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1 Introduction

With the rapid development of the digital economy and intelligent industries, the demand for talent in the industry has shifted from single technical talents to composite talents with both technical expertise and leadership capabilities. As an important component of comprehensive quality education, undergraduate leadership is not only a core competitiveness for personal career development but also a crucial starting point for universities to implement the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education and serve industrial upgrading (Song et al., 2023; Jiang, 2025). Traditional leadership training in universities mostly relies on theoretical lectures and the selection of student leaders, which suffers from problems such as the disconnection between theory and practice, single training carriers, and limited coverage of groups, making it difficult to meet industrial needs (Wu, 2024). Against the backdrop of industry-education integration, school-enterprise collaboration provides authentic scenarios and practical platforms for leadership cultivation. Based on the advantages of in-depth school-enterprise cooperation, the School of Digital-Intelligence Industry at Wuhan Polytechnic University draws on the mature experience of the “Intelligent Base” industry-education integration project of relevant universities, constructs a leadership cultivation system tailored to the characteristics of digital-intelligence industry talents, and realizes the simultaneous improvement of technical capabilities and leadership literacy (Ma et al., 2025; Huo, 2025)

2 Core Logic of Cultivating College Students’ Leadership under School-Enterprise Collaborative Education

Adhering to the principles of “school-enterprise collaboration, industry-education integration, and the integration of knowledge with practice”, the School of Digital-Intelligence Industry at Wuhan Polytechnic University integrates leadership cultivation into the whole process of talent training and forms a clear cultivation logic (Ma et al., 2025). Leadership is no longer an exclusive ability of a small number of student backbones, but a quality education oriented to all students, covering core dimensions such as self-management, interpersonal communication, teamwork, overall planning and decision-making, and innovation and adaptability (Han, 2025). The cultivation process adheres to the principles of student-centeredness, practice-orientedness, and industrial demand orientation. Relying on resources from both universities and enterprises, it builds hierarchical and categorized training platforms, enabling students to complete the progression of abilities from “basic awareness” to “practical application” and then to “advanced overall planning” in club operations, activity organization, project research, and competitions. Ultimately, it cultivates composite talents for the digital intelligence industry who are technically competent, good at management, and responsible (Wang & Li, 2024; Bao et al., 2024).

3 Practical Paths for Cultivating College Students’ Leadership in the School of Digital-Intelligence Industry

3.1 Establishing a Hierarchical Training Platform with Student Organizations as the Foundational Base

Leveraging the National First-Class Program Construction Site of Information and Computational Science, the School of Digital-Intelligence Industry is jointly established by Wuhan Polytechnic University and relevant high-tech enterprises in the industry. It adopts a model that combines student self-management with joint mentorship from university teachers and enterprise instructors, providing basic leadership training positions for students at different levels. The College manages multiple digital intelligence innovation associations and technical practice clubs. The leadership of these associations is elected by outstanding senior students, who are fully responsible for the annual planning of the associations, school-enterprise resource alignment, member management, and activity coordination. In the process of connecting with the school, enterprises, and guiding teachers, they cultivate core leadership capabilities such as overall planning, cross-party communication, and resource coordination. The clubs are divided into functional departments such as the Technical Department, Activity Department, Publicity Department, and External Relations Department, where students take positions based on their interests and strengths. Through specific tasks including technical training, activity execution, publicity, promotion, and external liaison, they develop practical foundational abilities in task decomposition, teamwork, and hands-on implementation (Wang, 2025). Meanwhile, a mentoring mechanism of “senior students guiding junior students” is established, where senior students serve as technical team leaders and training lecturers, responsible for guiding junior students in technical introduction and assigning practical tasks. By leading their teams to complete basic tasks, they foster a sense of responsibility, service and team management awareness, realizing the goal of “every student has a position, and every position provides training opportunities”, thereby building a solid foundation for the improvement of leadership.

3.2 Using School-Enterprise Activities as Practical Carriers to Hone Comprehensive Application Abilities

The School of Digital-Intelligence Industry regularly holds characteristic activities such as digital intelligence industry forums, technical salons, enterprise open days, and professional literacy training camps in collaboration with cooperative enterprises, including iSoftStone and Qi An Xin Technology Group. All activities follow a model featuring “teacher guidance & student leadership”, where student teams spearhead the entire execution process — spanning planning and preparation, process design, personnel organization, on-site execution, and post-event evaluation. The core person in charge of the activities coordinates the whole process, independently docking enterprise needs, coordinating on-campus venues and materials, and formulating emergency plans. Through organizing high-standard activities, students enhance advanced leadership capabilities in decision-making, overall coordination, and emergency response. The execution team is divided into the Reception Group, Technical Group, On-site Group, and Publicity Group according to functions, with each group having a clear division of labor and efficient cooperation to complete tasks such as guest reception, equipment debugging, on-site guidance, and publicity reporting. Through teamwork, students deepen their understanding that “leadership is about team win-win rather than individual arbitrariness”. During the preparation and execution of activities, student teams face unexpected challenges such as equipment failures, changes in the number of participants, and process adjustments. With guidance from teachers, they can quickly analyze and accurately solve problems, exercising their logical thinking, rapid response, and resource integration capabilities, thereby transforming leadership from theoretical knowledge into practical application capabilities.

