Duc Pham, Chance Professor of Engineering, University of Birmingham
It is hard to imagine that it has been almost two years since I attended the inaugural meeting of the administrative committee of the International School of Materials Science and Engineering (ISMSE) at Wuhan University of Technology (WUT). Readers of the column might recall that the school is part of a network of international centres for education (NICE) in China and belongs to the first wave of thirteen NICE demonstrators set up in 2014 (see CMM magazine, Vol 9, No. 3). NICE schools are built within national universities but conform to the best of international education, management and governance systems while also having distinct Chinese characteristics. ISMSE is the only demonstrator school in the field of materials science and engineering.
The vision of ISMSE is summarised by its Honorary Dean as to create “an exceptional learning community of students, domestic and international faculty, staff, alumni and corporate friends who are united by the vision to educate a unique class of professional leaders in materials science and engineering who can push the boundaries of knowledge and technology to serve the needs of the nation and the world.” During a recent visit to WUT, I had the opportunity to review the progress made by the school in the past two years towards realising that vision.
For a young, educational establishment still to produce its first graduates, some elements of the vision, such as alumni and their impact on science, technology and society, clearly cannot be expected to have materialised. However, I was happy to see that the building blocks for them were all in place–outstanding students, first-class teachers, a rich curriculum, modern education methods and strong international connections. Below are some facts and figures presented by colleagues at ISMSE to demonstrate the excellent achievements of the school.
On the admissions front, ISMSE has attracted some of the very best students to its programme. In 2016, of the 9,000 students entering WUT, 100 top candidates were selected to join ISMSE based on examinations and interviews that evaluated their knowledge, innovation and research potential, English and communication skills. To ensure the student cohort remains the best, ISMSE operates a 'dynamic in-out’ system that transfers the weakest 10% of the class to the regular Materials Science and Engineering programme at the University and replaces them with high-performing students picked from outside ISMSE.
From the inaugural meeting of the ISMSE Administrative Committee, I understand that the school offers internationally competitive remuneration packages in order to attract and retain the best teaching staff. Indeed, ISMSE has assembled a stellar faculty. Currently, this comprises 38 full-time members and 26 part-time foreign scholars, including six academicians, experts recruited under the National 1000 Talents and National 1000 Young Talents programmes, as well as other distinguished researchers ('Cheung Kong Scholars' and 'Distinguished Young Scholars' of China’s National Science Foundation). As previously reported, the student-staff ratio is held at 6:1, a figure not matched by any establishment I know.
The curriculum and education methods of ISMSE are noteworthy on two counts. First, there is a strong emphasis on interdisciplinarity: the curriculum 'integrates materials science with life science, environmental science, energy science, information science and advanced manufacturing science.' This is very different from the more compartmentalised curricula on traditional programmes. Second, ISMSE adopts a project-based approach to learning and teaching that is research-led and student-centred. The project-based approach diverges from the traditional lecture-based rote learning style, promoting independent learning and the development of enquiring minds. The school has established 17 project-based learning teams involving academic and industrial supervisors and has plans to increase the number of teams to 20-30 as the student population grows.
Another strong feature of ISMSE is its truly international outlook. For example, all the 17 project-based learning teams have foreign experts as mentors. The school has collaborative research and education projects with leading institutions around the world. ISMSE students are exposed to cutting-edge knowledge through visits to those institutions and attendance at the school’s distinguished scholar forum where speakers are internationally renowned researchers such as the Nobel laureate Professor Jean-Marie Lehn. In addition, the students also run their own forum aimed at developing their international perspective and enhancing their academic achievements.
On the eve of the second meeting of the ISMSE Administrative Committee, it was pleasing to note that the school has made great progress towards realising its vision. Despite having been created just a couple of years ago, it has shown every sign of rapidly becoming an exceptional educational establishment in its field. Thus, in the foreseeable future, once the school has produced graduates who have had the opportunity to prove themselves in the world of work, I have every confidence one will be able to say that ISMSE is materially supra excellent!
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/engineering/mechanical-engineering/index.aspx