Shen Yuan Honors College-Beihang University

Home / Schools & Colleges / Shen Yuan Honors College

Shen Yuan Honors College

Shen Yuan Honors College is the earliest-established pioneering center for cultivating top innovative talents by Beihang University, and has been designated as a Pilot Zone for Innovative Talent Cultivation Models in Beijing. It is named in honor of Professor Shen Yuan, a pioneer of China's aerospace higher education, renowned aerodynamicist, Honorary President of Beihang, and senior academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Since 2022, Shen Yuan Honors College has integrated resources from the School of Advanced Engineering, School of Future Aerospace Technology, National Superior College for Engineers，and College of Quantum Science and Technology. It undertakes national-level talent cultivation reform missions, including the Top Students Program for Basic Disciplines, Future Technology College Initiative, and Engineering Master-Doctoral Training Reform Pilot, along with other flagship programs for cultivating elite innovators.

Guided by the principle of "Nurturing Patriotism, Strengthening Foundations, Emphasizing Practice, and Integrating Research-Education," the college enhances mathematical/physical fundamentals and humanities literacy, prioritizes interdisciplinary convergence and integrated bachelor-doctoral pathways, mobilizes premium academic resources across Beihang and partner institutions, and engages academicians, chief engineers, national distinguished professors, and leading scholars as mentors.

The college aims to cultivate innovative leaders who are devoted to serving the nation through aerospace endeavors and excel in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education. This initiative pioneers the "Beihang Paradigm" for cultivating top-notch innovative talent in the new era through autonomous education approaches.

School of Advanced Engineering

The School of Advanced Engineering (formerly known as the Higher School of Engineering) of Beihang University was founded in September 2002 and established a doctoral program (referred to as the "High Doctoral Program") in 2006. Since 2011, it has been participating in the National Basic Subject Talent Training Plan initiated by the Ministry of Education.

Since its inception, it has always adhered to the educational policy of "Strengthening Foundations, Emphasizing Practice, Valuing Competencies, and Fostering Innovation," and comprehensively implemented the tutorial system, academy system, small interactive classes, personalized instruction and global perspectives. It has spearheaded a suite of pioneering reforms in undergraduate and doctoral education, establishing an elite talent development framework that scientifically aligns with cognitive growth patterns and strategically empowers innovation-driven competencies. This paradigm has yielded generations of visionary innovators and disciplinary trailblazers distinguished by their intellectual ambition, global citizenship, and top-tier competitiveness. Through systemic pedagogical innovation, it has created the "first brand" for the cultivation of high-quality leading talents in Beihang, which has won widespread attention and good social reputation in the field of education.

At present, the school has five "National Basic Subject Talent Training Plan" 2.0 bases in aerospace mechanics, computer science, Hua Luogeng mathematics, physics, and chemistry. These bases are jointly built with the School of Aeronautical Science and Engineering, the School of Computer Science and Engineering, the School of Mathematical Sciences, the School of Physics, and the School of Chemistry. It has also established the first batch of four interdisciplinary talent training projects with double bachelor degrees in science and Engineering (hereinafter referred to as "double bachelor degree projects"). Adhering to the developmental principles of elite talent in fundamental disciplines, and guided by the general principle of "Solid Foundation, Combination of Science and Engineering, Integration of Science and Education, and Characteristic Development," it aims to cultivate future outstanding natural scientists who can address scientific challenges in major national engineering fields.

Led by academicians, a high-caliber faculty team has been established to deliver elite courses, master lectures, and mini seminars. Student mentors are selected from science and engineering majors across the university, providing team-based and long-term guidance through the Expo, so that all the students can participate in scientific research and innovation activities. It will implement the "international innovative talents science training program," introduce well-known professors' courses and scientific research training projects in the cutting-edge academic fields of the world's top universities, invite international teachers to host international summer schools, support students' overseas study visits, and achieve full coverage of international top-notch students' training. The Honors College is responsible for student status management, conducting quality assessment and supervision of talent cultivation. It focuses on perfecting the closed-loop student development support system, establishing systematic international cooperation mechanisms, promoting the integration of scientific research and education as well as industry-academia collaborative innovation ecosystems, and building a comprehensive quality assurance system for elite talent cultivation.

