3D printing your favorite figurines, laser engraving your own photos, fabricating a chess piece of your own... On March 15th, the large-scale general education optional course "Engineering Experience" was opened to all undergraduates; making these interesting engineering practices no longer "exclusive to" engineering students.

The Center for Practice Innovation, where the course is taught on a rotating basis from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m, provides 40 experience projects such as "3D Scanning and 3D Printing", " DIY Intelligent Robots", and "Adventures of Intelligent Vehicles". Students who choose the course can select projects of their preference and needs, completing projects under the guidance of professors, experienced engineers, and technicians.

In its first week, the course has attracted more than 600 students, covering all schools within HUST.

"As a liberal arts student, I have gained a deeper understanding of engineering practice by producing something with my own hands." Wang, from the School of Humanities, said excitedly – while proudly displaying a self-printed model of Doraemon. Li, from the School of Philosophy, was full of expectations for the opportunity for engineering practice: "Getting close to the production line of intelligent manufacturing gives liberal arts students the opportunity to understand the world of science and engineering. It’s very interesting!"

Professor Huo Xiao of the Center for Practice Innovation detailed that after two phases of construction, the education space of this center had reached 15,500 square meters. Facilities now include 22 practice workshops and more than 3000 sets of equipment, worth nearly 100 million RMB. The opening of this optional course gave full play to the intelligent manufacturing practice platform, and a full coverage of engineering practice courses for undergraduates was achieved.

This course is initially based on engineering practice innovation, and a number of typical engineering practice projects were selected and repurposed into independent teaching units. It aims to help students understand basic engineering knowledge, comprehend scientific methods, approaches to and the application of a humanistic spirit in the process of engineering practice. It is hoped that students will be guided towards a broad vision of scientific research from an interdisciplinary perspective, all while promoting the development of interdisciplinary research.

Written by: Aoyi Zhang

Edited by: Ma Shengyuan, Scott, Peng Yumeng