Professional course teaching for graduate students plays an important role in the ability cultivation of graduate students. How to improve the quality of teaching, especially how to meet the rapid development of social employment needs, is a significant topic that needs to be explored and solved. With the rapid development of tunnel engineering, bridge engineering, port water conservancy engineering, geological engineering and other industries, the construction of projects tends to be more and more deep and large-scale, which poses a new challenge to the needs of practitioners for knowledge of rock mechanics and higher requirements for postgraduate education. Advanced rock mechanics course, as a professional basic course that closely integrates theory and practice, plays a pivotal role in the cultivation of graduate students’ professional attainment. In this paper, the characteristics and existing problems of advanced rock mechanics course teaching are analyzed, the actual needs of engineering practice, postgraduate training and education reform are taken into consideration, and the guiding ideas and practical measures for the teaching reform of this course are put forward. The teaching reform practice is carried out in advanced rock mechanics course for postgraduates majoring in architecture and civil engineering of Tongji University, which has achieved good results, and provided a reference for the teaching reform of postgraduate courses in the future.