A Sustainability-Oriented Training Model for Energy Majors: A Longitudinal Case Study in Chinese Higher Education

Under China’s dual-carbon agenda and the accelerating green and digital transformation of the energy industry, higher education institutions face increasing pressure to prepare engineers for sustainable development. This article reports a longitudinal institutional case study of three energy-related undergraduate programs at Central South University, China. The core implementation period was 2018–2024; 2012 progression data were used as a descriptive pre-reform reference, and 2025 destination data provided a follow-up endpoint. The study reconstructs the author-developed model from curriculum documents, project and award records, graduate-destination statistics, employer-feedback summaries, textbook-adoption records, and dissemination records. It uses descriptive comparison and documentary triangulation; no control group or statistical significance tests were used. The Sustainability-Oriented Training Model for Energy Majors coordinates values and responsibility formation, science-education empowerment, and green and digitally enabled innovation through a task-driven full-cycle tutor system and four supporting mechanisms: value anchoring, knowledge iteration, a practice closed loop, and dynamic assessment. During the implementation period, the institutional records show higher postgraduate progression at the reported endpoints and favorable employment, employer-feedback, student-innovation, curriculum-renewal, and dissemination indicators. These outcomes are associated with the implementation period but do not establish causal effects or directly measure sustainability competencies. The case offers a context-dependent framework for sustainability-oriented reform in engineering education.