Recently, the Center for Practice Innovations of HUST has leveraged its nationally leading smart manufacturing platform to actively welcome overseas teams for research and visits. Based on international standards and advanced concepts, the Center has been conducting international engineering practice teaching, committed to nurturing international students' engineering practice skills, attracting high-quality international students, and continuously propelling the international cooperation in higher engineering education.

On June 5, Prof. Philippe H. Geubelle, Executive Dean of the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and his delegation visited the Center for Practice Innovations. Prof. Philippe expressed great admiration for the advanced smart production lines and equipment at the Center, and was deeply impressed by its practice teaching platform. He inquired about the scheduling of practice courses and expressed his hope to strengthen cooperation and exchange in the future, attracting more international students to participate in summer training programs at the Center.

On June 20, Prof. Tang Kai, Head of the Department of Smart Manufacturing at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, led a delegation of four to the Center for research and visit. They visited various practice workshops in the Center and learned about the Center’s efforts in student training, as well as engineering training and teaching.

On June 26, international students participating in the “Chinese Language + AI Robot Summer School” from various universities such as the University of Birmingham (UK), École Nationale Supérieure de l'Électronique et de ses Applications (ENSEA, France), RWTH Aachen University (Germany), National University of Singapore, Queen Mary University of London (UK), and University of California, San Diego (USA) came to visit the Center for Practice Innovations. The 80 international students were divided into two groups and visited the smart manufacturing workshop, smart casting workshop, smart forging workshop, machining center workshop, virtual simulation workshop for material hot forming, smart welding workshop, and smart manufacturing virtual production line workshop in turn along different routes. In order to provide international students with a deep experience of the various practice workshops, the Center activated its smart production lines and equipment for them to observe and experience. The Smart Forging Lab provided opportunities for them to operate the production lines themselves. The students looked forward to further participation in hands-on training courses in the future.

On June 27, 12 international students from the “Chinese Language + AI Robot Summer School” attended a practical course on robot assembly and adjustment. The course was divided into two parts: theory and practice. Through theoretical knowledge learning and hands-on operation, students gained a comprehensive understanding of the structure and working principles of robots. During the practical session, the 12 international students demonstrated a high level of enthusiasm and excellent hands-on skills, completing the robot assembly and adjustment tasks efficiently and accurately.

On July 1, 30 students from the “Discovering and Understanding China: Cross-Straits Cultural Exchange Summer Camp with Hong Kong and Macao University Students” project organized by HUST’s School of Economics came to the Center for Practice Innovations for a tour and experience. They visited the robot assembly and application platform and experienced the smart manufacturing production line. Through the process of independent product design, ordering, line production, cleaning, inspection, labeling, assembly, and other steps, each student received a product of their own design. This experience allowed the students to fully appreciate how smart manufacturing production lines enhance product quality, improve production efficiency, and reduce production costs.

On July 4, seven international students from the “Chinese Language + AI Robot Summer School” participated in the comprehensive robot application training at the Center. During this hands-on training course, they learned through both theoretical studies and practical operations how to program robots online to accomplish specific tasks.

On July 5, Dr. Norbert Gaus, Executive Vice President of Siemens AG, Dr. Zhu Xiaoxun, Executive Vice President of Siemens Ltd. China, as well as experts and researchers from Siemens China Research Institute, visited the Center, accompanied by Gao Liang, Vice President of HUST.

HUST passed the Higher Education Accreditation for International Students in China at the highest level in 2023. As one of the inspection sites of the university, the Center for Practice Innovations was highly recognized by accreditation experts. The Center will continue to be more high-spirited, unite minds, ignite passion, and be dedicated to improving the platform construction of the Center, enriching its practical education resources, and actively preparing more high-level international practical education projects.

Written and Edited by: Chang Wen, Peng Yumeng