Our department is making great efforts to establish international cooperation and exchange with foreign universities. In 1986, we started to send our teachers to study and visit in German universities. Since then, we have established the cooperative relationship with the University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg / Ostfriesland / Wilhelmshaven, Hannover University of Applied Science and Arts, Hannam University of Korea and Japan northwest institute, etc. We have often invited the experts and scholars from these colleges to make visits and give lectures. Meanwhile, we also sent 11 teachers to study or research in universities and research institutions of America, Germany, Britain, etc. Now there are 3 teachers who are still studying in German universities. These teachers have brought back many advanced technologies and school running ideas which can improve our department' s standard and quality of running school.
Since 2002, we have sent more than 60 students to study in University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg / Ostfriesland / Wilhelmshaven. To expand the range of international exchange, our department and the University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg / Ostfriesland / Wilhelmshaven have assigned the agreement of cooperation in running education and construct the undergraduate specialty in computer science and technology with "2+3" training pattern. Students of this specialty should study in our department in the first 2 years and acquire the required credit hours of major courses. After they pass the TestDef examination, they can study in German universities in the next 3 years. These students can obtain the diplomas of both universities if they acquire the required credit hours and pass the examination. Further, they can be granted bachelor's degree of both universities if they satisfy granting conditions of bachelor's degree of two universities. Moreover, our department and Hannam University of Korea have also assigned the agreement of cooperation in running education and construct the vocational specialty in network system management with "1.5+1.5" training pattern. Students of this specialty can obtain the certificates of graduation of both universities if they acquire the required credit hours and achieve qualified grades.
Application-orientation is embodied in everywhere
Application-oriented "double role" teachers. Most of teachers in the German universities have been practicing in enterprises and obtained rich practical experiences. They are welcomed by students for their vivid and applied teaching. The teachers can be conferred the title of professor only after they have been doing project in enterprises for 3-5 years and achieved results. The teachers with applied experience and diathesis can build up a good foundation of application-oriented teaching.
Application-oriented teaching. Teachers place emphasis on how to apply theory to practice. For example, in C programming language course, teachers will ask students to write a small program after they have taught some knowledge points. This procedure is continued in the whole teaching process. With more knowledge points being taught, students are asked to write a more complicated program. Finally, when this course is ended, students are required to complete a large program. Another example is that students of department of Mechanical Engineering study CAD course. They learn how to use different kinds of CAD tools with different difficulty in different phases. In each phase, students are required to design a product using one kind of CAD tool. The examination grade for one student in this phase is the evaluation to his product from teachers. Thus, students' products may become mature after several phases. At last, their full products can be sold in the market and the incomes of products are belonging to themselves.
Application-oriented examinations. The examinations of German university of applied sciences require that students should learn how to apply knowledge to practice. Students may not pass the examination if they don't listen to teachers carefully. Students have to take a face-to-face examination if they do not pass the examination and makeup. They will be asked to choose another specialty if they can't pass the face-to-face examination. Students will find that they may not graduate on schedule if they choose some new specialties for many times. This measure can engage students to study hard to a certain extent.
Application-oriented experiments. We got some experimental details from Leran Zhang who was a student of economical information specialty of our department and now study in University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg / Ostfriesland / Wilhelmshaven. According to his introduction, before doing experiments, students should firstly pass 2-3 tests which concern on the principle and objective of the experiments. In addition, experimental reports are designed inductively for students. For example, there are 9 experiments for one course. For the first experimental report, teachers will fill in most of contents including experimental objective and principle, and only left some experimental parameters for students to fill in after the experiment. For the later several experimental reports, the contents which are filled in by teachers will decrease, and students should fill in more content than before. For the last two or three experimental reports, students are required to fill in all of contents. This measure can make students learn how to complete an experimental report and standardize the format and content of students' experimental reports. Moreover, the experiments are not only verified ones. Teachers provide students the principle and tools, and then ask them to do experiments or solve problems using these tools. Further, students are sometimes required to obtain same experimental results by different way. This measure can both train students' ability of solving problems and enlarge their vision.
Introduction to "2+3" training pattern
Our department and the University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg / Ostfriesland / Wilhelmshaven have assigned the agreement of cooperation in running education and construct the undergraduate specialty in information technology. The information technology specialty of University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg / Ostfriesland / Wilhelmshaven has total 7 semesters. Students study general courses and major elementary courses in the first to the fourth semesters and practice in the fifth semester. They will select their specialty orientations in the sixth semester and finish their theses in the seventh semester. Students should acquire 30 credit hours in each semester from the first to the sixth semesters. In the seventh semester, students should acquire 18 credit hours and 12 credit hours of engineering. Thus, the total number of required credit hours in all seven semesters is 210.
According to the cooperation schedule, in the first two years, our students should study courses which are originally arranged in the German university in the first semester. These courses include Higher Mathematics I and II, General Physics I and II, Information Technology I and II, Circuit Analysis I. In addition, students should study German, English, Politics and Physical Culture.
After studying in our department for two years, our students should pass the TestDef examination and obtain qualified certificates (12 for students of engineering and 16 for students of economic specialty). They should also pass all 7 courses. If they satisfy both above conditions, they can further go to study in German university. Then, they start to study courses which are arranged in the German university in the second semester. In addition, our students should study engineering course (20 credit hours), language course (10 credit hours) and engineering practice. From the third semester, our students begin to study with German students. Before going abroad, our students are required to study German, Computer German and Etiquette in Cross-Cultural Communication in our department.
It should be noticed that our students need to master German and Computer German well. According to past experiences, some students may fail to continue studying in German universities due to their poor German communication abilities.