Zhixing College (College of General Education), Dongguan University of Technology, was established in 2017 as a secondary academic unit of the university. It consists of a General Affairs Office, the Center for Humanistic Quality Education, and seven community sub-colleges.
Zhixing College is committed to a student-centered approach, guided by the motto “Unity of Knowledge and Action, Cultivation of Virtue and Talent.” It promotes community-based service management, value-guided everyday education, and scenario-driven development of student competencies. To implement these ideals, the college has built a diverse, interdisciplinary team composed of renowned professors, experts, student affairs professionals, social workers, psychological counselors, community service managers, and peer mentors (“guiding students”)—all dedicated to supporting students on the front lines.
The college has developed a comprehensive operational system rooted in Party leadership, collaboration between student affairs staff and social workers, integrated five-dimensional education (moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education), and a sixfold approach, promoting Institutionalization, Curriculum Integration, Platform Support, Project-Based Practice, Scenario-Based Learning, and Life-Oriented Development.
Zhixing College is also deepening reform through the “one-stop” student community management model. It strengthens Party building in student communities, offers Zhixing-branded courses, fosters vibrant campus culture, and provides accessible psychological services close to where students live. The college is actively advancing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era within the student community, fostering core socialist values, promoting interdisciplinary exchanges, and building a supportive, home-like environment for students to grow and succeed.
Through years of innovation and practice in community-based education, the university has been selected by the Ministry of Education as an independent pilot unit for its “one-stop” student community management model. Zhixing College’s Party branch was also recognized as a benchmark unit for Party-building excellence in Guangdong Province. Its project on collaboration between student affairs staff and social workers, and the sixfold approach was selected as an Outstanding Ideological and Political Work Project among Guangdong universities. The initiative titled “Ideological Leadership through Sixfold Integration: Reform and Practice of Systematic Moral Education” received the Second Prize in the 2022 Guangdong Provincial Teaching Achievement Awards. The college’s cultural brand project, Guangxiang—symbolizing the enduring fragrance of integrity and perseverance—was designated a Traditional Chinese Culture Inheritance Base as part of Guangdong’s second provincial program. Additionally, its case study on the Integrity Education Zhixing Pavilion was selected as an Outstanding Example in the Ministry of Education’s 2024 “Honoring China’s Fine Traditional Culture” initiative.
The college also pioneered China’s first Chen-Ning Yang Innovation Class, a groundbreaking initiative in undergraduate education reform. By reimagining educational philosophy, curriculum design, teaching models, and management systems, the program seeks to cultivate exceptional, innovative talent with independent thinking and strong research capabilities. In 2025, its Student Party Branch was recognized as a model Party-building unit in Guangdong’s higher education system.
The Chen-Ning Yang Innovation Class encourages student engagement in both academic research and innovation competitions. One student team spent 1,263 days independently designing and building a formula-style race car, which went on to win Third Prize in the China Collegiate Formula Student Automotive Competition—a project featured in Dongguan Daily and China Education Online. To date, students from the class have collectively secured over 100 research project approvals, published 20 academic papers, filed eight patent applications, and earned 60 national-level awards. The class’s “Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand” Social Practice Team has also received consecutive funding under Guangdong Province’s National Student Financial Aid Policy Promotion Program for two years.
Contact Number: 0769-22863807
College Website: https://zx.dgut.edu.cn
