A successful joint venture for international engineering education

Abstract

This paper describes a successful partnership in engineering education between two top universities in China and the US, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and University of Michigan (UM). From 2000, the partnership has evolved from a pilot program in the School of Mechanical Engineering in SJTU to a joint institute (college) within the same university that is called UM-SJTU Joint Institute (JI). The JI has a separate Mechanical Engineering program and an Electrical and Computer Engineering program offering Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. degrees. Officially approved by the Ministry of Education of China in February 2006, the JI has grown from an unknown college that had difficulty recruiting sufficient undergraduate students to one that is able to attract top students in China with its reputation as a highly competitive and fully internationalized engineering program. The JI is essentially a US system within a Chinese public university. It has been regarded as the special zone and "experimental field" for China's reform in higher education. It is recognized in China for its autonomous management system, interdisciplinary curricula, internationalized programs, and faculty engagement in teaching and research. By far, a 100% of undergraduate placement for 1,531 graduates has been maintained at the institute. Over 37% of the graduates pursued higher level studies in the top 10 engineering graduate schools in the US. In 2016, both undergraduate programs of the JI acquired ABET accreditation. The goal of JI is to become a highly reputable institution for innovative global engineering education and research activities.