From August 9 to 14, the 12^th National University Students’ Metallographic Skills Competition “Leica Cup,” sponsored by the Teaching Guidance Committee of Higher Education Materials Specialties of the Ministry of Education of China and hosted by Zhengzhou University came to an end. The NEFU team composed of teachers and students from the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering was awarded one first prize, one second prize and three third prizes.

Since the start of the competition in March of this year, it has been carried out through on-campus preliminaries, regional rounds and centralized finals, with a total of 507 colleges and universities taking part in the competition and 8,361 official contestants. After the 26 sub-regional rounds, 1,431 contestants from 493 colleges and universities stood out and entered the final, which was held in Zhengzhou University. In the finals, students achieved excellent results with solid metallographic skills and psychological quality. Among them, Mr. Yang Yonghui won the first prize, Mr. Zhang Yiting won the second prize, Mr.Ren Qiang ,Tang Yongquan and Wang Jiale won the third prize.

Metallographic skills are not only a key of material research and exploration, but an important part of cultivating capability of manufacturing and professional skills for students. Improving the skills is the continuous pursuit of advanced metal material preparation technology and high quality, as well as the practical exploration of integrating the spirit of scientists with the spirit of craftsmen. The Metallographic Skills Competition is an extension of classroom and a platform for practice and communication, with the aim of promoting teaching, reform, and learning by competition. The competition not only improves the practical ability and comprehensive quality of our students which shows the style of our college students, but also helps teachers accumulate experience in the combination of disciplinary competitions and professional education for teachers in order to continuously improves the quality of talent cultivation.