Introduction on the Software Engineering Collaborative Undergraduate Program 

by Zhengzhou University of Light Industry and Fontys University of Applied Sciences

Zhengzhou University of Light Industry (ZZULI) is one of the earliest public universities in Henan Province committed to running Sino-Foreign collaborative undergraduate education programs. Founded in 2001, it has accumulated rich experience in two decades’ development. In October 2020, ZZULI and Fontys University of Applied Sciences (Fontys) jointly applied to run Software Engineering undergraduate program at the Ministry of Education (MOE), China. This program was approved in April 2021 and started to enroll students in September 2021.

Software Engineering in ZZULI is outstanding in its major and discipline construction. It has the bachelor’s and master’s degree accreditation sites and is the first round “National First Class Major” construction site, “Distinguished Engineers Training Scheme” major of MOE, doctoral accreditation supportive site, pilot project of “Reform of Engineering Education Talents Cultivation Mode” and pilot project of “Integrated Reform of Majors” in Henan province. It was ranked the 2nd in discipline evaluation of Henan Province and scored C in the 4th round of discipline evaluation conducted by MOE. The teaching faculty excels, too. 43% have academic teaching rank of professor or assistant professor and nearly 60% of them have doctoral degrees. Furthermore, this major boasts two provincial labs and multiple research and development platforms. Numerous research achievements have been acquired. It has hosted 10 national natural science foundation projects, 27 ministerial or provincial projects, got 7 provincial technology advancement prizes, and published more than 200 academic articles (over half of them were SCI/EI indexed).

Fontys is a large and broad-based public university of applied sciences in Netherlands, with 46,000 students, 5,000 employees, and locations in ten cities. Keuzegids, an authoritative ranking institution, rated Fontys as the largest scale applied science university in Netherlands. It has more than one hundred different study programs, offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and with students from more than 100 different countries. One prominent feature of Fontys is that education and research regularly flow seamlessly into one another. It takes pride in student-centered learning and project-based research and teaching. School of Information and Technology (ICT) is located at Eindhoven, which is also internationally known as the “Brainport Region”. It is a top technology breeding ground for innovation and is home to world-class businesses, knowledge institutes, and research institutions. In 2018, ICT programs are accredited as “Distinguished” by NAVO and NQA, two renowned organizations in Netherlands.

The training syllabus and course system are jointly developed by two universities, aiming to integrate advantages from both sides. It keeps ZZULI’s advantageous liberal education courses and proportions of foundational disciplinary courses. In the meantime, core disciplinary courses and cutting-edge courses from Fontys are widely introduced, including its teaching materials and online resources. For course delivery, all introduced courses are delivered by Fontys’ teachers. Those measures realize the internationalization of the program’s cultivation mode and knowledge system.

After enrollment, students register in ZZULI and study here for four years. They can enjoy the internationalized education system without going abroad. After meeting the graduation requirements, they can get ZZULI’s graduation license and bachelor’s degree.