Major Overview

Based on theories related to engineering thermophysics, Energy and Power Engineering Major focuses on the field of energy conversion and utilization as well as power systems. It aims to cultivate advanced specialized talents who possess a solid foundation in power engineering and engineering thermophysics, systematically master professional knowledge in efficient energy conversion and clean utilization, power system and its automatic control and operation, have high scientific and humanistic qualities, rich engineering practice experience, a strong sense of social responsibility, self-learning and self-innovation, a broad international perspective, and can lead the future development of industries and enterprises.

Major Profile

1. Key Discipline with Guangdong Provincial Characteristics

2. Included in the National First-class Undergraduate Major Construction Program

3. Ranked approximately 40th in the Best Disciplines in China (Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics) by Shanghai Ranking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (over the past 3 years)

4. The Energy Science and Engineering discipline has entered the lists of Shanghai Ranking's World's Best Disciplines, ranking approximately 100th (over the past 3 years)

Major Development

In 1989 Guangdong University of Technology established the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineering Major;

In 2004, it added the Thermal Energy Engineering specialization.

In 2011, it obtained a master's degree authorization point for the first-level discipline of "Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics."

In 2012, "Thermal Energy Engineering" was recognized as a provincial key discipline with special characteristics and was the only key discipline in the field of energy and power among provincial universities, with the largest number of students enrolled in energy and power-related programs in the province.

In 2020, it was approved as a National First-class Undergraduate Major Construction Site.

Major Orientation

The Energy and Power Engineering Major in Guangdong University of Technology aligns with the national "dual carbon" goals, leveraging the university's construction as a high-level university in Guangdong Province and adhering to the educational philosophy of "growing together with the rise of Guangdong and contributing to its development." Based on the development characteristics of Guangdong's industrial restructuring and upgrading, and focusing on the strategic pillar industrial cluster of intelligent home appliances and the strategic emerging industrial cluster of new energy in Guangdong, the program aims to cultivate innovative and compound talents who are well-suited to the socioeconomic development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and capable of engaging in design and development, technical services, and operational management.

Training Objectives

The Energy and Power Engineering Major closely focuses on the overall requirements of national economic and social development, aiming to cultivate professionals in the field of energy and power engineering who are well-rounded in morality, intelligence, and physical health, possess a solid theoretical foundation and outstanding practical abilities, and can contribute to enhancing enterprises' independent innovation capabilities, reducing resource and energy consumption, and improving core competitiveness.

The training objectives can be summarized as follows:

Objective 1: Possess a sound personality, correct values, good professional ethics, and a sense of social responsibility.

Objective 2: Have a solid foundation in natural sciences, a good foundation in humanities, arts, and social sciences, and the ability to correctly use the national language and writing skills.

Objective 3: Systematically master the broad technical and theoretical knowledge in the field of the program; receive engineering practice training in the field and possess strong computer and foreign language application abilities.

Objective 4: Possess the necessary professional knowledge in a specialized direction within the field of the program and understand its scientific frontiers and development trends.

Objective 5: Have strong self-learning abilities, innovative consciousness, and high overall qualities.

Core Courses

The curriculum of the Energy and Power Engineering Major aims to cultivate students' professional abilities and overall qualities, with a focus on developing their ability to "solve complex energy and power engineering problems." It features interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary courses, establishing a multi-level collaborative education model of "multi-disciplines - school-enterprise - region" to complement knowledge and abilities and enhance students' comprehensive capabilities.

Major courses center around thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and principles and design of heat exchangers, encompassing the thermoelectric field, which includes combustion science, boiler principles, steam turbine principles, thermal power plants, gas turbine principles, centralized control and operation of thermal power plants, solar thermal utilization, biomass thermal utilization technology, and energy storage technology. The air-conditioning and refrigeration field, which covers refrigeration principles, refrigeration compressors, air-conditioning engineering, recent advancements in refrigeration technology, small-scale refrigeration units, cold storage and food preservation technology, indoor air quality control, and renewable energy technologies, etc.

Practical Training

The Energy and Power Engineering Major has established a multi-level, progressive innovation and entrepreneurship practice platform system, including "on-and off-campus internship and training bases, engineering practice education centers, provincial engineering technology research centers, and provincial key laboratories." It has constructed a collaborative practice platform for teaching, scientific research, and talent cultivation that integrates multiple disciplines in a "three-way integration" approach.

Independent practical training accounts for 30% in the total curriculum, including introductory internships, production internships, graduation internships, course designs such as Principles of Steam Turbines, Principles of Boilers, Cold Storage and Food Preservation Technology, Air Conditioning Engineering, Principles and Design of Heat Exchangers, Thermal Measurement Techniques, Comprehensive Experiments and Designs of Thermal Energy Equipment and Systems, and Graduation Projects (Theses).

The major has won awards for the Best Host and Excellent Organization in academic competitions, with student participation in innovation and entrepreneurship projects and scientific competitions exceeding 50%.

