In order to further deepen the reform and innovation of the OUC’s ideological and political education work, on the morning of 29 August, 2019, the OUC held an expert evaluation meeting on the major project Research into the Large-scale Online Ideological and Political Education of the OUC.

Five experts and scholars were invited to the meeting to provide guidance, including Professor Han Zhenfeng from Beijing Jiaotong University, Professor Wu Wenlong from the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Professor Sun Ying from Minzu University of China, Professor He Libo from the Army Armoured Academy, and Han Hua from Capital Normal University. Vice president Ju Chuanjin, deputy Party secretary Liu Chen, and all members of the research team attended the meeting.

Since the 18th NPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as its core has attached great importance to ideological and political education, and issued a series of documents including Opinions on Strengthening and Improving the Ideological and Political Work of Colleges and Universities Under the New Situation and Several Opinions on Deepening the Reform and Innovation of Ideological and Political Theory Courses in the New Era. General Secretary Xi Jinping also personally presided over the symposium of teachers who teach ideological and political theory courses. He gave a clear direction and provided foundational instructions for how to effectively carry out ideological and political work and ideological and political theory courses in the new era.

As a new type of university, the OUC brings its own characteristics to the fore during its ideological and political education. In 2018, the OUC issued Opinions on Strengthening and Improving the Ideological and Political Education of Students in the New Era. In 2019, the OUC issued the Notice on the Implementation of Establishing Virtue through Education and Related Content in the Training Program for Professional Talents, in which it put forward clear requirements for ideological and political work and the establishment of political lessons. In 2018, the OUC carried out institutional reform and set up the School of Marxism. In 2019, it became an independent school. At present, across the OUC system, all the ideological and political courses required have been set up and opened to students. More than 400 “five-minute” micro-courses have been put online. A number of different forms of ideological and political education are also in progress.

At the meeting, Ju Chuanjin emphasised that the OUC’s ideological and political education work is as important as what serves as the general college and university. That is, to train people who can build and carry on socialism with Chinese characteristics. The number of people who receive education from the OUC is largely and widely distributed, and the teaching methods are different from those of ordinary universities. These factors increase the difficulty of dealing with ideological and political work, highlighting the necessity of such work, and imposing higher requirements.

Liu Chen pointed out that how to carry out ideological and political work for adult open education in the Internet age is a problem worth studying. He hopes that the research will focus on the psychological needs of adult students, consider the influence of schools, families, and educational institutions in the process of students' ideological and political education, and work hard at two-level school and four-level management, and achieve research results with theoretical depth and practical value.

The meeting was presided over by Chen Shougang, director of the Research Management Office. Professor Sun Fuwan, executive deputy dean of the School of Marxism, gave a detailed illustration of the background of the topic, the state of the research at home and abroad, the value and significance of the topic, the research content, the working thoughts, and the innovation.

The experts at the meeting unanimously agreed that the topic of the study is of great significance. Online ideological and political education is an innovative type of work. It is not only a theoretical issue worthy of study, but also has broad and far-reaching practical significance. It is recommended that the OUC launch the research project as soon as possible. At the same time, the experts hoped that the members of the research team could firmly establish the problem awareness of the research, promote the innovation of adult ideological and political education using the internet as a technical means, and efficiently carry out the necessary work to achieve innovative and influential research results.

By Chen Min, OUC