A ceremony for the renaming of Anhui Radio and TV University (Anhui RTVU) as Anhui Open University (Anhui OU) was held on the morning of 20 January 2021.
At the ceremony, the Written Reply from the Anhui Provincial People's Government on the Approval of Renaming Anhui RTVU as Anhui OU was read out. Wang Cuifeng, vice governor of Anhui Province; Cao Guoyong, executive deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the Open University of China (OUC); Zuo Jun, deputy secretary general of Anhui Provincial People's Government; Qian Guilun, secretary of the Education Working Committee of the Provincial Party Committee in Anhui; and Zheng Hanhua, secretary of the Party Committee and president of Anhui RTVU, attended the meeting and unveiled Anhui OU.
Cao Guoyong attested to the achievements of Anhui RTVU over the past 40 years. He pointed out that, at this new starting point, Anhui OU should thoroughly implement general secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on education and focus on the basic task of fostering virtue through education. It should keep in line with the requirements of building a high quality education system, actively adapt to the trends of digital, intelligent, lifelong, and integrated education, and vigorously promote its transformation and development. It should realise the transformation from expansion to enhancement, from a focus on qualifications to one on knowledge, from providing degrees to enhancing skills, and from predominately online teaching to the integration of online and offline teaching. It should devote itself to the creation of an important platform for lifelong and online education and a platform for flexible education and external cooperation, so as to greet the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China with outstanding achievements in its high-quality development.
Qian Guilun fully affirmed the important contributions made by Anhui RTVU to the province’s economic and social development and the construction of a learning society in Anhui Province over the past 40 years. He stressed that Anhui OU should take the renaming as an opportunity to strengthen the Party's overall leadership over the university, adhere to the direction of education towards socialist construction and actively integrate into the national development strategy. It should continuously improve its ability to serve society, comprehensively improve the quality of personnel training, promote the implementation of the OUC Comprehensive Reform Plan, and explore an operational model with Anhui characteristics for a new era. It should makes efforts to build a first-class open university with distinctive characteristics that is recognised for its brand, so as to make new contributions to the construction of a modern Anhui with a strong economy, well-off people, and a beautiful environment.
Zheng Hanhua said that over the past 40 years, Anhui OU has kept pace with China’s reform and opening up. It has always adhered to the principle of running the school in a socialist educational direction, followed the principles of cooperation, sharing, and openness in its education operation, managed coordinated development in a systematic organisation, and maintained the characteristics and advantages of distance education. As a result, it has made fruitful educational achievements, created distinctive school running characteristics, and developed a new path for transformation and development with an emphasis on degree education, non-degree continuing education, and social service. It has played a unique role in promoting educational equity and the popularisation of higher education and lifelong learning for all in Anhui Province. The university will take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guideline, focus on the strategic plan for the construction of a high quality education system, accelerate the university's transformation into a first-class open university in China, and make new and greater contributions to the construction of a learning society where anyone can learn anytime, anywhere, and the construction of modern Anhui.
Members of the university leading group and representatives of retired leaders and staff witnessed this historic moment. The conference was also live streamed to teachers, students, and staff of the RTVU System in Anhui Province.
Anhui RTVU, was founded in 1979. On 25 December 2020, Anhui Provincial People’s Government approved the renaming of Anhui RTVU as Anhui OU. After the name change, the university’s affiliation relationships, management system, and existing rights to run degree and non-degree education remain unchanged. In the 40 years since its establishment, Anhui OU has trained more than 570,000 undergraduate and junior college graduates, and carried out non–degree continuing education and training schemes for more than 5.5 million people. After the name change, Anhui OU will further innovate its model of learner development, improve its school running system, and improve the quality of its education. It will actively explore new methods and models for the integration and development of higher, vocational, and continuing education, and work hard to build a new type of higher education institution with a mission to promote lifelong learning, supported by modern information technology and characterised by Internet plus education.
By Anhui OU