Subgrade engineering course design is one of the most important compulsory courses for undergraduate majors, such as, transportation engineering and civil engineering, etc. The teaching status and the main problems of the subgrade engineering course design in Hohai University are pointed out. Based on the scientific research resources of the Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering and the first batch of national key disciplines of geotechnical engineering, the course teaching plan on "scientific research-experiment-teaching-engineering" is developed, and the practical teaching mode of subgrade engineering course design is refined. The specific and detailed methods of subgrade engineering course design in practice teaching are preliminarily explored. The objectives of this research are to improve the cognition and understanding of subgrade engineering for students in related majors, and further to improve their professional comprehensive skills and innovation ability.