Digital Competence Development for Information Engineering Students in Higher Education Institutions in Yunnan Province: A Research Framework and Preliminary Exploration

With the deepening of global digital transformation and the advancement of China's "Digital Yunnan" strategy, digital competence has become a core competency for information engineering students to adapt to industrial upgrading and national development needs. This study examines digital competence development in four higher education institutions in Yunnan Province through a diagnostic survey, expert consultation, and a single-group pretest-posttest intervention. The diagnostic survey retained 413 valid responses from institutions with a combined information engineering enrollment of 5,621. The framework integrates Digital Awareness, Digital Knowledge, Digital Skills, Digital Security, and Digital Ethics and connects these dimensions to international frameworks and engineering education. Following an eight-session, 24-hour program, 30 students at Kunming University of Science and Technology reported higher overall competence at posttest (M = 3.52, SD = 0.41) than at pretest (M = 3.01, SD = 0.46), t(29) = 8.716, p < .001. Digital Security and Digital Skills showed the largest reported relative gains. These findings provide preliminary evidence of change following the program. The absence of a comparison group and delayed assessment limits causal interpretation, evidence of retention, and generalization beyond the participating institutions.