Taking the course construction of basic principles of steel structure for overseas students in Huaqiao University as an example, and benchmarking against the first-class courses construction standards of the Ministry of Education, this paper discusses the experience of first-class course construction of overseas students in Huaqiao University. Four aspects are explored, including integrating curriculum ideological and political education, optimizing teaching design, enriching teaching resources and strengthening process management. The aim is to provide reference for training modern civil engineers to meet the needs of future engineering construction and regional economic construction.