China News Service, Taizhou, November 3rd, Question: Zhejiang Education Observation: Is it a waste for colleges and universities to buy planes?
Reporter Wang Titu
Recently, a plane that appeared on the campus of Taizhou University (Jiaojiang Campus) has become the school's new Internet celebrity check-in point.
It is reported that Taizhou College purchased a "Gulfstream GII" aircraft. Although it is a retired small business aircraft, all systems are complete, the aero-engine and other components are complete, and the performance and structure are also relatively advanced.
The plane came from the other side of the ocean, was split into 3 parts, divided into 3 containers, and arrived at the school after nearly a month of transportation.
After the aircraft is transported to the school, the structure is assembled by professional technicians.
At present, the main body assembly has been completed, and the engine and auxiliary power unit are used as teaching equipment for daily teaching.
"We plan to use the exterior of the aircraft for image display, and key components such as aero-engines for students' practical training. In addition, it is also a reference for the aviation research of relevant professional teachers." Taizhou University Intelligent Manufacturing (Aeronautical Engineering) College Zhang Yongju said.
Cockpit Pan Kanjun photo
In recent years, Taizhou General Aviation's new industrial platform of "10,000 acres and 100 billion yuan" has developed rapidly.
However, the upstream and downstream supporting forces in the industrial chain such as R&D design, maintenance support, etc. are not enough to support professional training and operation services for industrial development. Institutions and talents lack the reserve of young aerospace engineers, and they need to be expanded urgently.
In order to make up for the lack of relevant talents, in 2019, Taizhou University will connect its major with the aviation industry cultivated locally, and open the “Unmanned Aircraft System Engineering” major in Zhejiang Province for the first time, that is, the “UAV” major.
"Students not only need to understand 'drone', but also 'manned aircraft' and aircraft, so we thought about buying a real plane for the students." In Zhang Yongju's view, "drone" and "manned aircraft" Most of the design concepts and techniques are common.
For students, pure theoretical learning will be more abstract, and it will be difficult for students to understand.
Real aircraft can combine theory with practice, allowing students to understand the body structure, wing shape, system and other related knowledge more intuitively.
Although the incident of Taizhou College spending huge sums of money to purchase aircraft as teaching equipment has caused heated discussions on the Internet, many netizens have praised "hard-core teaching aids", "other people's universities" and "pamper students with strength".
But some people worry, will this be overkill and waste resources?
In this regard, some commentators believe that it is not cost-effective and unrealistic to buy a new aircraft. Taizhou College purchases a retired aircraft as a teaching tool, which is not only cost-effective, but also very practical, and can fully meet the teaching requirements.
In universities, not all majors have practical conditions, such as aerospace engineering, aircraft design and engineering, intelligent aircraft technology and other majors. Taizhou University purchases aircraft for students as teaching equipment for training and practice. This is supported by practical actions. Teachers' behavior of teaching and promoting the combination of theory and practice reflects the people-oriented teaching concept, and also enables students to have stronger competitiveness in the future, which is worthy of our praise.
(Finish)