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Article

Sustainable Cultivation of Discipline Competition Programs for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Example of the Food Science and Engineering Major

by
Xiaoqi Kong
,
Qinghua Zeng
,
Xingfeng Guo
and
Feng Kong
*
Agricultural Science and Engineering School, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng 252000, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2024, 16(14), 5846; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16145846
Submission received: 24 May 2024 / Revised: 5 July 2024 / Accepted: 5 July 2024 / Published: 9 July 2024
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing Sustainability in Higher Education)
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Abstract

:
Cultivating innovative and entrepreneurial talents has become the responsibility and mission of higher education. It reflects the effectiveness of education in terms of teaching quality, scientific prowess, and social service. Discipline competitions played a significant role in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship ability, serving as a crucial component of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges. This study used the food science and engineering major as an example to address the gap between theoretical knowledge teaching and the actual production process. It aimed to improve the poor performance of innovative practices by establishing a sustainable cultivation model for discipline competition programs. There needs to be an investigation into the conduct of disciplinary competitions and the students’ participation in them. Then, a model comprising a “theory + experiment + practice” course to guide students in participating in competitions should be formed. A rational and sustainable innovation team and a collaborative innovation platform for school–enterprise integration needs to be built. In order to achieve sustainable development education and cultivate applied talents who can solve complex problems in food engineering, the sustainable cultivation model was established. This work could serve as a reference for developing professional discipline competitions and fostering innovative and entrepreneurial talents for sustainable development.

1. Introduction

The UN established 17 sustainable development goals; among them, education has an outsized impact on countries’ socioeconomic development [1,2]. China is a firm supporter and active promoter of the UN sustainable development strategy. “China’s National Plan on Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” proposed to deepen education reform and improve the quality of education. Strengthening students’ sense of social responsibility, innovative spirit, and practical ability has become a key task throughout the whole process of sustainable education, and significantly increases the number of young people with relevant technical and vocational skills for employment and entrepreneurship. Promoting the sustainable development of higher education is of great significance to the cultivation of young talents and the benign development of the economy.
As one of the core functions of colleges and universities, talent training plays a crucial and strategic role in the development of an innovative country. Innovation and entrepreneurship education permeate the entire process of talent training, and the sustainable development of innovation and entrepreneurship education has become an important theme [3]. It aims to stimulate students’ initiative, integrate teaching with practical experience, and cultivate professionals capable of meeting societal demands [4]. In 2016, China joined the Washington Accords as the 18th full member, which accelerated the progress of engineering education in the country [5]. Engineering education plays a critical role in nurturing globally competitive engineering professionals for an innovative nation and sets higher standards for students’ innovation and entrepreneurship skills. These include the ability to design systems or processes that meet the demands of complex engineering, demonstrating innovative thinking while simultaneously considering social, health, safety, legal, cultural, and environmental aspects, and being capable of assuming various roles as team members and leaders in a multidisciplinary context [6,7].
Colleges and universities have implemented various forms of entrepreneurship education, including offering innovation and entrepreneurship courses, establishing innovation and entrepreneurship clubs, and organizing science and technology competitions [8,9]. Among them, discipline competitions have emerged as a significant form and platform for innovation education [10,11,12,13]. Numbers of competitions have proliferated rapidly and have become a crucial element in fostering students’ innovative intentions and igniting their innovative enthusiasm. Examples include the Internet Plus Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition [14]. The science and technology competition helped to foster the innovative ability of students, improve their employability, and facilitate the transformation of innovative achievements into productivity [15,16]. The students of the life science and engineering major had significantly higher employability rates compared to students who have not participated in discipline competitions [17]. A survey of 738 students who engaged in international and national chemistry competitions revealed that their average grade point improved to varying degrees and their practical skills increased significantly [18]. The environmental design competitions enhanced students’ imagination and design abilities by addressing real issues, such as pollution and protection, and, in turn, promoted the advancement of engineering education [19]. The leading and supporting role of discipline competitions in cultivating college students’ innovation ability has become increasingly prominent. Encouraging college students to participate in discipline competitions could help cultivate high-quality innovative talents, which is beneficial for the sustainable development of higher education [10,20,21].
The major of food science and engineering is responsible for training the scientific and technological talents of food professionals and plays a pivotal role in promoting the healthy development of the economy and society and facilitating the innovative development of the food industry [22,23]. In the context of sustainable development and engineering education professional certification, cultivating high-quality food professionals with innovative thinking, innovation ability, and entrepreneurial awareness has become an important factor for countries to enhance their international competitiveness and achieve high-quality development of their food industry. However, due to outdated teaching concepts, insufficient teaching resources, and singular teaching models, the traditional curriculum was no longer able to meet the needs for developing innovative and practical engineering talents in the current circumstances. Considering the positive impact of discipline competitions, actively promoting the cultivation of food professional discipline competitions is beneficial for integrating the education resources and updating the education model of innovation and entrepreneurship, thus aligning with the requirements of the national innovation-driven development strategy.
In recent years, disciplinary competitions have significantly improved in terms of format, quantity, and magnitude. However, students’ participation rate and the effectiveness of disciplinary competitions were still insufficient [24]. Du et al. [25] proposed that there should be improvement in the training and selection of participants and the construction of a teacher team. Lin et al. [26] proposed that the discipline competition should be guided by teachers, and individualized guidance should be given to different students. Business plan competitions were now held in many countries to strengthen entrepreneurial thinking and promote regional development [27,28]. However, for the food science and engineering major, both teaching practice and academic research of discipline competition were still very scarce. There was no complete and mature training model for the construction of teams, and the sustainability of team development has not been established, which greatly reduced the overall level of students’ innovation ability. The entry produced by the competition cannot be put into actual production and is seriously disconnected from industrial development. It is essential to conduct research on the development of a sustainable discipline competition mode, which will provide the countermeasures to address the above challenges and offer insights for cultivating competition activities in engineering disciplines.

