2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Background: Strengthening technological innovation in the field of ecological environment poses higher requirements for the cultivation of ecological environment talents. However, issues such as the disconnection between course content and the actual needs of ecological civilization construction, and the weak integration between practical projects and major ecological and environmental issues still severely constrain the quality of talent cultivation. Major projects serve as vital vehicles for tackling scientific and technological challenges in the field of ecological and environmental protection, embodying unique educational value. However, the academic community has yet to systematically identify the key elements for cultivating talents based on major projects. Against this backdrop, exploring and constructing an engineering talent cultivation model based on major projects, and deeply integrating the scientific research resources, practical scenarios, and problem-solving demands of major projects into the entire talent cultivation process, has become crucial for addressing the existing shortcomings in talent cultivation.

Purpose: Zhejiang University initiated a major on-campus project, the "Ecological Civilization Initiative," in 2019, aiming to advance reforms in the cultivation of high-level ecological environment talents through interdisciplinary convergence in fields such as Environmental Science, Agricultural Resources and Environment, Chemical Engineering, and Computer Science. This study took the project as the research subject and, based on the TOE framework, systematically identified the key elements for cultivating engineering talents based on major projects across three dimensions: technical factors, organizational factors, and environmental factors. Based on the findings, this study constructed a novel cultivation model.

Method: This study adopted a single-case study methodology by conducting semi-structured interviews with researchers and relevant administrators involved in the program, and collecting relevant information from internal channels, official websites, and mainstream media to ensure the authenticity, richness, and completeness of the qualitative data.

Results: First, this study identified key elements of the cultivation model, including educational platform, interdisciplinary course resources, institutionalized research team, organizational structure, research organization model, organizational support system, orientation of serving national strategies, international cooperation and exchange network, and interdisciplinary research atmosphere. Second, Zhejiang University's "Ecological Civilization Initiative" has successfully constructed a distinctive engineering talent cultivation model through organized scientific research. Specifically, Zhejiang University translated "national strategic demands" into cultivation objectives, converted "scientific research resources" into cultivation conditions, and transformed "problem-solving processes" into cultivation stages, ultimately cultivating high-quality innovative talents that meets the needs of national ecological civilization development.

Conclusion: This study has opened the "black box" of the process for cultivating engineering talents based on major projects and can provide references for the cultivation of high-level strategic scientific and technological talents.