The College of Engineering at Shantou University has always adhered to the fundamental mission of fostering virtue through education and, with the development of "New Engineering" as its driving force, is committed to cultivating outstanding engineering talents capable of adapting to future industrial transformations. In the College's journey toward the connotative development of teaching quality, a number of pioneering and innovative teaching leaders have emerged. Recently, the results of Shantou University's 2025-2026 Li Ka Shing Foundation "Excellence in Teaching Award" were announced. Associate Professor Zhang Cuina, Director of the Architecture Program Teaching and Research Office in the Department of Civil and Smart Construction Engineering, stood out among the candidates with her outstanding teaching performance, innovative teaching concepts, and fruitful educational achievements, earning this prestigious honor. This marks yet another time that the College of Engineering has received this award in recent years, following Professor Wu Ming and Dr. Wang Chuanlin, further demonstrating the College's continued excellence in teaching exploration and innovation.
Professor Zhang Cuina has always regarded teaching as the core of her academic life, dedicating herself to exploration and innovation in architectural education. In the face of profound transformations such as urban and rural renewal, the "Dual Carbon" goals, and intelligent construction, she upholds the educational beliefs of "student-centered growth" and "every student can grow." She actively responds to technological changes of the era, striving to cultivate digital-intelligent architectural design talents capable of meeting future challenges, providing a systematic solution for the transformation of architectural education.
Innovative Breakthroughs: Constructing a "Responsive" Educational Philosophy and Pioneering AI-Empowered Teaching
Amid the wave of the intelligent era, Professor Zhang Cuina keenly perceives industry transformations and has innovatively constructed a triple-responsive architectural design curriculum system characterized by "local practice, digital-intelligent integration, and interest-driven dual motivation." She deeply integrates AI-assisted design and computational thinking into her courses, creating a dual-path teaching model consisting of an "AI teaching line" and an "AI design line" that cultivates students' AI-based architectural design thinking and creative abilities, laying a solid foundation for nurturing digital-intelligent architectural design talents with new-quality creativity.
Her teaching reform achievements have demonstrated remarkable demonstrative impact: she has led multiple key projects including the Guangdong Provincial Undergraduate University Teaching Quality and Teaching Reform Engineering Construction Project; published 5 teaching reform papers as first author; her "AI-Assisted Architectural Design Teaching" achievements were selected as the only representative from Shantou University for Guangdong Province's first batch of "AI + Higher Education" typical application scenario cases, and were approved for the university's first batch of "AI + Course" construction. In 2025, her undergraduate education and teaching achievements won the First Prize at Shantou University, along with the Special Prize in the university's Faculty Teaching Innovation Competition and the Third Prize in the provincial competition finals.
Applying AI Tools for Architectural Design
Deeply Rooted in Local Practice: Adhering to "Real Problems, Real Solutions" and Fulfilling Social Mission
Professor Zhang Cuina leads students out of the classroom to confront actual design and construction challenges, facilitating the transformation of knowledge into capability. In Guangdong Province's "Dual Hundred Action," she led students to form the "Jiexi Fate Dream Commando Team," conducting planning surveys in over 20 villages including Fengjiang Town, Jiexi County, completing more than 200 planning drawings covering an area of 45 million square meters. This project was rated as one of the first batch of provincial-level outstanding exemplary cases of the "Dual Hundred Action," and she personally received the Commendation Award from Shantou University for advancing the "Dual Hundred Action" as well as the title of Outstanding Communist Party Member.
Field Survey in Liuyi Village, Jiexi County
Interest-Driven Dual Motivation: Tailoring Teaching to Individual Aptitude, Inspiring Potential, and Achieving Outstanding Educational Results
In the process of education, Professor Zhang accurately identifies the differences in students' aptitudes and implements tiered guidance. For students with artistic talent, she encourages them to pursue advanced studies in avant-garde design and game scene construction; for students who are rational, meticulous, and communicative, she guides them toward diverse career paths such as construction management and civil service in construction departments, using interests and aspirations to drive learning. She has long been appointed as a mentor at Shude College and Jingyi College, receiving recognition as an outstanding mentor, and is committed to holistic education within the college system.
She actively guides students to participate in high-level competitions, promoting learning through competition. Under her guidance, students have won the First Prize in the 16th National "Siwei Cup" BIM Green Building Competition, the Second Prize in the Lunar Base 2050 International Innovation Competition, the Third Prize in the "Beautiful Guangdong Countryside" Landscape Design Competition (University Group), and have completed multiple provincial-level innovation and entrepreneurship projects and "Challenge Cup" projects. Her annual undergraduate teaching load reaches 374 class hours, far exceeding the university standard. The student evaluation scores for her courses Architectural Design V and Environmental Psychology are both near perfect (99.71 and 99.89 points respectively), making her deeply beloved by students.
Balancing Teaching and Research: Emphasizing Both Theory and Practice, Feeding Research Back into Teaching
As a National Class I Registered Architect, Professor Zhang Cuina possesses extensive practical experience. While deeply engaged in teaching, her research achievements are equally impressive: in the past 5 years, she has published 3 SCI/SSCI-indexed papers and 2 EI journal papers; been granted 2 national invention patents (both as first inventor); authored 2 academic monographs; and led multiple provincial, municipal, and horizontal research projects, with the "Dual Hundred Action" rural planning horizontal projects accumulating approximately 150,000 RMB in university funding. She brings cutting-edge research findings and industry experience back into the classroom, significantly enhancing the timeliness and practicality of her teaching.
Teaching Experience Dissemination Lecture
Professor Zhang Cuina, with her inclusive and personalized approach to education, her teaching wisdom in embracing AI, and her strong sense of social responsibility in driving reform, vividly embodies the essence of excellence in teaching at Shantou University. Exemplars set the direction, and excellence builds brilliance. Professor Zhang's achievement is not only the highest recognition of her personal dedication to teaching and innovative spirit but also a vivid demonstration of the College of Engineering's long-standing commitment to deepening teaching reform and leveraging the exemplary role of teaching pioneers. With the concerted efforts of all faculty members, the College of Engineering is harnessing the engine of digital-intelligent integration, taking social service as its mission, and continuously contributing "Engineering College wisdom" and "Engineering College strength" to the high-quality development of engineering education in the new era.