2. Main Difficulties in the Cultivation Process of Discipline Competition Programs

Discipline competition was an important platform for college students to comprehensively apply the professional knowledge they have learned to solve practical problems, enabling the transformation of theory into practice [29]. However, in the traditional model of higher education, there have been several issues in the cultivation process of food discipline competitions, such as incomplete and asymmetric information about competitions, as well as low participation rates [30]. Food-related competition was widely distributed and relatively scattered and lacked popularization among students [31]. Many students were unclear about the purpose and procedures of the competition, and they lacked the cognitive skills needed to participate in the competition effectively.
Additionally, the existing curriculum system and course content were unable to meet the needs of innovative talent cultivation in the food industry. There is a need for improvement in the curriculum system, and there is a dearth of resources for innovation and entrepreneurship instruction [32]. Traditional classroom teaching was not fully integrated with innovative education [33]. In addition, there was a problem in the curriculum system that emphasized theory courses rather than practice courses. The lower-grade students lacked the cultivation of innovation and entrepreneurship awareness and senior students lacked professional practice training, which hindered the implementation of innovative and entrepreneurial ideas applied to the actual production process [33].
For a long time, the formation and organization of participating teams affected the cultivation achievements of discipline competition. The majority of teams were temporarily organized and the members were not carefully screened and did not work well with each other. It was a long run-in period, and it was difficult for teams to achieve sustainable development [30]. The discipline competitions had a strong professional pertinence, which needed students to experience long-term professional training to reach the level of participating in the competition. Another aspect, college students’ time in school, was relatively scattered, and students lacked scientific and effective time management and planning, which led the participating teams to be unstable. Many teams were established without considering how to achieve sustainable development, which made it difficult to continue cultivating the discipline competition program.
Professional certification and entrepreneurship education emphasize the importance of practical engineering experience [9]. As an important part of innovation and entrepreneurship education, practice is an effective extension of what is taught in the classrooms [34]. Furthermore, the competitions are designed to address social problems, which rely on practice resources [35,36], whereas college teaching showed a focus on theoretical teaching rather than hands-on practice, and there was a lack of innovation and practical platforms [37]. Traditional education was disconnected from enterprise production. This situation prevented students from effectively combining theoretical learning with practical experience, resulting in no support for cultivating innovative and practical abilities to solve complex practical problems.
According to the challenges mentioned above, this paper gives new strategies for the cultivation of discipline competition activities for the food science and engineering major (presented in Figure 1). The countermeasures include the following:
(1)
Conduct research on the holding and screening of discipline competitions;
(2)
Establish a guiding model of the “theory + experiment + practice” course;
(3)
Build a differentiated echelon training system for a sustainable innovation team;
(4)
Set up a collaborative innovation platform for school–enterprise integration.
Sustainability 16 05846 g001
Figure 1. Challenges and countermeasures to the discipline competition program cultivation.
Figure 1. Challenges and countermeasures to the discipline competition program cultivation.
Sustainability 16 05846 g001

3. Establishing a Sustainable Cultivation Model for Discipline Competition Programs

In order to fully leverage the positive impact of discipline competitions on personnel training, it is crucial to establish a sustainable cultivation model for discipline competition programs (Figure 2).

