Curriculum System Innovation and Teaching Practice for Digital-Intelligent Rail Transit Operation Talents in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

Abstract

Against the background of rapid digital-intelligent transformation of rail transit in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), traditional vocational education curricula for rail transit operation are difficult to match the strong demand for composite talents with professional operation capabilities and digital technologies. Based on the collaborative education concept of government-university-enterprise-research, this paper constructs a competency-oriented modular curriculum system and carries out systematic teaching reforms. A three-dimensional competency model including technical capability, management capability and professional literacy is established through enterprise demand surveys and the Delphi method. A “1 + 3 + N” modular curriculum structure is designed to integrate general core courses, regional characteristic modules and digital-intelligent micro-majors. Supporting reforms include virtual simulation teaching, enterprise dual-tutor system, project-driven teaching and a multi-dimensional evaluation mechanism. Empirical verification is conducted on 326 sophomores and juniors (2022 and 2023 grades) majoring in Rail Transit Operation Management of Guangzhou Railway Polytechnic (stratified random sampling based on academic performance, gender and professional interest, with no significant difference in baseline competency test scores, P > 0.05) and 18 rail transit enterprises in the GBA selected by purposive sampling (covering core business types of high-speed railway, intercity railway and urban subway, including state-owned, Hong Kong SAR-funded and mixed-ownership enterprises). The results show that the reform improves students’ digital technology application ability by 37.2% (p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.89), professional operation ability by 26.5% (p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.52), post adaptability by 42.5% (p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 2.13), and enterprise satisfaction reaches 94.3%. This study provides a replicable and promotable curriculum reform scheme for vocational colleges cultivating rail transit digital-intelligent talents, and promotes the deep integration of education chain, talent chain and industrial chain.