Polish the OUC brand
Reporter: You have mentioned “polish the OUC brand” and “run a respectable university” at several occasions. Why have you highlighted these points?
Jing Degang: "Polish the OUC brand” is a mission entrusted to us by Minister of Education Chen Baosheng. When I took office at the OUC, minister Baosheng told me that I need to “improve the leading body and staff, coordinate political advancement and open-education related work progress, and polish the brand of the OUC.” We must live up to the minister’s entrustment.
The radio and TV universities have accumulated rich operational experience, and have made a series of historical achievements. Since the former China Central Radio and TV University was renamed the “Open University of China” in 2012, there has been a problem: the public don’t know much about the OUC. Our emphasis on polishing the OUC brand not only aims to introduce people to the OUC but it is also a kind of heavy responsibility. As we embark on the historical journey towards national rejuvenation, it is the OUC’s historical responsibility and mission to transform itself into a major bolster of lifelong education in China, a major platform for social education, and a major channel for a learning society. To this end, we dare not lack any drive. On one hand, it is a difficult, long-term task and a glorious mission. On the other, there are a great deal of bottlenecks, inadequacies, and areas of weakness. Our top priority is to consolidate the foundation and make sustained efforts to tackle tough issues head-on, focusing on solving bottlenecks that restrict the reform and development of the university. Therefore, “polish the OUC brand” is by no means an empty slogan. The entire OUC educational system should and must shoulder this historical responsibility.
At present, there is still some misunderstanding of open education in society. In particular, some companies have engaged in random enrolment, study centres, and diplomas under the name of “open universities.” This is a realistic problem. Our new Party Committee has reached a consensus on focusing on quality as one of the university’s operational principles, and further defined the goal of the university as “running a respectable university that is respected by the masses, trusted by society, and loved by the students.”
How can we achieve this? In my opinion, there are four important points to make sure of. Firstly, if education and teaching levels are to be high, then the capacity and level of governance should be modernised; secondly, if the quality of education and teaching is to be high, teachers and students should be really earnest in teaching and learning; thirdly, if the scientific and technological level is to be high, authority in the field of open education is a minimum must; fourthly, if the quality of the graduates is to be high, it is necessary to nurture a large number of capable young people who have a comprehensive moral, intellectual, physical, and aesthetic grounding and are well-prepared to join the socialist cause.
All our reforms are motivated by these two sentences. Whether it is “polish the OUC brand” or “run a respectable university,” our first task is to make the university full of vigour and vitality, and to make it energetic and progressive. The only path to this goal is reform and innovation, otherwise we are just walking blindly into the future.
On this path to the future, if we are to complete the task assigned to us by the university Party committee, the first thing we need to do is forge ahead. We must build a culture of hard work in line with the requirements of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the entrustment of Minister Chen Baosheng. The second thing we need to do is to be dedicated. All members of our leading body must place all their energies and efforts in our work, earnestly put all measures into effect, and overcome all difficulties. As we stand at the beginning of the third new decade of the 21st century, we must work harder to seize this historical opportunity and continuously highlight implementation. The third thing is to be egoless. General Secretary Xi Jinping has said, “I will be egoless and never let the people down.” While we are advancing the reform of the open educational cause, we must maintain an egoless fighting spirit, pursue righteousness in reform, difficulty, coordinate the direction of our march. Therefore, hard work, dedication, and lack of ego are the guiding principles as we shoulder this historic mission.
A poor quality university will not earn people’s respect
Reporter: I note that the OUC has held a succession of teaching work conferences, quality management work conferences, and scientific research work conferences within its educational system. What is the starting point for these work conferences?
Jing Degang: We have indeed held a lot of conferences. Since I took office, at least one important meeting has been held every month. The focus of these conferences is to consolidate the foundations of our work and to tackle tough issues head-on.
The first conference was the teaching work conference held in Beijing in October 2019 at the beginning of the new semester. The conference aimed to send a signal to the entire educational system, that is, that education and teaching are extremely important and must be highlighted and improved. Education and teaching efforts should be consistent and persistent. Education and teaching work should be focused on quality with students as the centre. New measures should be taken and new breakthroughs should be made in education and teaching. At the conference, I expressed my great hope to the presidents of the radio and TV universities, and asked them to take a clear-cut stand in putting their efforts into education and teaching after they returned. Otherwise they wouldn’t be qualified.
The second conference was the quality management work conference held in Shenzhen in November. Quality is one of the university’s main areas of focus and it is the lifeline for the university’s survival and development. In the face of new situations and new requirements, as well as people’s new expectations, we must make it clear to all that education and teaching are the foundation, and the level of quality is the proof. Without good education and teaching, there can be no high teaching quality. An unqualified university won’t be respected by the people.
The third conference was the scientific research work conference held in Haikou in early December. At the conference, I indicated that “scientific research is the soul of a university.” Only teaching supported by scientific research is of high quality, and vice versa. Particularly in the 5G era, with the fast development of artificial intelligence, teachers don’t necessarily know more than students or find out things earlier than them. As such, we should redefine the idea that teaching benefits teachers as well as students. We should pay more attention to the importance of scientific research. Of course, scientific research at the OUC is not just cutting-edge scientific and technological inventions or innovations; it is also empirical studies on leading edge issues related to disciplines and majors, education and teaching, and the cultivation of talented professionals using technology and skills. It is certainly not the case that we don’t do scientific research because we work in open education.
The fourth conference was the academic committee conference held in Beijing at the end of December. In recent years, we have seen a decline in the quality and quantity of academic papers and scientific research results, and external force must be relied on to change this situation. The purpose of the conference was to encourage the members of the academic committees to become leaders of scientific research. We will take a variety of steps to promote the improvement of scientific research. At present, we are studying the formulation of Scientific Research Incentives of the OUC in an attempt to encourage teachers to concentrate on scientific research and boost the improvement of education quality through the bellwether role of the academic leaders and necessary material awards.
Reporter: The general office of the Ministry of Education recently issued the Notice on Related Tasks to Serve Lifelong Learning for All and to Promote the High Quality Development of Online Education in Pilot Colleges of Modern Distance Education (aka “18 items of online education”), which has had many responses from the industry. Could you please talk about your thoughts on the document?
Jing Degang: The theme of this document is improving the quality of online education, which indicates the determination and confidence of the Ministry of Education, which is significant in guiding the development of online education. I believe that this is right time to release the document. We will act enthusiastically on the requirements of the document, do our jobs well, solve our existing problems, and answer the call of the Ministry of Education with practical action.
We will do what we can to ensure that the “18 items of online education” take root, flower, and bear fruits in the field of open education. With the leadership and support of the Ministry of Education, we will create a new type of qualified and respectable university with vigour and vitality.