3.1. Investigation of Disciplinary Competitions and Students’ Participation

At present, the research on the organization of food competitions and students’ participation is limited, resulting in information asymmetry and asynchronization between students and competitions. In order to address the aforementioned shortcomings, we could conduct a thorough investigation into organizing and holding competitions. Afterwards, screening and choosing high-quality competition projects that are highly practical and innovative will provide a reference for guiding students to participate in these competitions. Meanwhile, the competition participation of students who majored in food was investigated and analyzed. It explored the original motivations behind promoting the cultivation of competitive activities and offered guidance for developing a gradient training model suitable for students of different grades.
The questionnaire is set up as follows in Table 1.
The researchers distributed the questionnaires through the online survey platform Wenjuanxing (Changsha Ranxing Information Technology, Changsha, China) to collect information, and the respondents were students who majored in food science and engineering in Liaocheng City. A total of 165 students were accepted to be subjects of our questionnaire. Among the respondents, freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduates accounted for 32.7%, 15.2%, 27.3%, 18.2%, and 6.7%, respectively (Figure 3). We used IBM SPSS Statistics 20 (IBM, New York, NY, USA) to test the reliability of the sample data. Pearson’s correlation was processed using Origin 2021 software (OriginLab Corporation, Northampton, MA, USA).
According to the statistics, 104 students have not participated in discipline competitions, accounting for 63.03% of the total. This showed that a large proportion of students did not participate, which highlighted the importance of carrying out this research. The competition participation rate of freshmen was only 11.11%, while those of sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduates were 48.00%, 55.56%, 40.00%, and 54.55%, respectively (Figure 4). This phenomenon might indicate that students participate in fewer competitions after their sophomore year and lack sustainable development.
When the respondent answered that they “have not participated in a discipline competition”, the questionnaire would be automatically terminated. So, we worked with a sample of 61 respondents. The importance of the school and instructor on participation in discipline competitions is shown in Table 2, where Cronbach’s Alpha is 0.893, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin is 0.665, and p < 0.01. The results showed that the school and instructor valued, encouraged, and supported students to participate in competitions, with a comprehensive average of 4.67, 4.61, and 4.56, respectively. It indicated that respondents agreed with the above indicators, which had an obvious incentive effect on students and greatly improved their participating enthusiasm.
The students’ intention to participate in discipline competitions is shown in Table 3, where Cronbach’s alpha = 0.785, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin = 0.754, and p < 0.01. The top two students participated in the competition to gain practical experience, and their ability has improved a lot. However, a large proportion of students did not know why they entered the contest and went with the flow. In order to better implement the sustainable development concept of everyone’s participation and give full play to the role of discipline competition in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship education, publicity need to be strengthened and students need to actively guided to participate [29].
Pearson’s correlation coefficients among the results of the questionnaire are shown in Figure 5. The results of the importance of the school and instructor in participation in discipline competitions exhibited significant (p < 0.05) positive correlations. There was no correlation between Q8 and Q6 or Q8 and Q9, which indicated that the students gained a lot after participating in competitions, even if they did not know why entered the contest.

3.2. A guiding Model of Theory + Experiment + Practice Course

Discipline competitions could be closely integrated with classroom teaching, and this integration helped students apply what they have learned and cultivated their innovation and entrepreneurship abilities [38]. The cultivation of talents in colleges must proactively adapt to the new requirements of social development [39,40]. Therefore, it is necessary to further optimize the curriculum structure and content and actively explore the teaching guidance model (Figure 6). Teachers introduced competition knowledge to students in different types of courses, which served as a solid base for practical application and participation in discipline competitions.
A rich theory of dual innovation education provided theoretical support to improve the effectiveness of innovation and entrepreneurship education [41,42]. In general education courses, such as the Foundation of Innovation and Entrepreneurship course, professional competitions were introduced to students. These courses taught students to be problem solvers and encouraged them to take tries [43]. Logical entrepreneurship education would foster their entrepreneurship spirit and future business establishment and contribute to economic development [44]. Hu et al. [45] proposed that in professional education courses, the premise of improving innovative and entrepreneurial ability is to cultivate students’ entrepreneurial consciousness. Cao and Shi emphasized the update of innovation and entrepreneurship education ideas and enhanced its infiltration and integration with professional education [46]. According to the current situation, there were significant limitations in the quantity, depth, and breadth of students’ professional knowledge and skills training [47]. It is essential to reconstruct the curriculum system by closely integrating it with subject competitions. Basic knowledge was taught in theoretical courses, operational skills were practiced in experiment courses, and practical exercises were conducted in practice courses. The order of course teaching should be adjusted reasonably, curriculum reform should be promoted, and the issue of delayed or non-opening of certain professional courses should be addressed [48]. In personalized education courses, the role of academic tutors and scientific research practices should be fully utilized to offer positive guidance to students. Harkema and Schout introduced a learner-centered approach in innovation and entrepreneurship education, in which the student is the driver of his learning process [49].
Wahid et al. [50] argued that it was necessary to engage teaching methods in the entrepreneurship education field. Adopting a hybrid teaching approach that combined online and offline methods was crucial [47]. The innovative and entrepreneurial education process involves interactions between instructors and students to raise student awareness [51]. Project-based teaching and problem-based learning methodologies were advocated, which incorporated flipped classrooms to address the students’ lack of initiative in problem solving [37,52]. This approach aimed to help students integrate and apply their knowledge comprehensively while fostering their ability to summarize and present information effectively [53,54]. In addition, innovative and entrepreneurial cognition is dynamic, and continuously increasing awareness is important [55]. The teachers should initiatively grasp the cutting-edge dynamics of the discipline competition and understand the extension direction of the competition theme. They actively publicized the format of the competition works and the requirements of social enterprises and analyzed and explained the outstanding works from previous years.
Ultimately, a positive cycle of enhancing teaching and learning through competition and discovering new avenues for innovative talent development models were formed (Figure 7) [56]. The performance of students in practical scenarios and competitions could reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching system, which was conducive to curriculum reform and development [33,57,58]. It met the requirements of education for sustainable development [48,59].