3.3 Using Competitions and Scientific Research as the Core Driving Force to Cultivate Core Leadership Literacy

Leveraging the school-enterprise technical resources, the college supports students to participate in competitions such as the “Internet Plus” College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, national and provincial college students’ innovation training programs, and the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contests, among others. Taking project teams and competition teams as basic units, students cultivate core leadership literacy in technological problem-solving and innovation practice. Each project and competition team is led by a student leader. The person in charge formulates execution plans based on team goals, reasonably assigns tasks according to members’ technical strengths, tracks project progress in real time, and coordinates technical problems and team conflicts. By setting phased goals and sharing progress and achievements, they motivate the team, enhancing their abilities in goal management, team motivation, and conflict resolution. Team members perform their respective duties around a common objective, proactively support one another and collaborate to overcome technical challenges, thereby fostering a collective spirit and a sense of responsibility, which solidifies their foundational leadership base. Meanwhile, project teams integrate enterprise technical platforms, on-campus tutors, and club technical resources, exploring innovative application directions aligned with the needs of the digital-intelligence industry. Through cross-disciplinary integration and technological innovation, they enhance innovative thinking and resource integration capabilities, achieving the deep integration of leadership and technological innovation.

3.4 Taking Tiered Cultivation and Incentives as Guarantees to Achieve Hierarchical Ability Improvement

The School of Digital-Intelligence Industry has established a tiered cultivation mechanism — characterized by “engagement in lower grades, implementation in middle grades, and stewardship in upper grades”, designing leadership cultivation content in line with students’ growth rules. Lower-grade students primarily participate in club activities and foundational practices, gaining an initial understanding of leadership concepts and cultivating a sense of responsibility and collaborative ability. Middle-grade students undertake tasks such as department execution and activity organization, enhancing their practical application and teamwork skills. Senior students serve as club leaders, project team heads, or overall activity coordinators, thereby exercising their leadership competencies in holistic decision-making and advanced management. Meanwhile, the college has improved its honor and incentive mechanism by linking leadership performance to merit-based evaluations, recommendations for corporate internships, recognition of practical credits, and scholarship determinations, thereby ensuring that students’ efforts in demonstrating leadership are recognized and rewarded. The university and enterprises jointly establish accolades such as Digital-Intelligence “Star of Excellence” and “Outstanding Practice Leader” to recognize students who have demonstrated exceptional performance in club operations, activity organization, and project execution. This creates a positive incentive atmosphere, stimulates student motivation to participate in leadership cultivation, and enables progressive and continuous improvement in leadership development.

4 Cultivation Outcomes and Practical Value

Through sustained practice, the leadership cultivation system of the School of Digital-Intelligence Industry has yielded remarkable outcomes. The operational efficiency of student organizations has been continuously improved, and the reach and influence of club activities have steadily expanded. The quality of school-enterprise activity organization has been progressively enhanced, gradually gaining high recognition from partner enterprises as well as faculty and students on campus. Students’ abilities in organizational coordination, communication and expression, and team management have been significantly strengthened, and they have accumulated valuable workplace experience through high-standard practical activities. In terms of competitions and research, numerous student teams have won awards at provincial-level and above competitions, yielding fruitful results. The quality of completed college student innovation projects has been excellent, with students’ innovative capacity and leadership competence improving simultaneously. Regarding employment, the competitiveness of graduating students in the job market has been notably enhanced. Leveraging their dual advantages in technical skills and leadership, they are highly sought after by partner enterprises such as iSoftStone and Qi An Xin Technology Group, and both the employment quality and career development potential of the school have been continuously elevated.

The cultivation model of the School of Digital-Intelligence Industry breaks through the limitations of traditional leadership training, achieving deep integration of university and enterprise resources, organic integration of educational theory and practice, and synergistic improvement of technical ability and leadership competence. Notably, it provides a feasible pathway for cultivating undergraduate leadership within the industry colleges of local universities. This model aligns with the talent demands of the digital intelligence industry, emphasizes practice-orientation and universal coverage, enriches the essence of industry-education integration, and fulfills the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education, thereby effectively assisting universities in cultivating compound innovative talents capable of adapting to the development of the digital economy.

5 Conclusion

Within the context of school-enterprise collaborative education, undergraduate leadership cultivation constitutes a crucial means of talent development in universities. Drawing on the experience of the Huawei “Smart Base” project of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), the School of Digital-Intelligence Industry at Wuhan Polytechnic University, grounded in the advantages of in-depth university-enterprise cooperation, has constructed a comprehensive, multi-tiered, practice-oriented leadership cultivation system. Using student clubs, campus activities, professional competitions, and research projects as carriers, the school enables students to hone core competencies in authentic scenarios, achieving the simultaneous development of technical literacy and leadership ability. In the future, the School of Digital-Intelligence Industry will continue to deepen industry-education integration, optimize cultivation mechanisms, and expand practice platforms to continuously improve the quality of undergraduate leadership cultivation. Ultimately, it will supply more high-quality compound talents for the digital intelligence industry and provide additional practical experience for the innovation of talent cultivation models in industry colleges of local universities.

Acknowledgments

The authors would also like to express their sincere gratitude to the organizing committee of the 2026 International Academic Symposium on “Challenges and Reshaping of College Students’ Leadership in the Digital Intelligence Era” and the LEAD Academic Network Conference for providing an invaluable academic platform that inspired and informed this research.

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