Advancing Military Course Construction to Enhance University Students’ National Defense Literacy

Military course teaching is the main channel for national defense education of university students. Strengthening and deepening the reform of military course teaching is a crucial link in implementing the *Opinions on Strengthening and Improving National Defense Education for the Entire People in the New Era* issued by the Central Committee of the CPC, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission in 2022, as well as in carrying out the newly revised *National Defense Education Law of the People’s Republic of China* in 2024. School national defense education is the foundation of national defense education for the entire people. To promote the connotative development of military course construction, it is necessary to promote the combination of the political nature, ideological nature, contemporary relevance, and innovativeness of military courses, deepen the reform of national defense education in universities in the New Era, and enhance the development level of national defense education for the entire people and the quality of building national defense reserve forces.

军事课教学是大学生国防教育的主渠道，加强和深化军事课教学改革是落实2022年中共中央、国务院、中央军委印发的《关于加强和改进新时代全民国防教育工作的意见》，以及贯彻2024年新修订的《中华人民共和国国防教育法》的重要一环。学校国防教育是全民国防教育的基础，推动军事课建设内涵式发展，应促进军事课的政治性、思想性、时代性与创新性相结合，深化新时代高校国防教育改革，提升全民国防教育发展水平和国防后备力量建设质量。

Inherit the red genes and optimize teaching content. Integrate patriotic education throughout military course teaching, root the red genes, strengthen education on the history of the Party, the military, and the revolution, and transmit to students the revolutionary spirit, fine traditions, and values formed by the CPC during revolution and construction. Integrate Party history and military history into chapters such as “Overview of National Defense” and “National Defense Construction,” narrating the fine traditions and work style of our military, enabling students to draw strength from them. Integrate the history of revolutionary struggle into chapters such as “Contemporary Chinese Military Thought” and “Overview of Warfare,” displaying the evolution and commonalities of the red genes in different periods, and inspiring students’ sense of historical honor and mission of the times. Systematically design teaching methods to allow the red genes to be integrated into military courses. Organize field research and study, encourage students to participate in practical activities such as compiling oral histories of veterans and volunteering as docents in red memorial halls. Emphasize the coordinated linkage of military courses with ideological and political courses, history courses, and specialized courses, presenting the spiritual core of the red genes from multiple dimensions.

传承红色基因，优化教学内容。把爱国主义教育贯穿军事课教学始终，根植红色基因，加强党史、军史、革命史的教育，将中国共产党在革命和建设过程中形成的革命精神、优良传统和价值观传递给学生。将党史、军史融入“国防概述”“国防建设”等章节，讲述我军优良传统和作风，使学生从中汲取力量。将革命斗争史融入“当代中国军事思想”“战争概述”等章节，展现不同时期红色基因的演变与共性，激发学生的历史荣誉感和时代使命感。系统性地进行教学方法设计，让红色基因融入军事课程。组织实地研学，鼓励学生参与老兵口述史整理、红色纪念馆志愿讲解等实践活动。注重军事课与思政课、历史课、专业课协同联动，多维度呈现红色基因的精神内核。

Build a solid ideological defense line and improve teaching effectiveness. Focus on strengthening students’ ideological and political awareness through military course teaching, enhancing political consciousness, firming up ideals and convictions, and firmly safeguarding national political power security, institutional security, and ideological security. Emphasize updating teaching content in step with the times, cultivate students’ ability to correctly view the international situation, enable students to strengthen their concept of national interests, deeply cultivate a sense of family and country, and establish a holistic view of national security.

筑牢思想防线，提高教学实效。注重通过军事课教学加强学生的思想政治觉悟，提高政治意识，坚定理想信念，坚定维护国家政权安全、制度安全、意识形态安全。重视与时俱进地更新教学内容，培养学生正确看待国际局势的能力，使学生强化国家利益观念，厚植家国情怀，树立总体国家安全观。

Combine military and local teaching forces to form synergy and complementarity. Strengthen military-local coordination, effectively integrate military and local educational resources, and establish cooperation mechanisms. Invite active-duty military personnel into university students’ military classrooms and military experts to give lectures on national defense and national security on campus, stimulating students’ enthusiasm for dedicating themselves to the cause of national defense. Enhance the teaching force for military courses, with military and local experts jointly conducting research on the development of university student military course textbooks and the exploration of military course teaching reform.

联合军地师资力量，形成协同互补。加强军地协同，将军队和地方的教育资源有效整合，建立合作机制。邀请现役军人走进大学生军事课堂、军事专家入校开展国防和国家安全讲座，激发学生投身国防事业的热情。增强军事课师资力量，军地专家联合开展大学生军事课教材开发、军事课教学改革探索等研究。

Focus on core military elements and emphasize the combination of theory and practice. Comprehensively and systematically study and comprehend Xi Jinping’s thought on strengthening the military, analyzing its core essence of the “Eleven Clarifications” and the methodology of the “Five Persistences” [1]1 The “Eleven Clarifications” and the “Five Persistences” are key components of Xi Jinping’s thought on strengthening the military, outlining the core principles and methodological approaches for modernizing China’s armed forces.; deeply explain classic military works such as *The Art of War* and *On War*, elucidating the strategic wisdom of warfare contained therein, and combine military theory with disciplinary knowledge such as international relations and geopolitics, cultivating students’ ability to analyze military issues across disciplines. Emphasize case study teaching, revealing the logic of success and failure in strategic decision-making through the analysis of classic ancient and modern examples of warfare; carry out combat-oriented military training, innovate training concepts, reform training models, update training content, and enhance the “flavor of war,” “flavor of the military,” and “flavor of the soldier” in military training.

