In order to implement relevant policies on measures to improve the rural settlement environment, the Open University of China(OUC) made full use of its experience and achievements in popularising Mandarin and shaking off poverty and gave full play to the advantages of its digital learning resources and organisation system covering urban and rural areas.
It cooperated with Hainan Radio and Television University (Hainan RTVU, Hainan Community Education University) and China Education Network Television to build the Hainan Zhifu Cloud Classroom Learning System, which is characterised by being “custom-made by Hainan RTVU and sponsored by the OUC,” in order to launch live broadcast lectures and jointly carry out the construction of specialised courses, training centres, and teaching staff.
On this basis, the OUC planned to launch a special live streaming lecture on Rural Settlement Environment Improvement and Environmental Protection Education, part of the Quality Lectures by Famous Teachers series, bringing together its "Online Community Education Lectures" programme with the special action of "Quality Lectures by Famous Teachers" and focusing on the construction of Hainan Free Trade Island and Rural Revitalisation and Ecological Civilisation. The event was jointly organised by the Research and Training Centre for Community Education of the Ministry of Education (MOE), the OUC Learning Resources Department (Library), the Faculty of Agroforestry and Medicine, the Poverty Alleviation Office, and the Department of News and Public Information. The OUC’s Huixuexi Learning Platform provided live broadcast technology support, and the vocational education Tiktok Account of the MOE's Department of Adult and Vocational Education, n (http://qnzs.youth.cn/), China Education Network Television, the Cloud Smart Agriculture app, Tiktok, Kuaishou, Bilibili, Tingting FM, and other media platforms synchronously broadcast the live event.
The first live lecture on the Operation of Village Holiday Homes and the Revitalisation of Rural Areas in Hainan was held on 31 December 2020, which coincided with General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPC, President of the People’s Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Xi Jinping attending the Central Conference on Rural Work and delivering an important speech. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasised that it is essential to fully understand the importance and urgency of successfully carrying out work for “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” in the new development stage. We should strive to advance rural revitalisation and promote quality and efficiency in agriculture, and also promote the construction of rural areas as places suitable for living and work, and the cultivation of affluent farmers.
The first live lecture was delivered by Yang Zhekun, a senior scholar of tourism who has served as director of the Department of Tourism of Hainan University, dean of the School of Tourism of Hainan College of Vocation and Technique, and dean of the School of International Tourism of the OUC (Hainan Branch). Yang Zhekun discussed the three basic characteristics of the operation of rural holiday homes in Hainan and the development trend towards large-scale accommodation around the topic of the operation of village holiday homes and the revitalisation of rural areas. He analysed the internal relationship between the development of rural holiday homes and the construction of an ecological civilisation and proposed six major areas for development. He explained the internal restrictive relationship between rural tourism and rural revitalisation in Hainan and presented his views on the role of rural tourism in Hainan in the context of the construction of Hainan free trade port in stimulating the formation of six major industries and thus promoting the overall revitalisation of rural areas.
Since it began the implementation of the MOE's "One College Student per Village" plan in 2004, the OUC has actively carried out degree education for “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers,” vigorously carried out practical technical training in rural areas, and participated in modern distance education and training of rural Party members and cadres. In order to cater to the vision of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, the OUC will continue to give full play to its own advantages and expand new channels for community education in order to further boost rural revitalisation and agricultural and rural modernisation.
By Du Ruo, OUC