Educational Discipline
The Educational Discipline of BIT was founded in 1980s, which set up higher education master degree program in 1998 and became the key discipline of BIT “985 project”. The Educational Discipline of BIT acquired Education subject of first-grade master degree conferring rights in 2006 and Education subject of first-grade doctorate degree conferring rights in 2011. Meanwhile, two professional education master degree programs, Education Management and Mental Health Education were added. In 2010, the Institute of Education (IOE) of BIT was founded on the basis of Educational Discipline of BIT. Now IOE has 44 full-time teaching and research staffs (including 20 professors, 13 associate professors and 11 assistant professors), 76 percent of whom have doctor degree and 45 percent have abroad-studying experiences. IOE maintains close communication and cooperation with many famous universities such as University of Michigan and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and has hosted a number of high-level domestic and international academic conferences.
In the recent three years, IOE has made great achievements in obtaining National major research projects, including 1 project of National Social Science Foundation (“The Research of Cultivating Mode for Students’ Intellectual Innovative Capacity in Universities of Science and Engineering”), 3 projects of National Natural Science Foundation (such as “Public Policy Research of Public Goods Provided for Floating Population”), 2 major projects of National Science and Technology, and more than 90 projects from Ministry of Science, Ministry of Education, Doctor Programs Fund and Beijing Municipal Education Planning Fund as well. The overall research funding amounts to more than 19 million, per capita over 440 thousand. Nearly 400 Chinese and English papers (including over 200 CSSCI retrieve papers and over 50 Ei retrieve papers) and over 20 monographs and translations have been published.
IOE has four research directions: Education Policy and Law, Higher Education, Economics and Administration of Education and Education Technology. Four main features and advantages of Educational Discipline of BIT are as follow:
Build up high-level research and requirement platform of educational policy.
IOE has paid close attention to education fairness, educational system transition for a long time, and taken part in the design of the Outline of National Educational Plan and system of College Entrance Examine. The institute has exerted a wide social impact in the research field of higher education access opportunity, educational resource allocation in rural areas, education of migrant children, etc. The related achievement we made has become very important consultant suggestion for the Ministry of Education and other decision-making departments of the government
Build up quality education research and practice platform aimed at topnotch innovative personnel in science and engineering
Based on promoting the construction of stereo comprehensive quality education system in universities of science and engineering, IOE has carried out the research of cultural quality and general education of the university from theoretical and practical prospective, which started relatively earlier comparing to that in other universities. The institute took a lead in launching the research of cultivating students’ intellectual innovative capacity in universities of science and engineering, and undertaking the research of personality and vocational psychology, which is targeted at military group of the Defense System as well as students in universities of science and engineering.
Establish policy research platform for the development of national defense, industry and universities. Targeting the major national strategic needs and the requirements of industrialization, informationization and defense modernization, IOE has made theoretical and practical researches on the following issues: promoting combination of production and research in colleges and universities, science and technology system reforms, resources allocation, universities and regional industry development, degree and postgraduate education. Some academic theories and policy recommendations have been adopted.
Establish modern distance education platform for the service of national defense. IOE has always been committing to distance education for national defense, media communications and research on intelligent educational technology. The institute has built a domestic first-class intelligent hardware and software technical support platform and established a base not only for distance and vocational education research but also for practice innovation. Its distance education and resources have covered all most all the national military regions and borders, which form a distance education system with the characteristics of national defense, engineering, online education and vocational education.
In addition, IOE has five research centers and a service agency, namely Research Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education, Research Center of Higher Engineering Education, Research Center of National Defense Science & Technology Innovation and Strategy for educational development, Center of promoting teaching and faculty development, Research Center of Disciplinary History, Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Service. We also have journal Academic Degrees & Graduate Education and Journal of Beijing Institute of Technology (social science edition) both included in national core journals in China and Chinese Social Science Citation Index (CSSCI), and have Beijing Institute of Technology (science and technology edition), one of EI source journals as well. Based on these academic research centers and Journal articles, IOE has been engaging in providing decision-making consultation to government sectors, such as Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Education and Beijing Municipal Government and has an important impact on social and academic flied, especially in the fields of higher engineering education, national defense science and technology education and university teachers’ development.
In the last thirty years, IOE has brought out a number of outstanding master graduates of both political integrity and professional competence. In the coming future, we are committed to provide premium teaching and learning environment for our teachers and students, to establish a high standard platform for academic research as well as international cooperation and exchange, to foster outstanding and innovative education administration and research professionals with solid theoretical training as well as pragmatic working spirit for governments, schools and society. Based on national major science and education development strategies, we will work on making development programs for high level science and technology talents, seeking models that effectively combine science with education; meanwhile, we will try to develop education theories and methodologies suited for the realities of China, promoting the development of engineering education based on the military-civilian combination and the integration of military, manufacturing, learning, research and application, and strengthening international academic exchange so as to make contributions to the scientific development of China’s higher education and to give impetus to China’s modernization as well as the construction of a “Harmonious Society”.
