Abstract: Building a governance system for engineering education in China is an inevitable choice for solving the persistent problems in the field of engineering education， empowering the cultivation of a large number of outstanding engineers， and building a world-important talent centre and innovation highland. Based on the policy network theory， the governance of engineering education in China has gone through three stages of historical development from government section-led， expanding multiple subjects to building governance networks. In terms of the symbolic elements of engineering education governance in China， it shows that the scope of governance subjects continues to expand and the types of subjects are becoming more and more diversified， the governance structure continues to expand from a single hierarchical form to a mixed form， the selection of governance tools gradually shifts from an emphasis on regulatory commands to a focus on macro-guidance， and the consultation mechanism， the communication mechanism as well as the pilot mechanism have gradually been established. However， at the same time， problems are highlighted as well， e.g.， the structure of the pluralistic main bodies still needs to be optimized， the degree of resource integration of the governance network is not high， the development and application of governance tools are insufficient， and the operational guarantee mechanism still needs to be improved. In the future， China's engineering education governance system should be improved by giving full play to the key advantages of the government's meta-governance role， continuing to promote the linkage and interaction between internal and external networks， focusing on the combination of regulatory management and soft law governance， and continuously improving the consultation mechanism and information flow mechanism.

Key words: engineering education; engineering education governance; emerging engineering education; outstanding engineer; policy network