The OUC held a conference on the teaching work of political science and law majors, as well as a forum on the innovation of ideological and political education in courses in Guangdong from 11-12 December 2020.

The forums were designed to deeply study and implement the guiding principles of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Comprehensive Reform Plan of the Open University of China (OUC), and the spirit of the national teaching work conference, further promote ideological and political education construction in the courses of the majors of political science and law, and discuss the philosophy of and measures for creating excellence and improving quality in political science and law majors.

Liu Xianghong, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the OUC, pointed out that in recent years, the university has attached great importance to the development of political science and law majors, and the teachers of the majors have made positive contributions to and remarkable achievements in promoting the reform and development of the university. Their efforts have been widely recognised by the OUC headquarters and teachers in the system. He put forward six requirements for the teaching work of political science and law majors in 2021. First, it is necessary to attend to moral education diligently and with emotional dedication. Second, it is necessary to vigorously promote ideological and political construction in courses. Third, all the majors should adhere to the “student-centred” concept. Fourth, the quality of teaching should be reinforced. Fifth, all parties should unswervingly adhere to education and teaching reform. Sixth, it is necessary to continue to strengthen discipline construction, as well as teaching and scientific research.


Liu Xianghong presented certificates to Wu Lezhen and Fengyun, winners of the special prize

Chen Qiong, a teacher from the Guangdong Branch, and Wu Shijie, a teacher from the Ningbo Branch, delivered keynote speeches entitled “Giving Full Play to the Advantages of the Teaching Team, Exploring New Ways to Create Excellence and Improve Quality” and “Implementing the Strategy of Creating Excellence and Improving Quality, and Successfully Operating the Administrative Management Major,” respectively. The theme of both speeches was “creating excellence and improving the quality of political science and law majors.” Zheng Wei from Zhejiang Open University (Zhejiang OU) and Liu Jianhong from the OUC’s Hunan Branch shared their experiences in organising competitions as representatives of winners of the organisation award in the teaching design competition of ideological and political education in the courses of political sciences and law majors. Gu Xiaohua, deputy director of the OUC Faculty of Political Science and Law, delivered a themed report on teaching in the majors, which conveyed the guiding principles of the national teaching work conference, summarised the teaching design competition of ideological and political education in the courses of political sciences and law majors, and introduced the working concepts of teaching in political science and law majors in 2021. The teachers at the meeting all agreed that the content shared by the five teachers and the report would be of great benefit to their future work. They promised to convey and implement the spirit of the meeting, accelerate the creation of excellence and quality improvement of political science and legal majors, and resolutely “fight the war to ensure quality.”

A forum on the innovation of ideological and political education in courses of political science and law majors was also held at the meeting. Fifteen representatives of the winners of special prizes and first prizes in the teaching design competition of ideological and political education in courses of political science and law majors from 10 OUC branches gave speeches at the forum. Experts including Qin Zhenze, dean of the School of Marxism of the OUC’s Shanxi Branch, Hu Liangqiong, dean of the School of Marxism of the OUC’s Wuhan Branch, Zheng Wei, executive deputy dean of the School of Marxism of Zhejiang OU, and Wang Xiufeng, dean of the School of Marxism of Beijing Branch, commented on the speeches made at the forum. The participating teachers agreed that the 15 winners had reached new heights of understanding of ideological and political education in courses and that they had paid attention to the integration of teaching design and displayed good coordination of the depth and width of the contents. They also agreed that these experiences are replicable and can be easily popularised and that they offered timely help for promoting the construction of ideological and political education in courses.

The meeting summarised the successful experiences of the National Competition for the Teaching Plan Design of Ideological and Political Education in the Courses of Political Science and Law Majors, which laid the foundation and set aside professional help for carrying out the Competition for Teaching Presentation in Ideological and Political Education in Courses in the next year. The Faculty of Political Science and Law will take this meeting as an opportunity to further implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, actively promote the OUC Comprehensive Reform Plan, and accelerate the creation of excellence and the quality improvement of political science and law majors in China. It will build high-quality teaching resources, construct a high-quality teaching team, do a good job in the construction of ideological and political education in courses, and work hard to practice the fundamental task of “cultivating human resources through moral education.” It will translate the achievements of the conference into practical actions, take up new responsibilities, display new achievements, and make new contributions to the construction of a powerful country in education, culture, and human resources.

The meeting also awarded certificates to the winners of special prizes, first prizes, and the organisation awards in the ideological and political education teaching design competition for courses of political science and law majors at the OUC.

Chen Xianqiang, vice president of Guangdong Open University, Liu Jingduo, director of the Faculty of Political Science and Law, Chen Zhaopeng, deputy director of the office of Chaozhou municipal government, Chen Haosong, director of Chaozhou Education Bureau, and Cai Chubiao, president of Chaozhou Open University, together with 94 political science and law teachers from the OUC system and 23 representatives of the winners of awards in the teaching competition design of ideological and political education for the courses of political science and law majors, including special prizes, first prizes, and organisation awards, attended the meeting.

By Sun Jiangtao, OUC