3.3. Sustainable Innovation Team

The current lack of innovative team building is the main factor affecting the effectiveness of innovative talent training [10]. Referencing the theory of team learning and the principles of cooperative learning and considering the psychological characteristics of the undergraduate group, it is essential to establish an innovative team based on the criteria of “autonomy-interest-motivation”. This encouraged students to form teams voluntarily, thereby reducing the initial period of adjustment in teamwork. Students could join a team based on voluntary principles within six months and had the option to leave the team at any time. The design of this team construction promoted students’ learning and improvement through mutual cooperation and fostered internal motivation for independent learning of the team members, which boosted innovation [60].
The discipline competition emphasizes knowledge and practice integration, with high demands for students’ professionalism and practical skills [12]. Participating students should undergo extensive professional training to attain the level required for design and manufacturing [61]. In the construction phase of the competition team, the approaches of hierarchical training, progressive training, and specialized training [62] were seamlessly integrated. This training focuses on mixing different skill sets in the team composition [63]. Students’ awareness and skills in innovation and entrepreneurship were gradually enhanced through training sessions held on weekends and holidays.
Education should be availed to all levels of students, and this would equip them attain the necessary entrepreneurial skills and attitude [64,65,66]. This work established an echelon training system for innovation teams based on different stages with varying foundations and integrated the senior students and trained the junior students (Figure 8), forming a sustainable model of encouragement by initiation in freshman year, participation in sophomore year, leadership in junior year, and transformation in senior year. This approach was beneficial to cultivate the innovation ability of more students through limited projects and resources [33,67]. The progressive training system followed the concept of lifelong learning, which was a sustainable approach for nurturing teams and improving the effectiveness of discipline competition.

3.4. Collaborative Innovation Platform for School–Enterprise Integration

There have always been serious problems in innovation and entrepreneurship teaching, such as low practical ability and limited practical application skills of students [68]. Due to the lack of training in practical application scenarios, it was difficult for students to apply what they had learned to enter the workplace. Therefore, universities should actively explore a practical teaching system that is compatible with regional development and matches the training mode of professional talents [69,70,71].
Complete experimental equipment and an operational platform were the essential guarantees for the cultivation of practical abilities and the successful development of the competition project. A collaborative innovation platform was built to integrate academia with industry (Figure 9) and addressed issues, like insufficient innovation resources and the gap between projects and real-world production [72]. The professional laboratories of the school should remain open for students to engage in relevant experimental operations. Additionally, universities established strategic partnerships with leading industry enterprises and created off-campus innovation and entrepreneurship practice bases [9,73]. The off-campus practice bases were equipped with comprehensive manufacturing facilities [26,37]. Students could carry out independent research and innovative design using equipment platforms both within and outside the school [29].
Furthermore, relevant experts from enterprises could be invited to deliver professional lectures at the school [37]. They provided a professional analysis of the significance, value, and prospects of the competition, which helped students gain a deeper understanding of the competition and boost their motivation to participate [74]. The instructor teams were established by employing experienced on-campus teachers and business managers [75]. They instructed students to develop a research plan and investigation based on scientific research projects of teachers, enterprise requirements, and competition notices [29,76]. This mode was conducive to breaking down barriers between universities and industries and enhancing the project’s cultivation effect by transforming research achievements into production [15,77,78].
We integrated the concept of sustainable development into school–enterprise cooperation to continuously meet the demand of local enterprises for sustainable engineering talents. As a result, this platform broadened students’ perspectives, offered practical guidance for students venturing into entrepreneurship, and provided a reference for building a faculty advisor team with innovative capabilities [79].

