Construction and Practice of a “Four-Dimension and Four-Stage” Talent Training Model for Postgraduates in Geotechnical Engineering Driven by Sustainability and Intelligence

Driven by global sustainable development and intelligent technological innovation, the geotechnical engineering industry is transforming toward the direction of “Intelligent technology + Low-carbon circulation + Ecological friendliness”, creating an urgent demand for interdisciplinary talents with corresponding professional capabilities and sustainable awareness. To address the deficiencies in traditional postgraduate education (e.g., disjointed knowledge systems, inadequate practice oriented to Sustainable Geotechnical Engineering (SGE), and superficial integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), this study constructs a “Four-Dimensional and Four-Stage” integrated talent training model based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. Taking “Intelligent Technology—Geotechnical Theory—SGE Scenarios—ESD Literacy” as its core framework and adopting a progressive path of “Basic Cognition—Collaborative Application—Innovative Development—Sustainable Transformation”, this model was piloted among 23 postgraduate students through the course titled “Intelligent Design and Construction of Geotechnical Engineering”. The results show that all the students obtained officially granted software copyrights, their core professional capabilities were significantly improved, 100% of them applied their research achievements to SGE-related practices, and their ESD literacy was notably enhanced. Breaking through the traditional “knowledge-practice” dualistic framework of engineering education, this model achieves the in-depth integration of professional training and sustainable awareness cultivation and thus provides a replicable paradigm for the ESD education of interdisciplinary postgraduate students in the intelligent age.