Construction of a practical and innovative ability training model for environmental new engineering talents under the background of "dual carbon" goals: a case study of hunan institute of technology

Driven by the national "Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality" strategy and the Ministry of Education's "New Engineering" initiative, the traditional training model for environmental engineering talents faces structural transformation pressure, urgently requiring a shift towards a new engineering paradigm that cultivates interdisciplinary knowledge integration capabilities, outstanding engineering practical abilities, and cutting-edge innovative thinking. Taking the environmental engineering program at Hunan Institute of Technology as an empirical research object, this study identifies core issues in current talent cultivation through systematic investigation and in-depth analysis, including curriculum systems lagging behind industrial technology iterations, scattered practical teaching resources disconnected from real engineering scenarios, lack of interdisciplinary knowledge integration mechanisms, and evaluation orientations emphasizing knowledge memorization over ability innovation. Based on this, a "Knowledge-Ability-Platform" trinity practical and innovative ability training model oriented towards the "Dual Carbon" goals is constructed. Through modular curriculum restructuring, building a "Four-Dimensional Integrated" practical teaching platform, implementing interdisciplinary project-driven teaching, and innovating multi-dimensional dynamic evaluation mechanisms, this model forms a closed-loop system that organically connects the education chain and talent chain with the industrial chain and innovation chain. Over three years of practice have shown that this model significantly enhances students' comprehensive literacy in low-carbon technology application, complex environmental problem-solving, and teamwork, with graduates demonstrating markedly improved employment competitiveness, scientific research transformation capabilities, and social service effectiveness, providing a referable and scalable reform paradigm for cultivating environmental new engineering talents in local application-oriented undergraduate institutions.