Abstract: Using subject competitions as a carrier to enhance the innovation and entrepreneurship abilities of engineering students is an important way for the educational reform. However, due to the rapid development of the society economy and the dynamic changes in students'values, the role of subject competitions in enhancing the efficiency of innovation and entrepreneurship has been somewhat affected. Starting from the top-level design, College of Civil Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University expands the layout of disciplinary construction, optimizes the reward and guidance mechanism, strengthens the construction of guidance teams, excavates effective social resources, and improves the management system of disciplinary competitions. This significantly improves the effectiveness of cultivating students through competitions and enhancing their innovation and entrepreneurship abilities, providing an effective path for optimizing the talent cultivation method of engineering college students relying on disciplinary competitions to enhance their innovation and entrepreneurship abilities.

Key words: Subject competition, Engineering students, Innovation and entrepreneurship, Ability improvement, Path research, Talent quality