3.5. Sustainable Cultivation Model for Discipline Competition Programs

Innovation and entrepreneurship education require learning methods, pedagogical processes, and a framework for education [80]. The Chinese Medium and Long Term Youth Development Program (2016–2025) emphasized the establishment and perfection of the system of innovation and entrepreneurship education [9]. Integrating educational resources, creating a training platform, strengthening social cooperation, and building a student-centered system can improve students’ comprehensive capability [81]. Wan et al. [82] proposed that universities should build a new ecology of innovation and entrepreneurship education. Gao et al. [83] proposed to cultivate students’ practical ability through various modes, such as discipline competition, and then formed a cross-integration training mechanism for innovative practical talents. Wu et al. [84] built a progressive teaching system of “basic theory-project practice-discipline competition-comprehensive design”.
On the basis of the food science and engineering major at Liaocheng University, leveraging the existing resources, the work integrated innovative elements and knowledge into the curriculum system (Figure 10). It widely integrated practical teaching resources inside and outside the classroom, consolidated and applied the theoretical knowledge learned in the classroom to complete papers, patents, or research, and developed new products through practical training [85]. This cultivated the students’ innovative thinking, practical ability, application skills, and teamwork spirit [86,87]. Ultimately, this process contributed to the overall improvement of talent development, which increased the supply of innovative and outstanding talents in the food industry.

4. A Case Study of a Sustainable Cultivation Pattern for Discipline Competition Programs of the Food Science and Engineering Major

After the practical test in 2022~2023, the learning ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship education has been preliminarily established. The sustainable cultivation model for discipline competition projects constructed in this paper has been promoted and implemented in the food science and engineering major and yielded promising research results (Figure 11).
In the course system, a hierarchical system was established [88] (Table 4). Students have mastered the knowledge and skills of food testing, processing, data processing, and paper writing, laying a solid foundation for participating in competitions. Students explored the pain points and problems faced in sustainable development and then created and developed their own research projects under the guidance of instructors while considering the project’s feasibility, value, and innovation.
The specific case is described below.
The team was made up of freshmen to seniors with varying foundations and integrated senior students who trained junior students. They choose the high-value utilization of wheat bran as the research direction. Wheat bran is a major by-product of wheat flour production [89]. It has many health-promoting components, such as dietary fiber and phenolics. However, there are sensorial and technological challenges to using wheat bran. Adding bran interfered with gluten network formation, resulting in poor food quality. Wheat bran is often used as feed or waste, causing a waste of resources and affecting sustainable development.
Students analyzed the problems of wheat bran utilization based on classroom knowledge and information retrieval results. The lower bioavailability and higher insoluble dietary fiber content restricted the wide development of wheat bran. Therefore, the wheat bran modification was an efficient strategy to promote wheat bran consumption. Students adopt the steam explosion modification, which was learned in the lesson on the new food product and innovation experiment.
The steam explosion was an effective processing method that employed high-temperature and high-pressure saturated steam to treat the materials [90]. As a sustainable food processing technology, steam explosion has economic and eco-friendly advantages. The team members used steam explosion technology to treat wheat bran (Figure 12), and the results showed that the steam explosion increased the content of soluble dietary fiber in wheat bran, which had a good effect on ABTS scavenging and HepG2 cell inhibition. Steam-exploded wheat bran could serve as a potential ingredient widely used in food products.
Then, students used cookie-making methods learned in the food technology lesson. They examined the potential utilization of steam-exploded wheat bran as a partially substituted portion of wheat flour in the formulation of bran-based cookies (Figure 12). The cookies enriched with 30–50% of the steam-exploded wheat bran exhibited greater physical properties and antioxidant capacity but lower starch digestibility. The study demonstrated that nutritional and healthy cookies could be prepared by incorporating steam-exploded wheat bran, which promoted the development and utilization of wheat bran.
Students determined the composition and quality of wheat bran and biscuits based on the methods learned in the lessons of food chemistry, food analysis, and food technology. Then, they analyzed the data based on the methods learned in the lesson on experimental design and data processing. The experimental results were compiled into a paper using the knowledge learned in the lesson on information retrieval and scientific paper writing. The paper titled “Physical properties, antioxidant capacity, and starch digestibility of cookies enriched with steam-exploded wheat bran” was published in Frontiers in Nutrition [91]. Another paper titled “Effect of steam explosion on functional property of soluble dietary fiber from wheat bran” was published in Cereals & Oils [92].
The project starts with a need and ends with an idea for a product or service for industrialization [63]. Students applied their professional knowledge and skills to practical or application-oriented problems [93]. After the research was completed, the team members entered the enterprise for trial production of products and created an application for the discipline competition. The application described how to implement and transform the project to help solve sustainable development issues, such as those of economic development and resource utilization. They represented schools in competitions, and excellent works have entered provincial and national competitions, which fostered their innovative skill [91,94,95]. They participated in the China Undergraduate Life Science Contest and the competition of Shandong Province Undergraduate Science and Technology Festival in 2023 and won the national first prizes and provincial first prize, respectively. At the end of the competition, team members improved their public speaking and communication skills [96], honed their writing and expression skills, increased resilience in uncertain environments [97], and enhanced their entrepreneurial knowledge [98]. They felt that their participation experience allowed them to develop hands-on practical abilities, problem-solving abilities, sustainable development values, and cooperate with teams during the competition [86]. Other studies showed that competition has a positive influence on entrepreneurial competence [99]. The higher the level of “participation,” the stronger the individual’s ability to use their knowledge [100]. Innovation and entrepreneurship education enhance creative thinking and support a strong sense of self-worth and empowerment [101]. Compared with the students who did not participate, those who did had more business-related knowledge, self-efficacy, and feasibility to become entrepreneurs [102].
This specific case followed the basic logic of asking questions, analyzing problems, and solving problems concerning innovation and entrepreneurship education [39]. Throughout the entire competition process, a student team is always guided in solving sustainable development issues, learning to grasp the current development status of wheat bran, and, ultimately, creating a project with social value based on the joint efforts of the students in the team. However, there existed other problems, as some focused on certificates and ignored the importance of ability training in the competition process. Teamwork relied heavily on motivated students, and some loafed on the job with regard to teamwork.
Many researchers have overlooked the design strategies that lead to their contest’s success [103]. It is necessary to cultivate college students’ innovative consciousness and ability in a planned way [104]. This paper focused on the planned and sustainable cultivation of discipline competition programs and the enhancement of innovation abilities. Several students have published eight papers in SCI journals and three papers in Chinese core journals and applied for two invention patents. They participated in the China Undergraduate Life Science Contest in 2022 and 2023 and won two national first prizes. Additionally, they won two provincial first prizes, one provincial second prize, and two provincial third prizes in the Shandong Province Undergraduate Science and Technology Festival competition in 2022 and 2023. Students participated in the 9th Shandong Province “Internet +” Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and won the provincial bronze award. Other multiple awards of school-level discipline competition have been received. Students have been awarded honorary titles such as Provincial Outstanding Student, Provincial Outstanding Graduate, Star of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Star of Science and Technology Innovation. They also obtained scholarships and opportunities for further study and obtained employment.

