Study On The Improvement Of Engineering College Students’ Innovative Competency

China ranks the top of the world according to the number as well as thecapacity of Engineering Universities. So it is obvious that the higher engineeringeducation takes a rather important role in the talents’ cultivation of higher educationin China. Engineering college students (ECS), well trained and cultivated, are theimportant creators of new productivity of the future society, whose innovativecompetency not only closely relates to the international competitive ability of theinnovation in the field of engineering technology, but also determines the accelerationof the industrialization and modernization of China and the realization of establishingan innovative country.The innovative competency is an important concept. The concept of innovativecompetency can be explained as one’s relatively stable knowledge, ability andcharacter which are formed and cultivated from his/her inherent physiological basesand the acquired education as well as the environment around him/her. One’sknowledge, ability and character are all vital for his/her practical innovative activities.Knowledge, ability and character are the basic components of innovative competency.In the practice of higher education, we have to focus on both the potential of thestudents, and the cultivation of acquired knowledge, ability and character.In the perspective of big Engineering, the systematic, sustainable features of thecurrent engineering, the innovative features of engineering technology, and thedialectic features of engineering practice all pose brand new commands forengineering college students’ innovative competency (ECSIC). The students’innovative competency consists of three parts: the innovative knowledge, theinnovative ability and the innovative character. Among the three, the innovativeknowledge includes the capacity of the knowledge and the knowledge structure; theinnovative ability includes the ability of learning, observing, finding, organizing andsolving problems; the innovative character consists of the moral traits and thepersonal features. The three components form a Trinitarian relationship and wield“foundation”,“base” and “direction” effects on ECS respectively. The threecomponents interact and supplement with each other, and form a circling systemwhich runs smoothly.By selecting different samples and measuring their ability according to the scale,and evaluating the overall development of the innovative competency through some quantitative methods such as the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), this paper presentsa practical and meaningful result. The analysis point out that the present developmentsituation of ECSIC is better; the score of innovative knowledge is higher than that ofinnovative ability and character; there is obvious difference among the score of thirdindexes, which shows that the development of the components of ECSIC isimbalanced. The university should attach great importance to cultivate the innovativeability and character of ECS. The paper also makes classified comparison to thepresent development situation of different ECSIC by using the analytic hierarchyprocess (AHP) and finds out that with the growth of their grade, the students’innovative competency is also on the rise as a whole; however, there is an unbalanceand even contrast between different components of it. There are some differencesbetween the present development situation of ECSIC in the leading universities andindependent colleges. ECS in the leading universities is more excellent on the wholethan the students in independent colleges, whereas in the aspect of innovativecharacter, the students in independent college appear slightly better.On the basis of evaluating the present situation of ECSIC, this paper furtheranalyses the factors which influence the development of ECSIC. The analysis pointout that different factor has different degree of influence on the development ofECSIC. Among the factors, which influence it most are the function of teachers,students’ individual factors, and the management of the university. Analyzing thedifferent degrees of the influence in accordance with the grade, the source region, theeducation status and the place of university, we can find that different students havedifferent degree of sensitivity on the related influential factors. So the highereducation should comprehensively master the related influential factors, and apply thestrategies based on the differences, and enhance its pertinence and effectiveness whenimproving the ECSIC.We should improve ECSIC by mastering the factors influencing theimprovement and present development of ECSIC based on their situation now. Andthen take policies and measurements, which should be stated as follows:1. Promotethe renovation of the concept of the higher engineering education vigorously, andcome up with the new education notion of improving ECSIC.2. Construct the newteaching mode to improve innovative competency. And promote the reform of thecultivation of the teachers, the optimization of syllabus design, and the improvementof the teaching method, the perfection of the teaching evaluation system.3. Take the sweeping measures to guarantee the resource and create the conditions, strengthen theguidance to the college students and provide the supporting system for theimprovement of ECSIC.4. Strengthen the pertinence of the college students’education, and provide the competency improvement strategy for the students indifferent levels and regions.5. Create the environment for competency improvement,strengthen the cultural construction, promote the integration of technology and cultureand create the new cultural atmosphere for forgiveness of mistakes.6. Arouse theself-awareness of the ECS for the improvement of ECSIC; greatly stimulate thestudents’ self-expectation of the improvement of ECSIC, and actively guide thestudents’ refinement of innovative competency.