Mission statement

School of Design, Southwest Jiaotong University is a cross-disciplinary academy that conducts research on systematic innovation and design education. Its objective is to implement the new development concept to better respond to the profound impact of the rapid development of digitalization, intelligence, and urbanization on the spatial and temporal scenarios and life patterns of transportation, production and manufacturing, living and entertainment, and urban construction. At the same time, it will implement the transportation characteristics and high-quality development strategy of Southwest Jiaotong University, and play the role of design disciplines in creating demand-oriented scenarios and linking multidisciplinary integration and innovation. With intelligent technology as the leader, digital media design as the pioneer, design as the essence, and integration and innovation as the development idea, the academy is set to serve the future of smart life, integrating wisdom, goodness, and beauty, connecting the present with the future, society and economy.

After nearly 30 years of disciplinary development, the design majors have expanded from system design focusing on the transportation field to cutting-edge fields such as digital intelligence design and human-computer interaction, digital media art and information visualization, and smart city environment design, cultivating high-level innovative design and art talents to serve national strategies, industry needs and urban development.

Main Focus

The education of the School of Design, Southwest Jiaotong University, has the advantage of developing transportation equipment design. The disciplines expand to the frontier fields of digital intelligence design and human-machine interaction, digital media art and visualization, smart city environment design, etc. The school undertakes bachelor's and master's education programs around product design, environmental design, and digital media art. It also runs doctoral programs around industrial design and engineering.

International Role

School of Design, Southwest Jiaotong University is located in a critical node city, Chengdu, along the "Belt and Road" and, therefore, has a global perspective with partners, programs, and alumni worldwide.

Relying on the university's international platform, we are able to expand partnerships with more than 200 higher education institutions, government agencies, enterprises, and international organizations worldwide. The university has signed cooperation agreements with 45 international universities from Europe, the United States, and Asia. We have also signed exchange agreements, including design majors, with universities such as the University of Alberta in Canada, the Metropolitan University of Prague in the Czech Republic, the Ecole Centrale Paris in France, the Technical University of Munich in Germany, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the United States, Queen Mary University in the United Kingdom, and Politecnico di Milano in Italy.

We offer and accept a variety of short-term summer and winter programs to enrich students' personal cultural and academic experiences. Students have gained immersion experiences at leading global higher education institutions, world-renowned companies, and international organizations.

National Role

School of Design, Southwest Jiaotong University is the director unit of the Design Teaching Committee of Sichuan Province. Product Design and Environmental Design of this discipline have been approved as a national first-class specialty major. Committed to “transportation +” and emphasizing the characteristics of “rail transit,” the school must take up the task of "One Belt, One Road". The discipline has three directions: industrial design and human-computer interaction, environmental design and its theory, and visual communication and its theory.

Talent cultivation is guided by national strategy and set up by closely following the characteristic of “rail transit.” It has been approved as the national first-class course and awarded the prize of national teaching achievements. The school has practiced the national strategy of building a powerful country with a robust transportation network and are committed to innovating the Chinese style and image of “Harmony” and “Renaissance” EMU train, with the train CR400AF and CR400BF of “Renaissance” both receiving the highest prize, China Patent Award, and Intelligent Renaissance EMU Train of Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway receiving great national and international influences.

Societal Impact

The school has deeply explored and condensed the social service characteristics of "transportation+" and promoted the university-enterprise-government cooperation mode, which causes significant social impacts.

The school has supported the innovation and development of Chinese railway trains and carried out design services around rail trains with independent intellectual property rights. It has strongly supported the design and development of Sino-foreign rail vehicles and effectively enhanced the market competitiveness of Chinese rail trains.

To enhance the usability and comfort of China's high-end special transportation equipment, the school has cooperated with western companies and completed the design projects such as high-speed sanitary trains and particular R&D cabins. It has provided professional and comfortable design solutions for developing China's high-end special transportation equipment.

To support rural revitalization and transportation facilities construction, the school has completed many countryside design services and transportation facilities design projects, with the cooperation with relevant governments and companies, providing solutions to support the revitalization and development of China's western regions.

We promote national academic innovation in design. In the past five years, we have funded more than 150 projects facing the whole country, invested more than 1.2 million RMB, and published 165 papers, providing long-term guidance and support for the revitalization and prosperity of academic innovation in the design field.

We have promoted the development of social science education on high-speed railroads in China and show the history and achievements of high-speed railroads in all aspects.