5. Connotation of the Cultivating Model of the Discipline Competition Project to Promote the Sustainable Development of Education

Innovation and entrepreneurship education is more focused on the quality of education and is more precise for the cultivation of talents [105,106,107,108]. The sustainable cultivation of discipline competition programs integrate the theory of sustainable development into innovation and entrepreneurship education (Figure 13). This study achieved sustainable personality training followed by the concepts of common development. Achieved sustainable capacity improvement was guided by the vision of coordinated development. Achieved sustainable talent training had the goal of efficient development. The sustainable improvement of theoretical literacy and practical ability includes two aspects. The first one, innovation and entrepreneurship education, should develop in harmony with professional education. The second one is the coordination and organic unity among universities, enterprises, and students. The sustainable cultivation of personality integrates professional education and humanistic quality education into the curriculum of innovation and entrepreneurship education, which is used to cultivate students’ innovative spirit and lifelong learning habits. The connotation of the cultivating model of the discipline competition project to promote the sustainable development of education aimed to make every educated person become a sustainable person with an awareness of and an ability for sustainable development.

6. Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research

This study aimed to form a cultural atmosphere of learning + teaching + research and establish an education and learning ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship. The project innovatively proposed a sustainable cultivation model of discipline competition programs and suggested a sustainable development pathway for course guiding and hierarchical gradient team training, which were of significant importance for modern teaching and innovation and entrepreneurship education.
This study was conducive to solving some challenges to discipline competition programs cultivation given the new strategy for the food science and engineering major. Although, as a result of the practice over two years, some research success was obtained, and the research’s sustainable cultivation mode of discipline competition programs is in the frame design stage. Moreover, additional research will be necessary to explore the specific process in which competitions can contribute to students’ skill development.
This paper lacked a wide sample of questionnaires, and the number of samples was not large enough. In future studies, more extensive and sufficient samples should be collected, which would make the results more effective and credible. In addition, future studies should develop a scale suitable for sustainable innovational and entrepreneurial intention, and the intention should be measured more accurately. Meanwhile, the research variables should be subdivided further, and more accurate multiple dimensions should be used to study the variables.
This research studied the discipline competition cultivation in the food science and engineering major and made qualitative strategic suggestions to improve the effectiveness of sustainable cultivation. It does, however, lack quantitative reference data. Further clarification and in-depth research are needed in the follow-up research. It is necessary to establish an evaluation system, and quantitative research and data analysis can be performed to verify the effectiveness of the model proposed in this study.
In future research, it is possible to explore effective teaching methods or curriculum design that can effectively combine sustainable development education and ecological civilization construction with innovation and entrepreneurship education. The research object can be chosen from a wider major in order to observe the practicality of sustainable cultivation modes.

