On 13-14 December 2018, the project “Brilliant Life: A Lifelong Learning Plan for Women”, jointly implemented by the Open University of China and the Publicity Department of the All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF), held a training class in Beijing.

Wu Haiying, vice president of the ACWF and a member of the Secretariat, and OUC vice president Yang Xiaotang attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. There were nearly 100 other attendees, including representatives of the ACWF Publicity Department (Division of Culture and Education) and the OUC Departments of External Education and Professional Training, News and Public Information, Learning Resources (Library) and Information Technology, as well as the Credit Bank Management Office, School of Vocational Education and Training, and the Publishing and Media Group. Leaders of women’s federations and open universities (radio and TV universities) in the pilot cities also attended.

Yang Xiaotang affirmed in his speech the achievements the ACWF and OUC have attained by adapting to local conditions and making pioneering innovations. He emphasised that the OUC’s cooperation with the ACWF in implementing the plan belongs to its mission to serve society, transform the Radio and TV University system, and deepen reform of education; it has made the plan part of its thirteenth Five-Year Development Plan, and put all of its advantages in terms of national organisation, platform operation, resource building, project development, online and offline access, credit accumulation and transfer, and other aspects into the further development of the project.

Wu Haiying emphasized the results the project has already attained in terms of internet-based platforms and integration of online and offline access. She also made it clear that the work for the next year would be to maintain a correct political orientation, focus on family values, enrich course resources, further enhance publicity and promotion, and continue to enhance both cooperation and leadership.

This training class focused on the advancement of women via internet-based continuing education, taking into account the design of content, combining of online and offline access, demand, and other aspects. Eight cities have been chosen as pilot locations, and industry experts have been invited to lecture on planning content related to new-media education in relation to online courses such as Appreciation and Creation of Traditional Chinese Landscape Painting. The students in the training class were also sent to the Zhongguancun MOOC Times Building for on-site observation and discussion.

The training class received high praise from those taking part, who said that they were now clear about its future deployment. Zhan Liping, vice president of the Fushun City Women’s Federation (Liaoning Province) said, “We will enhance our political positioning and promote the implementation of the project to benefit more women.” Miss Li Yunxia of the Ankang City Radio and TV University (Shanxi Province) said, “In this class we were able to learn from the first two sets of pilot cities, and we hope to collaborate with women’s federations to bring continuing education to more women.” Jiang Zhuo, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Jilin City Women’s Federation (Jilin Province) said, “Many thanks to the ACWF and OUC for their joint implementation of this plan. As one of the third set of pilot cities, we intend to work with our local Radio and TV Universities in terms of resource sharing and other forms of cooperation.”

“Brilliant Life: A Lifelong Learning Plan for Women” was launched by the ACWF on 26 September 2016, and jointly implemented by its Publicity Department and the OUC, with its operations undertaken by the OUC School of Vocational Education and Training. Over the last two years of pilot projects, 240,000 students have been registered, and the OUC has united its website, app and WeChat terminal to provide more than 40,000 minutes of video resources. Its series of five-minute classes, Traditional Chinese Garments, is among the most popular. Another 10 pilot cities, including Lilin, Guangyuan and Karamay have been added to the third year, bringing the total number of pilot cities implementing the plan to 27.

By Zhang Xiaoying,OUC