On December 7, the 22nd China Post-Graduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling (“Huawei Cup”) concluded successfully at China University of Mining and Technology. Guided by the Graduate Education and Degree Management Division of the Ministry of Education, and organized by the China Academic Degrees & Graduate Education Association and the Youth Science and Technology Center of the China Association for Science and Technology., the competition attracted 26,229 teams from 631 graduate education institutions nationwide and abroad, with a total of 78,687 graduate student participants.
In this edition, the University won 27 national awards, including 1 first prize, 12 second prizes, and 14 third prizes. The number of winning teams doubled compared with last year, marking a new milestone for the University. Due to outstanding competition performance, the University also received one “Outstanding Individual” award from the competition organizers.
The on-campus organization of the competition was hosted by the Graduate School and undertaken by the School of Science, with coordinated support from other colleges. To ensure high-quality preparation, the School of Science formed a dedicated training team for mathematical modeling. Professor Liu Landong of the Department of Computational Mathematics and Statistics provided specialized guidance on team collaboration, project selection strategies, and academic norms. Long Linji, a previous prize winner, drew on his own competition experience to share preparation tips and strategies for maximizing team performance. A total of 98 teams from across the University successfully participated. Among them, the team composed of Sun Dahong (School of Management), Ma Yue and Zhang Jie (School of Science) won the first prize; four teams from the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, four teams from the School of Science, and one team each from the Schools of Energy, Emergency Management and Safety Engineering, Geoscience and Surveying Engineering, and Artificial Intelligence won second prizes; seven teams from the School of Science, three from the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, three from the School of Management, and one from the School of Geoscience and Surveying Engineering won third prizes.
In recent years, the Graduate School has continued to deepen reforms in the “solid foundation, strong innovation” training model. The 2024 curriculum introduced an “Innovation Training” module, integrating academic competitions into the graduate assessment system and allowing students to earn credits through participation. To standardize and enhance the management of graduate-level competitions, the Graduate School has established a catalog of academic contests, launched a dedicated “Academic Competitions” webpage, and developed an information management system for competitions. The China Post-Graduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling, as a specialized event for graduate students in applied mathematical modeling, has been included in the key competitions catalog. In addition, to strengthen the mathematical foundation of engineering graduate students, the Graduate School has set up a dedicated project for mathematics curriculum reform, supported by special funding to facilitate practical implementation.
Looking ahead, the University will continue to optimize and upgrade its graduate academic competition system in line with the high-quality development goals of contemporary graduate education. Efforts will focus on enhancing the application and impact of innovative practice, establishing a sustainable mechanism that promotes learning and innovation through competition, and improving the cultivation of high-level, innovative talent. By stimulating the creativity and practical potential of young scholars, the University aims to inject strong momentum into its “Double First-Class” initiative and contribute wisdom and strength toward achieving the national goal of a world-class education system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
