On 19 December 2020, a ceremony to celebrate Jiangxi Radio and TV University’s (Jiangxi RTVU) renaming as Jiangxi Open University (Jiangxi OU) was held at the Qingshanhu campus of Jiangxi OU.

The inauguration ceremony was officially held at 8am. The Written Reply from Jiangxi Provincial People's Government on the Renaming of Jiangxi RTVU to Jiangxi OU clearly states that after the name change, Jiangxi OU’s subordination relationships and management system will remain unchanged, with the provincial government continuing to act as its organiser and supervisor and the OUC guiding and managing its educational business. Its existing rights to run degree and non-degree education will remain unchanged. Its main responsibility is to serve the lifelong learning of the people of Jiangxi province, promote the construction of an open education system in the province, and explore ways to promote the integrated development of open, vocational, continuing, community, and elderly education.

The official reply pointed out that Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education should strengthen the organisational leadership of the renaming of Jiangxi OU and promote the renaming of radio and television universities at the district, city, and county levels. It should guide Jiangxi OU in the formulation of a comprehensive reform plan, clarify its school running orientation, and strengthen the construction of teaching staff. Furthermore, it should also lead Jiangxi OU in innovating its talent training model, improve the quality of its school running, and serving economic and social development.

Guo Jiezhong, deputy secretary of the Education Working Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee and director of the Provincial Department of Education, said that the university should take the opportunity offered by its name changing to emancipate its thoughts and make active explorations. It is expected to be courageous in innovation and run a barrier-free university with distinctive characteristics that enjoys high-quality development so as to meet the diverse, multi-faceted education needs of the people and make contributions to accelerating the construction of a lifelong learning education system serving everyone in the province.

Yi Xiaoming, secretary of the Party Committee of Jiangxi OU, said in his speech that since its establishment, the university has always kept its mission and the tasks entrusted to it by the Party and the people in mind. It has continued to satisfy the needs of society and shouldered the responsibility of the times by basing its work in Jiangxi and at the grassroots level. It has spared no efforts to deliver education targeted at the grassroots level, ordinary people, and specific groups. It has cultivated a large number of practical and skilled professionals, fulfilled the historical mission entrusted to it by the Party and the people, and laid a solid foundation for the construction of Jiangxi OU.

Yi Xiaoming said that, “Today, Jiangxi OU has turned over a new page.” The university will not forget its original intention, bravely undertake the new mission of promoting lifelong learning for all, act towards the target of “being a model and being the first,” actively promote the “construction of an education system serving lifelong learning for all,” and work hard to create a “Jiangxi model” for the development of open education in the new era.

A report meeting on the construction of teachers’ ethics, a forum on the implementation of the OUC Comprehensive Reform Plan, and a discussion between outstanding alumni were also held during the event.

In the 41 years since Jiangxi RTVU was founded in 1979, the university has been carrying out the fine tradition of “respecting learning and making it universally beneficial” and has followed a route integrating “advanced communication methods and quality lectures by famous teachers.” It has explored the formation of a “University + System + Platform” school running model, constructed a new pattern of “Internet Plus Education,” and established a new mechanism for carrying out extensive cooperation with social organisations. It has accumulated experience in running higher education at a lower cost and with high efficiency and developed vocational education for in-service personnel.

By OUC News Network, reprinted from http://www.xinhuanet.com/