7. Conclusions

The theory of sustainable development contains elements, such as systematization, coordination, and reasonable balance, and its connotation and logic are highly consistent with innovation and entrepreneurship education. We carried out sustainable development projects to strengthen students’ ability and quality and enhance the school’s sustainable development engineering education capacity. The promotion of sustainable cultivation of discipline competition programs was a powerful method to consistently enhance students’ practical and innovative skills and discover potential entrepreneurial opportunities. This work explored and presented the results from the competition cultivation process of undergraduates majoring in food science and engineering. The sustainable cultivation model has achieved significant progress in cultivating core skills in innovation and entrepreneurship on the basis of learning–teaching–research–practice ideas by investigating disciplinary competitions and students’ participation, establishing a guiding model of the “theory + experiment + practice” course, building a differentiated echelon training system for sustainable teams, and setting up a collaborative innovation platform for school–enterprise integration. It enhanced the cultivation outcomes of food professional competition projects and fostered the comprehensive development of students. By integrating theoretical study and practical operation, competition projects can be used as opportunities to ignite students’ interest in acquiring new knowledge, which enhances students’ capacity to learn independently, continuously, and practically. This method aimed to nurture students’ innovative thinking and improve their ability to identify problems, analyze problems, and find solutions. With discipline competition projects as the starting point, a hierarchical professional training management system based on student self-management should be established. It will help form a dynamic and progressive training mechanism for innovative teams and cultivate a positive atmosphere and culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. The learning mode of the competition team and curriculum teaching reform are organically integrated and complement each other, forming a virtuous circle of teaching and learning. This integration enhanced students’ practical and knowledge transfer abilities and gradually improved the overall quality of innovation in the daily learning process. The project will have promotional value in undergraduate universities and could serve as a reference for the teaching reform of other engineering majors.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, F.K.; methodology, F.K.; investigation, X.K., Q.Z. and F.K.; resources, X.G. and F.K.; writing—original draft preparation, F.K.; writing—review and editing, F.K.; supervision, X.G. and F.K.; funding acquisition, Q.Z. and F.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by the Key Projects for Undergraduate Teaching Reform Research Project from Liaocheng University, grant number G2023001, the Shandong Provincial Education and Teaching Reform Research Project, grant number 24JG001, the University-Industry Collaborative Education Program from the Ministry of Education of China, grant number 221005248120346, the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, grant number ZR2022QC242, the Science and Technology Smes Innovation Ability Improvement Project of Shandong Province, grant number 2023TSGC0377, the Science and Technology Help Smes Climb Plan of Liaocheng, grant number 2023PDJH22, the Key Research and Development Plan of Liaocheng, grant numbers 2021NY05 and 2023YD82, the Open Project of Liaocheng University Animal Husbandry Discipline, grant numbers 319312101-08, 319462207-14, and 319312105-14, and the Research Foundation of Liaocheng University, grant numbers 318052122, K22LD04, and K23LD64.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Data are contained within the article.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Figure 2. A sustainable cultivation model for discipline competition programs.
Figure 2. A sustainable cultivation model for discipline competition programs.
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Figure 3. Grade distribution of the respondents.
Figure 3. Grade distribution of the respondents.
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Figure 4. The rate of different grades participating in the discipline competitions.
Figure 4. The rate of different grades participating in the discipline competitions.
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Figure 5. Pearson’s correlation among the results of the questionnaire. Q1–Q9 indicated the 1~9 questions in Table 1, * p < 0.05.
Figure 5. Pearson’s correlation among the results of the questionnaire. Q1–Q9 indicated the 1~9 questions in Table 1, * p < 0.05.
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Figure 6. Curriculum system and guide mode of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Figure 6. Curriculum system and guide mode of innovation and entrepreneurship.
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Figure 7. Construction and reform of the course system.
Figure 7. Construction and reform of the course system.
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Figure 8. Construction and sustainable development of discipline competition teams.
Figure 8. Construction and sustainable development of discipline competition teams.
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Figure 9. Collaborative innovation platform for school–enterprise integration.
Figure 9. Collaborative innovation platform for school–enterprise integration.
