The Pilot Programme for Reform on Talent Cultivation Mode and Open Education of OUC, a project approved by the Ministry of Education, was launched in April 1999 and completed and accepted in April 2007. It intends to explore and establish the basic framework, teaching mode, administrative mode and operative mechanism for the education of students who are to be conferred the associate degree and those associate-degree-holders who are to be conferred the bachelor's degree against the background of modern ODE. The aim is to develop qualified practice-oriented professionals. The Pilot Programme involves the target of training, reform of the teaching plan, course content and structure, development of the teacher team, course materials, on-line platform and infrastructure, reform of the teaching mode and administrative mode, as well as the establishment of the learning support services system and the quality assurance system.
Study on Assurance of Teaching Quality of China Open Universities, a National Education Sciences Planning Project of "the 10th Five-Year Plan" (No. FKB011381), was undertaken by OUC and the research findings were reviewed and accepted in June 2006. The sub-study entitled "Study on the Teaching Quality Assurance System of Open Universities" was launched in the second half of 2003 and was completed and accepted in January 2006.
The Empirical and Comparative Cost-Benefit Study on Distance Education of Open Universities is a National Education Sciences Planning Project of "the 10th Five-Year Plan". It was formally approved in 2006, and the research findings were reviewed and accepted in August 2008 with an excellent rating.
The Study on the Formation of Modern Distance Education Culture is a Ministry of Education Planning Project approved by the National Office for Education Sciences Planning at the end of 2006. Led by OUC, the Project is to be completed by the teachers and researchers from OUs throughout China. 114 of the 117 sub-projects were undertaken by 23 provincial OUs. Such collaboration has created good opportunities to focus and consolidate research at these universities.
Chinese Journal of Distance Education* (monthly) was founded in August 1981, which is affiliated with the Open University of China (OUC) and under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and sponsored by the OUC. The Journal is published on the 30th of each month and it has been regarded as one of the core educational journals in China and is indexed in the Chinese Social Science Citation Index (CSSCI- Expanded Version). The Journal upholds the missions of focusing on the practical development of distance education and promoting the ongoing deepening of distance education research in order to set up an interactive communication platform for researchers, practitioners and administrators of distance education areas both in China and abroad.
I. Basic Information
The Lifelong Education Research Institute of the Open University of China (OUC) is China’s earliest research and management institution on distance education.