Abstract: This paper mainly discusses two trends of the curriculum reform in universities of engineering in such countries as the United States,Germany,Russia and Japan:a. strengthening the practice in engineering and the education of design ability;b. paying great attention to the education of humanities & social sciences.The paper further makes clear the orientation of the reform and development of international higher education of engineering through the study and analysis of the practice in the curriculum reform in these countries.

Key words: universitiesofengineering, curriculumreform, practiceinengineering, educationofhumanities&, socialsciences