From 3-4 November 2020, a seminar on “Research on Standards for the Construction of the Open University for Older Adults,” as well as a meeting to promote the study tour programme of the Open University of China (OUC), was held in Nanping, Fujian Province, with more than 40 educators engaged in education for older adults from 16 branches across the country attending the meeting.

The meeting participants studied research on standards for the construction of the Open University for Older Adults, including the work progress of each sub-project and a report on the general project. Discussions were also held on the creation and operation process of study tour products for older adults, as well as evaluation methods and service standards for study tour bases for older adults. Study tour routes were presented by the branches witha solid foundation for study tour programmes for older adults.

Liu Chen, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the OUC, attended the meeting. He reiterated the importance attached to the project by each branch, saying that, through the joint efforts of the team members, the project had made important progress and phased achievements, creating six sub-subject reports and one draft report of the general subject and modifying the report of the general subject three times after many suggestions were heard. He pointed out that some achievements had been made in subject research. First, the basic situation of the work of education for older adults in the open university system had been further clarified, and the problems relating to the OUC system and mechanisms had been established, laying a foundation for the construction of the University for Older Adults and the formulation of education policies for the elderly. Second, it had became clear that to solve the problem of education for older adults in the open university system, it is necessary to start with education, emancipate our minds, and take a broad view of the social development as a whole. Third, the construction of a teaching model and teaching team should be considered alongside the reform and development of the OUC. The importance of the practice base should be clarified, online planning should be implemented, and control over offline operations should be lifted so as to drive all of society to participate in education for older adults. Liu Chen also put forward tasks and requirements for the work of the study tours.

After the experts held their discussion, it was clear that the subject research had made important progress in three aspects. First, the current situation of education for older adults in the open university system was further understood. Second, an indicator system for the construction of the Open University for Older Adults has been preliminarily constructed. Third, the key content of the construction of an open university for older adults at the national-level has been clarified.

The participants visited the study tour base and held on-site communications on the designing, selection and operation of the study tour routes. In the near future, the OUC University for Older Adults will cooperate with local branches in provinces, prefectures, and cities to develop the study tour programme. It will give full play to the advantages and characteristics of the education for older adults delivered by open universities, leverage the resources of local branches to organise study tours, constantly improve the study tour routes and courses, and build a study tour brand for open universities.

By Mu Xingyan, OUC