Faculty Team

With the high-level construction and through various channels for recruitment, we have recruited 1 national-level talent, 7 overseas Ph.D. holders, and 10 "Young Hundred Talents" in the recent 5 years. Additionally, more than 20 renowned off-campus teachers and industry experts have been invited to serve as part-time faculty members on a long-term basis. In the past five years, 17 teachers have gone overseas for academic visits and further studies through special funds. Currently, we have 2 national-level talents and 5 provincial-level talents. Through the strategy of "attracting and cultivating excellent talent from both inside and outside," a faculty team with high academic qualifications, high proficiency, and a low age structure has been formed. The proportion of faculty members with Ph.D. degrees is 91.3%, with 39.1% being professors and 26.1% being associate professors. Among them, 43.4% are under 40 years old.

Employment

Guangdong is a global manufacturing hub for air conditioners, heat pumps, and gas appliances (ranking first in production and sales) and is also a major energy-consuming province with a pressing need to develop new energy sources due to its scarcity of fossil fuels. This major takes the largest enrollment and graduation numbers in the province, providing a substantial number of professionals to renowned companies such as Gree and Guangdong Yudean Group, where they have become pivotal members. Guangdong is home to large state-owned enterprises like China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Engineering Company Limited and Datang International Power Generation Co., Ltd., and serves as a global manufacturing center, accounting for 75% of the country's heat pump and air conditioner production with an annual output value of nearly RMB 300 billion. The refrigeration/air conditioning/heat pump industry is a traditional strength of Guangdong, with a significant industrial agglomeration effect. Three enterprises rank among the top five in production and sales nationwide, and six rank among the top ten, providing graduates with a vast market. Employment for this major is concentrated in the Pearl River Delta region, including Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as major cities in eastern and western Guangdong. Graduates are employed by state-owned enterprises, joint ventures, and medium-sized private enterprises in roles such as production, research and development, management, and sales. The employment rate has exceeded 98% in the past three years. Employment fields include energy, power, electricity, chemicals, refrigeration and air conditioning, freezing and cold storage, among others. Employers include large enterprises such as China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Engineering Company Limited, Datang International Power Generation Co., Ltd., Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. of Zhuhai, Midea Air-Conditioning Equipment Co., Ltd., and Matsushita-Wanbao (Guangzhou) Group Co., Ltd., as well as institutions such as research institutes and testing academies.

Third-party agencies Surveys indicated: employer satisfaction with graduates is 92.91%. Survey evaluating the competitiveness of graduates within organizations showed: 64.10% of employers believe that graduates' competitiveness ranks in the upper-middle range (top 50%) within their organizations. Compared with graduates from other universities, 59.45% of employers consider our graduates with advantages in professional competence, followed by practical and execution abilities (37.40%), team collaboration (33.07%), interpersonal communication skills (30.71%), and problem-solving abilities (29.13%).

Distinctive Advantages

(1) Targeting Guangdong's Energy and Power Industry Needs to Boost Socioeconomic Development:

Guangdong is a global manufacturing hub for air conditioners, heat pumps, and gas appliances (ranking first in production and sales) and is also a major energy-consuming province with a pressing need to develop new energy sources due to its scarcity of fossil fuels. This major takes the largest enrollment and graduation numbers in the province, providing a substantial number of professionals to renowned companies such as Gree and Guangdong Yudean Group, where they have become pivotal members, contributing to the socioeconomic development of the region.

(2) Interdisciplinary and Multi-level Education Model:

Practical courses featuring interdisciplinary integration and multi-disciplinary knowledge fusion are established, constructing a multi-level collaborative education model of "multi-disciplines-school-enterprise-region" to achieve complementary knowledge and abilities and enhance students' comprehensive skills. A multi-level, progressive innovation and entrepreneurship practice platform system, including "on- and off-campus internship and training bases, engineering practice education centers, provincial engineering technology research centers, and provincial key laboratories," is established. Students are encouraged to join research teams for scientific research training, participate in patent and paper publications, and take part in various academic competitions, such as the China "Internet+" College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, the National College Students' Energy-Saving and Emission-Reduction Social Practice and Science and Technology Competition, the China Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Industry Undergraduate Technology Competition, the National Undergraduate Engineering Training Comprehensive Ability Competition, the National Undergraduate Mathematical Modeling Contest, and the "Challenge Cup" China Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Plan Competition, achieving remarkable results.

(3) Cultivating Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents through Diversified Practice Platforms:

With the resources of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship College, internship and training bases, engineering centers, and others, we share high-quality resources from the Greater Bay Area to build diversified and collaborative practice platforms. This fosters an innovative and entrepreneurial atmosphere and enhances the quality of education. The research platforms we rely on include the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Soft Condensed Matter, the Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for Power Batteries and Solar Energy Conversion and Storage Materials, the Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for Phase Change Energy Storage and Efficient Energy-Saving, and the Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for Disaster Prevention and Control in Electric Vehicles and Energy Storage Systems.

Students Achievements

With the emphasis on cultivating students' innovative spirit, by organizing various scientific and technological activities, we foster students' practical abilities and innovative capabilities, promoting comprehensive quality education. Students have won over 100 awards in academic competitions, achieving excellent results in both core professional competitions and innovation and entrepreneurship competitions within the discipline competition evaluation system of the Ministry of Education.