Competence-based curriculum reform of Principles of Genetic Engineering in biomedical education for promoting the construction of first-class majors and disciplines: a qualitative study

The competence enhancement of college students is the overarching objective of curriculum construction and reform, which is crucial for the construction of first-class majors and disciplines. Principles of Genetic Engineering is an important professional course for the students of Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering that are the national first-class construction majors at Guizhou Medical University in China. To increase the personalized self-directed and mutual learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in biomedical science and engineering, an innovative teaching was designed to implement a vivid and interactive learning mode based on online and offline platform, smart teaching tools and scientific research achievements. After multiple rounds of teaching practice, continuous improvement and iterative updates, a ‘three-stage and three-guidance’ learning model was established to integrate pre-class, in-class, and post-class stages under the guidance of self-learning, question and research. In result, this curriculum was identified as the provincial ‘Golden Course’ and the average overall satisfaction rate for students reached 96.88%. Totally, this pattern can motivate students’ intrinsic passion and interests in learning and enhance their scientific research thinking, innovation ability, teamwork and comprehensive skills in solving practical problems, supporting that the effective curriculum reform can promote the cultivation of high-quality talents and support the construction of first-class majors and disciplines.