Factors Influencing the Professional Development of Engineering Students Under the “Plan for Educating and Training Outstanding Engineers” (PETOE)

Oct 15, 2026

Investigates how the engineering education environment formed under the “Plan for Educating and Training Outstanding Engineers” (PETOE) shapes engineering students’ professional capability development through students’ lived experience. Uses data from the National Engineering Student Survey and multiple regression to assess effects of institutional resources and support, teaching reforms, and interpersonal interaction. Finds practical on-campus opportunities, teacher content, teaching methods, coursework assessment, and interaction improve engineering competencies; research-based teaching shows limited contribution, while internships and international exchange environments relate negatively.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages25

Reading Time1 h 3 min

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Abstract

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Introduction

Factors Inﬂuencing the Professional Development of Engineering Students Under the“Plan for Educating and Training Outstanding Engineers” Xuting Tang (唐旭亭) and Hui Guo (郭卉) Huazhong University of Science and Technology ECNU Review of Education 2024, Vol. 7(3) 784–808 © The Author(s) 2023 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/20965311231206835](DOI: 10.1177/20965311231206835)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/20965311231206835)[journals.sagepub.com/home/roe](journals.sagepub.com/home/roe) Abstract Purpose: This study investigates the role of the engineering education environment created by the implementation of the “Plan for Educating and Training Outstanding Engineers”(PETOE) on the professional capability development of engineering students from the perspective of students’ experience. Design/Approach/Methods: This study uses data from the National Engineering Student Survey and multiple regression analysis to explore the role of institutional resources and support, teaching reforms, and interpersonal interaction on the professional development of engineering students. Findings: The opportunities for on-campus practical activities provided by the institution, content of the teachers’ teaching, teaching methods, comprehensive coursework assessment, and interpersonal interactions contributed to the development of students’ engineering competencies, with limited contributions from research-basedteaching methods. Internship opportunities and international exchange environments were negatively associated with the development of engineering skills in an “unexpected” manner. Originality/Value: Focusing on students’ experiences of engineering education reform, this study comprehensively evaluatesthe implementation ofthereform measures adopted under PETOE. Furthermore, it assesses how corresponding changes in the general educational environment relate to students’ Corresponding author: Hui Guo, School of Education, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 1037 Luoyu Road, Hongshan District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. Email: [guohui@hust.edu.cn](guohui@hust.edu.cn) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as speciﬁed on the SAGE and Open Access page ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). professional capability development. Thus, this study addresses an important research gap in educational reform—the lack of domestic empirical studies in China. Keywords Engineering capability development, engineering education environment, “Plan for Educating and Training Outstanding Engineers” (PETOE) Date received: 4 July 2022; revised: 2 February 2023, 21 March 2023; accepted: 5 April 2023 Introduction A new round of technological revolution and employers’ changing demands require engineering education to shift away from its pursuit of purely academic achievements and toward the provision of practical education committed to responding to and resolving emerging social problems (D. Zhong, 2017) . Educational goals proposed at the end of the 20th century—such as “returning to engineering practice,”“realizing the shift in the engineering education paradigm,” and “reengineering engineering education”—echoed an increasingly international trend of innovative engineering education. The scale of China’s higher engineering education accounts for about one-third of the total scale of higher education and ranks ﬁrst in the world in terms of cultivation scale, but the problems of weak practical teaching and

FAQs

What is the study’s main purpose?

To examine how the PETOE-created engineering education environment influences engineering students’ professional capability development from the perspective of students’ experience.

Which research methods and data are used?

The study uses data from the National Engineering Student Survey and multiple regression analysis to evaluate the roles of resources/support, teaching reforms, and interpersonal interaction.

What factors are found to contribute most to students’ engineering competencies?

Institution-provided opportunities for practical on-campus activities, teacher teaching content, teaching methods, comprehensive coursework assessment, and interpersonal interactions all contribute positively.

Oct 15, 2026

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