(I) Program overview

Formerly known as Mechanical Engineering and Automation (Urban Rail Transit Vehicle Engineering), this program was set up in 2005 and is managed by the Department of Vehicle Engineering. It was changed to the current name, Vehicle Engineering (Rail Transit Vehicle), in 2012 in response to the revision of the Undergraduate Program Catalogue by the Ministry of Education.

Thanks to a decade of unremitting efforts, numerous achievements have been achieved in discipline development, winning high recognition from the industry and similar universities. High-quality discipline development achievements include: In 2010, it was approved as a project under the “Undergraduate Education Heights” (Phase IV) of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. In the same year, it was approved as one of the first batch of pilot programs under the “Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program” by the Ministry of Education. In 2012, it joined hands with Shanghai Shentong Metro to apply for, and was approved as, the National Engineering Practice Education Center for Urban Rail Transit Vehicle Engineering, which has opened up a new approach to out-of-school practice.

(II) Program positioning and talent training goals

This program aims to prepare talents to meet the development needs of the modern rail transit industry. It adopts a school-industry collaborative training model, i.e., “collaborative education, collaborative training, and collaborative innovation” to achieve “industry-academic cooperation, work-study rotation, and discipline/program chain matching industry chain”. In development of talent training goals, it also follows the school’s operation philosophy of “Niche Competition -- Every School Has A Place Where They Can Excel”.

(1) Program positioning and service orientation

This program is designed for the backend of the urban rail transit industry chain — urban rail transit vehicle operation and maintenance industry. It keeps an eye on industry development planning and local economic development needs, by cooperating with Shanghai Shentong Metro, to ensure satisfaction of industry needs and complement with other colleges and universities in providing highly creative and innovative advanced engineering talents for China’s urban rail transit vehicle engineering industry.

(2) Talent training goals

This program aims to develop advanced engineering talents with good personal traits, professional qualities and professional ethics; strong interpersonal and team-work skills; solid basic theoretical knowledge of natural science, good command of professional knowledge on urban rail transit vehicles such as vehicle structure, traction, braking, network, and fault diagnosis, as well as basic knowledge of engineering management; integrated thinking, engineering reasoning, problem solving, and managerial/organizational skills; competence in urban rail transit vehicle operation and maintenance, fault diagnosis, and technical management, up to various aspects of work in the entire rail transit field; and ability to meet the technical capability requirements for urban rail transit vehicle engineers.