Lab Education

1. National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center of Civil Engineering

In 2008, the center for experimental teaching was approved to be upgraded as the national experimental teaching demonstration center, and it passed the acceptance by the Ministry of Education in 2012. The center includes ten basic teaching and professional teaching laboratories of structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, railway engineering, highway engineering, building materials, fluid mechanics, engineering drawing, bridge engineering, underground engineering, etc. The laboratories cover an area of 9650 m², and the total number of equipment sets/suits is 3270, including 17 kinds of self-made equipment, and the total asset of equipment is 68.01 million yuan. The center is responsible for the experimental teaching of more than 5,000 undergraduates, postgraduates and students of continuing education in 10 majors, 11 experimental courses in the whole university, with the experimental teaching workload reaching 207,000 person hours/year.

Since its establishment, under the guidance of the strategic policy of building an "innovative" country, the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center of Civil Engineering adheres to the principle of "stimulating interests, consolidating foundation, strengthening practice, guiding innovation, and highlighting ability", and has constructed a multi-level and modular experimental teaching system which adapts to the needs of training students with a variety of specialties. And the teaching system is characteristic of transportation civil engineering, with focus on the cultivation of the engineering practice ability and innovation consciousness of students. The center has provided support for SRTP (Student Research Training Program) and "National Undergraduate Training Program for Innovation and Entrepreneurship", and organized a series of experiment competitions with the "Structural Design Competition" as the most popular. With the support of the center, the students won more than 20 prizes in national university students' competitions, and the undergraduates published more than 70 papers.

Competitions

National Innovation Experiment Project of University Students Grand Prize of the Third National Concrete Material Design Competition of University Students

Since its establishment, the experimental teaching center has carried out exchanges and cooperation with well-known universities at home and abroad to learn advanced experimental technology and educational philosophy. The center has received more than 100 students from more than 10 countries, including Vietnam, Ethiopia, France, Russia, Pakistan, etc., and more than 20 visits from universities abroad, such as Nagoya University of Japan, Ecole Centrale de Lyon of France, University of Transport and Communications of Vietnam, etc. The center has also received visits and exchanges of teachers from dozens of domestic colleges and universities. In 2012, a number of seminars were held, such as a seminar on the norms for training excellent engineers. More than 30 colleges and universities in Sichuan province participated in the seminars, which promoted the development of civil engineering as a discipline in colleges and universities in the province.

2. SWJTU-China-Railway-Eryuan Experimental Demonstration Center for International Students

The construction of SWJTU-China-Railway-Eryuan Experimental Demonstration Center for International Students was formally approved in June 2012 and it is officially launched in the first half of 2013.

TheSWJTU-China-Railway-Eryuan Experimental Demonstration Center for International Studentsaims to fully integrate the high-quality educational resources of enterprises and universities, strengthens the practical teaching of engineering survey and design, further explores the new mechanism of joint training of universities and enterprises for survey and design talents, and improves the practical competence, professional competence, competence for employment and entrepreneurship, professional ethics, and creative spirits of students to use their knowledge to solve the practical problems of railway survey and design.

The achievements by the center are as follows.

(1) A formal agreement was signed between SWJTU and CREEGC to build the engineering practice education center, a permanent management organization of the engineering practice center was established, and the normal operation and management measures and relevant regulations of the center were formulated.

(2) A remote video classroom was built in CREEGC and SWJTU respectively, which can provide engineering training for the students of SWJTU by using the complete training plans and video training courses within CREEGC.

(3) The first student internship program of the center was officially launched in July 2013. The first 138 students officially entered the center for one month's production training following the "Excellence Training Plan", which produced notable results.

(4) A "full-time and part-time" teacher cohort composed of enterprise tutors and school teachers was established, the dual tutor system was implemented, and the workflow management and training mode of "plan formulation—application submitted by colleges and universities—application's acceptance by the center—agreement signed by universities and enterprises—internship organization and implementation—mid-term inspection feedback—final assessment evaluation—summary and improvement" were initially formed, which laid a solid foundation for further standardizing management, expanding scale and improving training results.

3. National Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center of Civil Engineering

The virtual simulation experimental teaching center of civil engineering was officially established in 2012 and passed acceptance in January 2016. The center now has 10 teaching laboratories with the total area of 3,200 m²and the value of fixed assets is 23.5 million yuan. Based on the national experimental teaching demonstration center, the national engineering practice education center, the national engineering laboratory and other teaching and scientific research platforms, and in accordance with the requirements of training civil engineering talents, the center makes full use of the advantages of civil engineering as a national characteristic discipline to provide 33 experimental courses for eight majors in the whole university. And a virtual simulation experiment teaching system of civil engineering with "one platform, four levels and six modules" is constructed in the consideration that civil engineering practice teaching can be challenging to ensure safety, having long time duration, resource-consuming, and highly complicated. 30 virtual simulation experimental teaching systems with the characteristics of transportation civil engineering were established, and 229 multi-level and all-round experimental projects are open to students, with an annual number of experimental person hours of 60,000. In September 2018, the center gained funding for two virtual simulation projects. The "virtual simulation experiment on static load damage of reinforced concrete's simply supported beam" and “non-destructive virtual simulation experiment on static load of simply supported steel truss” were publicized as provincial demonstrative virtual simulation projects, and were determined as the recommended national projects.

The Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching System of Civil Engineering

After years of construction, the virtual simulation experimental teaching center of civil engineering gradually formed distinct characteristics.

Characteristic 1: Aiming at the national strategy of high-speed railway and the multi-objective and multi-level civil engineering talents' training plan, the construction has been carried out in all eight professional directions of civil engineering, and a virtual simulation experimental teaching system covering six professional modules of "construction engineering, geotechnical engineering, railway, highway, bridge and underground" and a basic course module has been formed.

Characteristic 2: Based on the national engineering laboratory and provincial and ministerial key scientific research laboratory platforms, and with the transformation of rich leading scientific research achievements, 30 modules of virtual simulation experimental teaching systems throughout the teaching of civil engineering from planning, design, construction, management and maintenance to disaster prevention have been built.

Characteristic 3: Led by the national outstanding teacher who has 33 years of research on the theory and technology of railway route selection in virtual environment, and based on the resources of teachers who have been engaged in the research of civil engineering theory and information technology for a long time in each module, a well-established teaching team of 61 persons for virtual simulation experimental teaching has been formed.

Through the combination of in-class experiments, professional internship and extracurricular innovation activities, and with the supplement of physical model experiments, virtual simulation experimental teaching activities of "two main lines, three classrooms and five stages" have been carried out, which has improved the training quality of civil engineering talents. In recent years, undergraduates majoring in civil engineering have won two grand prizes and two first prizes in the National University Students' Structural Design Competition, and one overall champion, one grand prize and six first prizes in other national discipline competitions; the first-time employment rate of undergraduates majoring in civil engineering has reached more than 95% for many consecutive years.