On the morning of 2 June 2018, the “Social Activities Centre of the Experimental School of the Open University of China”, a joint venture of the Experimental School of the Open University of China (OUC) and Beijing Xiudegu Culture Communication, was launched in Xiudegu.
For both parties this was a means of putting into practice General Secretary Xi Jinping’s requirement that moral education be emphasised in colleges and universities, along with traditional Chinese culture, in order to enhance the humanistic component of open education and enrich campus cultural life.
Present at the ceremony were OUC leaders, including vice president Liu Chen; Tang Yingshan, director of the School of Art Education; Sun Fuwan, director of the OUC News Centre; and Guo Qingchun, dean of the Experimental School, along with the presidents of branch schools and study centres attached to the experimental schools. Leaders from Beijing Xiudegu Culture Communication included Li Chengcheng, general manager, and Li Long, deputy general manager. Guo Qingchun and Li Chengcheng signed the Social Activities Centre Cooperation Agreement on behalf of their respective organisations, and Liu Chen and Li Cheng unveiled the new social activities centre.
Liu Chen indicated that the Chinese culture is profound, and has a long history and unique value system. As the soil from which the Chinese nation has grown, it provides a powerful spiritual impetus to its rejuvenation, with its rich teachings of moral principles and ideals being valuable resources for moral education in colleges and universities, and of great significance for promoting such education there and enhancing the ideological quality and moral character of college students. This launch signifies the implementation of the strategy of strengthening the nation through education directed by the 19th CPC National Congress and by General Secretary Xi Jinping in his speeches on the importance of bringing traditional Chinese culture back to life. It is important to strengthen moral education and promote the integration of traditional Chinese morality and codes of conduct in the cultural life of open universities in the new era, and this is a major way to strengthen the ideological and political education of college and university students, while also being key to the reform of higher education. He stated that the Experimental School would make full use of Xiudegu's strengths in terms of teaching traditional Chinese culture, organize students into activities with moral themes, and put in place moral education for college and university students by way of making traditional Chinese culture part of the campus culture of open universities. The roles of the experimental schools in “pioneering experimental teaching through demonstration and guidance” will be emphasised, and excellent results have already been achieved.
Li Chengcheng said that Xiudegu was committed to the practice and dissemination of traditional Chinese culture, and advocated the integration of self-cultivation with modern ways of life. It offers more than 30 classes in traditional culture, including guqing, the joss-stick and tea ceremonies, carpentry, ancient paper-making, and sitting as therapy. The OUC, as a national and inclusive educational institution, has made important contributions to the dissemination of Chinese culture, and she is looking forward to joining it in telling the world the Chinese story while striving for cultural rejuvenation.
Both parties said that the launch would further cooperation between the OUC Experimental School and Beijing Xiudegu Culture Communication. The OUC Experimental School’s Social Activities Centre establishes a platform for integrating teaching and practice and the cooperation of enterprises and colleges. It makes up for the disadvantages of the OUC Experimental School in terms of practical teaching, and enhances the moral education of college and university students, improves their cultural literacy, and enriches the cultural life of the OUC.
After the signing and unveiling, the guests visited the Xiudegu Social Activities Centre and experienced classes related to moral education and traditional culture.
By Yuan Wenwu, OUC