Sino-German industrial design workshop: Sustainable practical teaching in transnational educational collaboration

This study employs a mixed-methods approach to systematically explore the primary challenges and corresponding strategies encountered over the 24-year Sino-German Industrial Design Workshop (SGIDW) in transnational education. Data were drawn from 12 operational dimensions of practical teaching within the SGIDW training programme (SGIDW Programme), supplemented by comprehensive analyses of feedback from questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews. Results indicate a high level of participant satisfaction, and practical teaching effectively addresses challenges across four sustainability dimensions: collaboration, exchange, innovation, and design. Despite long-term and dynamically evolving structural challenges, three major strategies embodied in the SGIDW Programme – establishing training objectives, facilitating diverse exchanges, and upholding an ethos of innovation – remain effective pathways for addressing both current and future challenges. This research provides theoretical recommendations for the continued optimisation of the SGIDW Programme and offers a novel theoretical perspective and practical reference for sustainable practical teaching in transnational workshops within the context of globalisation.