognized advantages, the institute is fostering engineering and technical talent crucial for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Integrating advanced education concepts, talent cultivation models, curriculum systems, and teaching methods, DGUT-CNAM Institute ensures the assurance of high-quality faculty. Gradually, it has formed a new model with its own features and common international features for engineering education.
The social recognition of its education quality is reflected in admissions. In 2023, the college witnessed a further improvement in the quality of admissions. The highest ranking among its newly admitted students within Guangdong province was 68,793th. The lowest ranking was 92,392th, showing an elevation of 4,614 places compared to 2022. The major of mechanical design, manufacturing and automation has surpassed the same major not included in the Sino-foreign cooperative education programmes in terms of teaching quality, making it one of the colleges with the most rapid improvement in student quality at DGUT.
The employment rate of its graduates also remains high, and the graduates’ employment destinations are satisfactory. Since the first graduates in 2021, the first-time employment rate has been kept above 94 percent each year. Graduates are widely employed in industry-leading companies such as Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba, SGD Pharma, Hager and Dextra.
There is a strong atmosphere for students to pursue higher education. The proportion of graduates enrolled in postgraduate studies in the same year has exceeded 40 percent each year. Some graduates received the chance to study at prestigious universities both domestically and internationally, such as Sun Yat-sen University, South China University of Technology, The University of Sydney, The University of New South Wales, University of Birmingham, The University of Sheffield and the CNAM Institute.
The institute emphasizes developing students’ engineering capabilities through the integrated model of teaching, research and innovative practices. It has organized 60 teams to participate in scientific competitions and projects.
In 2022, students from the institute won the silver medal in the China
College Students’ “Internet Plus” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. In 2023, the institute students secured the top award at the 12th China Marine Vehicle Design and Construction Contest. Students have also earned first prize in the RoboMaster robotics competition and the Mathematical Contest in Modeling and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling multiple times.
In September 2023, 82 junior students went to CNAM in France for exchange programs. The teaching teams from China and France jointly created 15 professional courses taught by 12 experienced French teachers. During the 130 days, students not only studied authentic engineering courses, but also experienced French culture firsthand.
In November 2023, Dongguan University of Technology and CNAM signed a six-year SinoFrench Engineering College framework agreement on top of their existing cooperation, with plans to further upgrade the joint education to the master’s level. With support from the international department of the Ministry of Education, governmental units, and sister colleges, the DGUT-CNAM Institute is striving to build a new model and brand of Sino-foreign cooperative education with local characteristics.