On the afternoon of 24 April 2021, the opening ceremony for Guizhou Open University (OU) was held.

The guests in attendance at the ceremony included Tan Jiong, vice governor of Guizhou Provincial People’s Government; Chen Ziji, director-general of the MOE Department of Vocational and Adult Education; Jing Degang, secretary of the Party Committee and president of the Open University of China (OUC); Zhang Yan, deputy secretary-general of Guizhou Provincial People’s Government; Zou Lianke, vice secretary of Guizhou Provincial Education Work Commission, secretary of the Leading Party Group, and director-general of Guizhou Provincial Department of Education; Ju Hong, grade I counsel of Guizhou Provincial Department of Education; Wang Aihua, secretary of the Party Committee of Guizhou OU; and Tang Jian, vice secretary of the Party Committee and president of Guizhou OU. The opening ceremony was presided over by Wang Aihua.

              Secretary Wang Aihua from the Party Committee of Guizhou OU presiding over the ceremony

Deputy secretary-general Zhang Yan from Guizhou Provincial People’s Government read out The Approval of Guizhou Provincial People’s Government on Renaming Guizhou Radio and TV as Guizhou Open University. The approval stated that the renaming will not change the administration of Guizhou OU, its management system, or its existing right to give degree and non-degree education. The university will accelerate transformative development, further improve the quality of education, modernise its governance system and capacity, and give greater play to the role of serving the educational system of lifelong learning for all.

President Tang Jian from Guizhou OU made a keynote speech. He said that it is imperative that the university act on “the strategy of rejuvenating the province through distinctive education,” and to integrate this goal into all of its businesses, procedures, and objects involved in building the open university in an effort to develop its level, quality, and characteristics. The university will focus on the OUC comprehensive reform plan by taking into consideration the entire nation and put the concept of a community of shared future and shared development into effect in Guizhou and to demonstrate the achievements of all the arrangements and requirements that the OUC made in Guizhou. As a member of the OUC’s educational family, Guizhou OU will follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly study and implement the guiding principles of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee and the Eighth Plenary Session of the Twelfth CPC Guizhou Provincial Committee. It will remain true to its original aspiration for education and keep its mission of educating people firmly in mind. It will act on the new requirements and work arrangements given to it, capture a new position, provide education to people who need it in a more convenient, diversified, and effective way, and play a greater role in serving lifelong learning for all and cultivating craftsmen for a new era.

Zou Lianke, vice secretary of Guizhou Provincial Education Work Commission, secretary of the Leading Party Group, and director-general of Guizhou Provincial Department of Education, also made a speech. He indicated that the inauguration of Guizhou OU is a significant event in the university’s development history and a major event in higher education reform and development in Guizhou. He hopes that Guizhou OU will improve its standing to get an accurate grasp of and integrate into the new development pattern, focus on serving the new demands of lifelong education, realise the Chinese Dream of education by making education a lifelong endeavour, have the courage to shoulder its historical responsibility, and serve new development. It should adhere to reform and opening up to promote new development and achieve new development in terms of its system, mechanism, and cultivation model. Finally, he indicated that Guizhou OU should become a university with national influence under the strong leadership of the CPC Guizhou Provincial Committee and Guizhou Provincial People’s Government.

Jing Degang, secretary of the Party Committee and president of the OUC, said that Guizhou RTVU has succeeded in finding a solution for the degree education compensation issues facing two key generations, exploring a Guizhou model of lifelong education for all, and gaining new experiences of lifelong education and online education. The inauguration of the open university is not an end but a new starting point. Guizhou OU will focus on realising the “four transformations,” i.e., from seeking quantity to strengthening quality, from a focus on qualifications to one on knowledge, from providing degrees to enhancing skills, and from prioritising online teaching to the integrated development of online and offline teaching, embarking on a path to transformational development with Guizhou characteristics. The OUC will work together with Guizhou OU to create the “four major platforms.” The first is a major platform for lifelong education, the second is a major platform for online education, the third is a platform for flexible education, and the fourth is a platform for external cooperation.

Chen Ziji, director of the MOE Department of Vocational and Adult Education, pointed out that it is the expectation of General Secretary Xi Jinping that Guizhou will “embark on a development path different from that of the eastern, western and other provinces.” The transformation of Guizhou RTVU into Guizhou OU is a significant result of Guizhou “embarking a new development path.” It is also a prominent embodiment of the “Guizhou example.” He hopes that Guizhou OU will keep up with the times to actively put into effect the new guiding principles and new requirements of the Party and state; have the overall situation in mind to focus on building an educational system serving lifelong learning for all; and engage in distinctive development to meet specific reform requirements and to improve the overall quality. He underlined that a historical opportunity for the development of open universities lies before us, and time and history belong to those who work hard. He hopes that everyone will devote themselves to the progress of open university construction in the new era, and make greater contributions to the construction of a national lifelong education system and national economic and social development in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

The university commending university leaders who have served for 20 years and teaching staff members who have worked in the provincial radio and TV university system for 30 years.

Around 800 people attended the inauguration, including people in charge of the relevant institutions of the MOE Department of Vocational and Adult Education; people in charge of the relevant departments of the OUC; people in charge of the relevant divisions of Guizhou Provincial Department of Education and close cooperative enterprises, the provincial universities of higher education, and higher vocational schools; key personnel from the provincial RTVU system; media from inside and outside the province; all the teaching staff; representatives of retired leaders; and student representatives.

By Guizhou OU