聚焦军事核心要素，注重理论与实践相结合。全面系统学习领会习近平强军思想，阐析其“十一个明确”的核心要义和“五个坚持”的方法论；深入讲解《孙子兵法》《战争论》等经典军事著作，阐释其中蕴含的战争谋略智慧，并将军事理论与国际关系、地缘政治等学科知识结合，培养学生跨学科分析军事问题的能力。重视案例分析教学，通过分析古今经典战例，揭示战略决策的成败逻辑；开展实战化军事训练，创新训练理念，改革训练模式，更新训练内容，增强军训的“战味”“军味”“兵味”。

Integrate cutting-edge developments in military theory and military practice. Closely follow changes in warfare, changes in adversaries, and changes in technology, organically integrating cutting-edge military theory into university students’ military classrooms. Developments in domestic and foreign weaponry and equipment, the international strategic situation, and the evolution of the surrounding security environment—frontier content that students are interested in—should also be fully reflected in the classroom. With the development of the times, frontier fields where science and technology are actively applied, such as deep-sea security, space security, and polar security, have become emerging security spaces and new types of security domains leading the trend of the times. As an important vehicle for carrying out national defense education and national security education for university students, military courses should implement a holistic view of national security. In addition to paying attention to traditional domain security issues, they should also guide students to correctly understand the important significance of new types of domain security and firmly strengthen their sense of responsibility for consciously safeguarding national security.

融入军事理论和军事实践前沿动态。紧盯战争之变、对手之变、科技之变，将前沿军事理论有机融入大学生军事课堂。国内外武器装备发展动态、国际战略形势与周边安全环境演进动向等学生感兴趣的前沿性内容，也应在课堂充分体现。随着时代发展，深海安全、太空安全、极地安全等科学技术发展应用活跃的前沿领域，已成为引领时代潮流的新兴安全空间、新型安全领域。军事课作为开展大学生国防教育和国家安全教育的重要载体，应贯彻总体国家安全观，除了重视传统领域安全问题外，还应引导学生正确认识新型领域安全的重要意义，坚定自觉维护国家安全的责任感。

Promote the empowerment of military course teaching and training by emerging technological means. Apply emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and virtual simulation to military theory teaching and military skills training, enhancing students’ immersive experience, interactive perception, and exploratory learning. In military theory classrooms, through AI quiz exercises, etc., allow students to enter a learning environment of human-computer interaction, active inquiry, and critical thinking. Through wargaming of historical battles, allow students to experience the game of military wisdom and cultivate innovative thinking abilities. In the military training segment, carry out informationized and intelligent training, enhance university students’ ability to control intelligent equipment, and use VR battlefield simulation systems to conduct simulated training, improving training efficiency.

促进新兴技术手段赋能军事课教学和训练。将人工智能、大数据、虚拟仿真等新兴技术运用于军事理论教学和军事技能训练，增进学生沉浸式体验、交互式感知、探索性求知。在军事理论课堂，通过AI测验练习等，让学生进入人机交互、主动求知、批判思考的学习环境。通过对历史战役的兵棋推演，让学生体会军事智慧的博弈，培养创新思维能力。在军事训练环节，开展信息化与智能化训练，提升大学生对智能装备的操控能力，并使用VR战场模拟系统开展模拟训练，提高训练效率。

Focus on national defense literacy and build a national defense education system that deeply integrates the first classroom and the second classroom. The cultivation of university students’ national defense literacy should be taken as the core goal of military courses, following the characteristics of students’ gradual progression and integration of “knowledge, emotion, will, and action,” adopting various forms such as theoretical lectures and military training, and designing teaching content based on the principle of being close to the times, close to students, and close to actual combat. Extensively carry out national defense practice activities, such as military camp research and study, national defense volunteer activities, military discipline competitions, etc., and organize flag-raising, commemorative, and other activities on major anniversaries. Strengthen coordination among universities, national defense education authorities, veterans’ affairs departments, and off-campus national defense education bases, promoting the innovative and high-quality development of national defense education in universities.

聚焦国防素养，构建第一课堂与第二课堂深度融合的国防教育体系。应将大学生国防素养培养作为军事课的核心目标，遵循学生“知情意行”逐步递进整合的特点，采取理论授课、军事训练等多种形式，以贴近时代、贴近学生、贴近实战的原则开展教学内容设计。广泛开展国防实践活动，如军营研学、国防志愿者活动、军事学科竞赛等，在重大纪念日组织升旗、悼念等活动。加强高校和国防教育主管部门、退役军人事务部门、校外国防教育基地相协同，推进高校国防教育创新发展、高质量发展。

Reform the evaluation system and emphasize diversified and process-oriented evaluation. The military course performance evaluation system should combine summative evaluation with process-oriented evaluation, add assessment components such as national defense practice reports and reading reflections on classic military works, and encourage students to participate in national defense-related scientific research projects and competitions such as military modeling contests and national defense speech contests. Additionally, a “National Defense Literacy Growth Portfolio” can be established to record students’ growth and changes in knowledge, skills, values, etc., and to promptly grasp students’ learning effectiveness.

改革评价体系，重视多元化和过程性评价。军事课成绩评价体系应实现终结性评价与过程性评价相结合，增加国防实践报告、军事名著读后感等考核环节，鼓励学生参加国防类科研项目及军事建模竞赛、国防演讲大赛等比赛。此外，可建立“国防素养成长档案”，记录学生在知识、技能、价值观等方面的成长变化，及时掌握学生学习成效。

(Author: Li Ke; Affiliation: Military Teaching and Research Office, Xi’an Jiaotong University)

（作者：李科 单位：西安交通大学军事教研室）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