On 15 July 2021, the School of Sociology of the Faculty of Political Science and Law of the Open University of China (OUC) held an online meeting to promote the “Collaborative Growth” project for social work teachers in the OUC system, marking the first of such meetings.

Gu Xiaohua, executive vice dean of the Faculty of Political Science and Law, all teachers from the School of Sociology, and more than 10 teachers from the OUC’s Chengdu, Anhui, Changchun, and Inner Mongolia branches participated in the online meeting.

Gu Xiaohua pointed out that the “Collaborative Growth” project is an innovative, forward-looking pilot project for education and teaching reform. It aims to address the challenges and difficulties facing the development of open universities in terms of the shortage of professional teachers in the OUC system and improve the abilities of teachers. In the future, it is expected to build a system to promote the growth of social work teachers, formulate a teaching system for majors and a new talent training model with OUC characteristics through new reform and practices, and generate experiences and a development model that can be copied and promoted across the system, with the ultimate goal of contributing to the construction of a first-class global open university.

Gu Xiaohua put forward three suggestions for OUC Branches involved in the project. First, it is important to focus on the implementation of the project and promote it in a steady manner. The branches participating in the project should continue to improve their support scheme, create detailed plans, and implement supporting policies at the university level. They should ensure that human resources, materials and financial resources are in place and promote the development of the project in a variety of ways. Second, it is important to build a teaching team and make innovations. Efforts should be taken to build a project team that includes grass-roots level teachers, subject experts, and practical applications. They should gather together all different kinds of talented professionals and give full play to their enthusiasm and creativity so as to complete the project and realise innovation. Third, it is important to establish a goal clearly aimed at making achievements. The branches participating in the project should set a clear objective for the pilot programme and actively promote the implementation of teaching and academic affairs. They should aim to improve the comprehensive abilities of teachers in the teaching work of the major and ideological and political education in the project, and set objectives for applying for academic projects, the teaching achievements of teaching reform projects, publishing academic articles, accumulating research achievements, and serving teaching reform.

Du Kehua from the Chengdu Branch introduced the branch’s implementation plan, including building three teams in the social work major, namely, the teaching reform team, the teaching team, and the thesis instruction team, with the aim of supporting and serving the “Collaborative Growth” project. A detailed project promotion plan has been formulated, involving practice training, social research, teaching reform, scientific research, and academic exchanges. Funding for the project comes from Chengdu Branch, which provides strong policy and financial support for teachers participating in the project.

Zhang Xiaofeng from Anhui Branch introduced the branch’s implementation plan. For example, in terms of teachers, the Anhui Branch will start teacher training and send visiting scholars to Anhui University. A series of plans to introduce personnel have been formulated in order to expand the social work teaching team. In order to seek the development of the major’s unique characteristics, in the future, the Anhui Branch plans to open a course on “Judicial Social Work” and create a course group and learning resources with the characteristics of judicial social work. In terms of enrolment, the Anhui Branch will cooperate with local branches in Hefei, Suzhou, and Chuzhou and discuss and cooperate with local civil affairs departments to cultivate local social work talents for Anhui.

Ni Yuhong from the Changchun Branch introduced the branch’s implementation plan. For example, in terms of teaching staff, the Changchun branch plans to send visiting teachers to Jilin University, Northeast Normal University, and other universities, and send teachers from the major to serve as temporary employees in civil affairs departments and social work service institutions. In terms of personnel training, the Special Education School of the Changchun Branch plans to carry out university-enterprise cooperation, jointly develop new courses for the platforms of various majors, and provide high-quality learning resources for students.

Wang Yuling from the Inner Mongolia Branch introduced the branch’s implementation plan. With regard to project implementation, the Inner Mongolia Branch will actively cooperate with the OUC headquarters on the project plan, participate in online and offline training, actively exchange experiences with the OUC headquarters and other branches, and implement all requirements of the “Collaborative Growth” project. In order to develop characteristics of the major, the Inner Mongolia Branch plans to cooperate with a children’s welfare home and an employment and entrepreneurship park for the disabled, as well as other professional institutions, in order to develop practical teaching bases and improve the practical abilities of teachers and students.

During the meeting, it was pointed out that from planning to launch to implementation, the “Collaborative Growth” project cannot progress without the strong support of the participating branches, all of which have made detailed plans to promote the project according to their actual situation. The smooth progress of the project proves that it has been widely recognised. It is hoped that all of the teachers in the project teams will work hard and make joint efforts to develop the “Collaborative Growth” project, promote the teaching, education, and reform of social work, build a professional education system with OUC characteristics, and contribute to the construction of a first-class global open university.

Written by Zhang Yini; Photo by Tian Yuan, OUC