On 25 October 2019, the OUC "Skills + Quality" pilot project held the opening ceremony for the 2019 autumn semester, along with a stage summary meeting, at the Liaocheng Study Centre of the OUC Experimental School.
Vice president of the OUC Lin Yu, former executive vice chairman of the China Adult Education Association Li Zhipeng, incumbent vice chairman of the China Adult Education Association Li Xin, representatives of pilot project partners, and all the teaching staff and students of Liaocheng Study Centre attended the opening ceremony.
Lin Yu introduced the mission and learner development model of the OUC, pointing out that the pilot project has made a pioneering exploration of the construction of a new type of learner development model that combines academic education and vocational skills education. He told the freshmen that they should study hard and learn how to study, hoping that they will use the high-quality resources of famous teachers in their lifelong learning, enrich themselves, and make greater progress.
Teacher representative Wang Lujin, senior student representative Wang Liyuan, and freshman representative Xiao Baojie delivered a speech at the meeting. Liaocheng Study Centre also organised an art performance to welcome the freshmen.
In the afternoon, the participants attended the pilot project stage summary meeting. Xu Gang, deputy director of the OUC Experimental School; Liu Zhipeng, former executive vice president of the China Adult Education Association; Zuo Chaojun, director of Shandong Polytechnic Technician College; and Wang Huapeng, director of the Teaching Affairs Department of Nanjing Technician College, gave speeches and exchanged views.
Xu Gang said that the "skills + quality" learner development project is an important measure by the OUC and China Adult Education Association to cater to the requirement of "building a knowledge-based, skilled, innovative labor force" specified in the report delivered at the CPC's 19th NPC. As of October 2019, the project has set up study centres in 23 national technician colleges. The multi-disciplinary project has taken root and guaranteed the maximum allocation of high-quality social resources. The project has brought about a change in the learner development model and created a reserve of a new type of professionals with vocational skills for industrial transformation and upgrading. As the OUC's leader of experimentation in the area of education reform, the Experimental School has blazed a new trail for vocational education.
The participants reviewed and summarised the development and progress of the project, starting from the official promulgation of the mechatronics technology (junior college degree) major course integration programme. This is the first time that the MOE and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security have had a complementary learner development model. The online/offline, theoretical/practical blended teaching model provides a successful example for the connection between open degree education and full-time vocational education. The synchronous enhancement of both online learning abilities and quality has opened a new chapter for lifelong education. A new type of learner development model with "double certificates" available upon graduation represents the effective enforcement of the "1+X certificate" system, promoting the reform and innovation of national vocational education and clarifying the future development of the project.
Liu Zhipeng gave the concluding speech. He pointed out that the project is of great significance to the polytechnic/technician colleges. Many study centres regard the project as an important measure for the colleges to deepen curriculum reform and cultivate innovative, highly-skilled professionals. The concept of "integration" has enabled the optimisation of the curriculum structure and the optimisation of the curriculum structure has led to the optimisation of the skills training model. The development of the enrolment scale and the improvement of teaching quality have been promoted by the connotation development. He pointed out that the China Adult Education Association will continue to support the integration of the OUC's degree education and technical skill education to solve key problems that arise during the development of the project.
By Zhang Xiaojing and Yang Yang, photographer: Wang Ruyan, OUC