Bridging Divides through Engineering Doctorates: University–Industry Collaboration for Social Cohesion in China

• In Event: Education, Identity, and Peace in Marginalized and Conflict-Affected Contexts

Proposal

In China’s current context of accelerating industrial upgrading, and deepening technological transformation, engineering education faces a “divide problem” characterized by the fragmentation of knowledge between academia and industry, resource disconnects, and mismatches between talent supply and industrial demand. These divides not only constrain the quality development of engineering education but also pose implicit challenges to social cohesion. The Doctor of Engineering (EngD) program, as a cross-boundary linkage between higher education and industry, offers a potential mechanism for bridging these divides, yet its contribution to social cohesion has not been fully examined.

Drawing on the framework of “divide bridging–collaborative interaction–social cohesion,” this study employs a literature review and in-depth interviews with 30 engineering doctorate candidates involved in enterprise projects, as well as 10 supervisors from both industry and academia. The findings indicate that EngDs bridge the knowledge divide by translating academic research into industrial applications, the resource divide by facilitating the two-way flow of equipment and data, and the talent divide by cultivating interdisciplinary professionals through dual-supervisor and project-based training models.

Moreover, EngD-led collaborations enhance social cohesion through three pathways: (1) disseminating advanced technologies regionally to support balanced development, (2) localizing talent cultivation to strengthen employment quality and group identity, and (3) addressing livelihood-related engineering challenges to build public trust in technological progress.

Theoretically, this study reframes EngDs beyond a purely technical focus and establishes a relational framework of engineering education, collaboration, and social cohesion. Practically, it provides insights for optimizing EngD training models and advancing industry-education integration, thereby fostering coordinated development and strengthening social cohesion.

Authors

• Yue Qu, Beihang University

• Yonghong Ma, Beihang University