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Figure 10. An innovation and entrepreneurship education and learning ecosystem for food majors.
Figure 10. An innovation and entrepreneurship education and learning ecosystem for food majors.
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Figure 11. Practice process of the sustainable cultivation model.
Figure 11. Practice process of the sustainable cultivation model.
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Figure 12. Schematic illustration showing the research.
Figure 12. Schematic illustration showing the research.
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Figure 13. Connotation of the cultivating model of the discipline competition project to promote the sustainable development of education.
Figure 13. Connotation of the cultivating model of the discipline competition project to promote the sustainable development of education.
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Table 1. Questionnaire on students’ participation in food discipline competitions (partial).
Table 1. Questionnaire on students’ participation in food discipline competitions (partial).
NumberQuestionsTypes
1Whether or not you have participated in a competitionSingle choice
2How many competitions have you enteredSingle choice
3What was the award level you received for the competitionSingle choice
4School valued and encouraged students to participate in competitionsScale item
5The school provided guidance and assistance for the competitionScale item
6The instructor was very responsible for the competitions Scale item
7Entered the contest for the purpose of certificates and awardsScale item
8Participated in the competition to qualify for graduate school promotionScale item
9I participated in the competition to gain practical experienceScale item
10I entered the contest because I was interestedScale item
11I don’t know why I entered the contest and went with the flowScale item
12By participating in the competition, my ability has improved a lotScale item
Table 2. The importance of the school and instructor in participation in discipline competitions.
Table 2. The importance of the school and instructor in participation in discipline competitions.
IndicatorsWMVIRank
The school valued and encouraged students to participate in competitions4.67Strongly agree1
The school provided guidance and assistance for the competition4.61Strongly agree2
The instructor was very responsible for the competitions 4.56Strongly agree3
Legend: 4.00–5.00 = strongly agree; 3.00–3.99 = agree; 2.00–2.99 = neutral; 1.00–1.99 = disagree; 0.00–0.99 = strongly disagree.
Table 3. The students’ intention to participate in discipline competitions.
Table 3. The students’ intention to participate in discipline competitions.
IndicatorsWMVIRank
Entered the contest for the purpose of certificates and awards3.84Agree4
Participated in the competition to qualify for graduate school promotion3.51Agree5
I participated in the competition to gain practical experience4.62Strongly agree1
I entered the contest because I was interested4.33Strongly agree3
I don’t know why I entered the contest and went with the flow2.66Neutrality6
By participating in the competition, my ability has improved a lot4.52Strongly agree2
Legend: 4.00–5.00 = strongly agree; 3.00–3.99 = agree; 2.00–2.99 = Neutral; 1.00–1.99 = disagree; 0.00–0.99 = strongly disagree.
Table 4. The importance of the school and instructor in the participation of discipline competitions.
Table 4. The importance of the school and instructor in the participation of discipline competitions.
CategoryCourseMain Content and Objective
TheoryFoundation of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Employment Guidance for University StudentsBasic knowledge of innovative thinking, innovative spirit, entrepreneurial consciousness, and entrepreneurial ability
Food Chemistry, Food Analysis, Food Technology, and New Food Product DevelopmentTheoretical foundation for improving food quality, developing new food resources, innovating food processing technology, and improving comprehensive utilization level of materials
Experimental Design and Data Processing, Information Retrieval, and Scientific Paper WritingAchieved the independent design of a process and the analysis of experimental data, written papers, and patents
ExperimentFood Chemistry Experiment, Food Analysis Experiment, Food Technology Experiment, and New Food Product and Innovation ExperimentCompleted the laboratory production of beverages, meat products, and baked foods, and mastered the testing methods of materials and product
PracticeCognitive Practice and Production PracticeBe familiar with the production process and work in real food production positions
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MDPI and ACS Style

Kong, X.; Zeng, Q.; Guo, X.; Kong, F. Sustainable Cultivation of Discipline Competition Programs for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Example of the Food Science and Engineering Major. Sustainability 2024, 16, 5846. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16145846

AMA Style

Kong X, Zeng Q, Guo X, Kong F. Sustainable Cultivation of Discipline Competition Programs for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Example of the Food Science and Engineering Major. Sustainability. 2024; 16(14):5846. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16145846

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kong, Xiaoqi, Qinghua Zeng, Xingfeng Guo, and Feng Kong. 2024. "Sustainable Cultivation of Discipline Competition Programs for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Example of the Food Science and Engineering Major" Sustainability 16, no. 14: 5846. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16145846

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