School of Future Aerospace Technology

As one of China's inaugural twelve institutions selected for National Future Technology Initiative in 2021, the School of Future Aerospace Technology is a leading institution dedicated to addressing pressing national imperatives and transcendent global technological challenges. To accomplish the mission of forging paradigm-shifting innovations over the coming decade and beyond, the school offers a trailblazing program of Future Aerospace Technology.

Anchored in aerospace yet transcending conventional disciplinary confines, the program reimagines talent cultivation through the seamless integration of cross-disciplinary knowledge matrices and avant-garde research methodologies. Emphasizing the confluence of aerospace and information technologies, it covers a range of specialized fields, including intelligent manufacturing, advanced materials engineering, next-generation computational paradigms, futuristic transportation ecosystems, etc.

To confront the multifaceted and indeterminate challenges of the contemporary world, the program espouses challenge-based learning in talent development. Under a dual-mentorship system (industry experts and academic supervisors)—guided by preeminent industry practitioners, research savants, and academic luminaries—students navigate a scaffolding progression of project modules: exploratory foundations, advanced inquiry, elite-tier challenges, and groundbreaking innovation. Bolstered by a robust network of 174 mentors from 58 elite enterprises and research departments, alongside a portfolio of 399 high-impact projects, scholars tailor their intellectual trajectories to align with their aspirations, mastering the art of translating theory into transformative practice.

Through judicious international recruitment, the program has assembled a distinguished faculty team, comprising over 100 preeminent scholars from Beihang University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and other vanguard institutions worldwide. These intellectual trailblazers deliver incisive coursework and thought-provoking lectures, catalyzing a culture of relentless inquiry and disruptive innovation.

In terms of academic pathways, the program offers an innovative eight-year bachelor-to-doctorate continuum, complemented by bespoke master's-research trajectories. By blending foundational scientific rigor with aerospace and information technology virtuosity, the curriculum fosters both technical mastery and holistic intellectual maturation. Emphasizing academic autonomy, students architect personalized scholarly pathways under the stewardship of faculty mentors, supported by seminar-based, inquiry-driven pedagogy that ensures an immersive and individualized learning experience.

To ensure fluidity and cohesion in talent cultivation, the program has instituted an adaptive selection and mentorship mechanism, balancing faculty stewardship with scholarly independence. Through a competency-centric admissions paradigm, it identifies exceptional minds, while its distinctive transfer policy for both current students and external applicants—permitting intra-university mobility and admitting elite external candidates, which fosters a vibrant and pluralistic academic milieu.

National Superior College for Engineers

Founded in 2022, the National Superior College for Engineers at Beihang University is among the first 18 pilot units nationwide (10 universities and 8 enterprises).

To meet the country's strategic needs and promote the deep integration of industry and education, the college has systematically developed a new industry-academia-research platform for collaborative talent cultivation between academia and enterprises. By enhancing school-enterprise cooperation, improving student recruitment, strengthening the mentor team, restructuring core elements, and redefining evaluation standards, the college comprehensively promotes joint recruitment, training, topic selection, and results sharing between academia and industry. It also promotes faculty exchange, curriculum coherence, platform connectivity, and policy alignment. These efforts aim to accelerate the cultivation of scientist-like outstanding engineers who are patriotic, dedicated, possess exceptional technological innovation capabilities, and excel in solving complex engineering problems.

The college adheres to patriotism as the primary criterion, prioritizes innovation capability as the core quality, and establishes practical competence as the fundamental requirement. Through education and guidance, it cultivates students' deep sense of social responsibility, solid academic foundation, and enhanced abilities in interdisciplinary collaboration and vertical innovation. In collaboration with enterprises, the university jointly develops tailored training programs, strengthens core curriculum frameworks, constructs high-level school-enterprise mentorship teams, and establishes enterprise-level engineering technology centers. A "One Student, One Team" model is implemented alongside alternating engineering practicum training. Furthermore, it is deepening reforms in evaluation standards for engineering master's and doctoral programs. The reforms aim to achieve "Three Foundational Transformations" in educational methodologies, training objectives, and assessment criteria, ultimately forging a benchmark model for engineering education reform and industry-education collaborative cultivation.

Tel: +86-10-82313992
Email：hcbu@buaa.edu.cn
Address：Shen Yuan Honors College, Beihang University, Haidian District, Beijing 100191, P.R. China