On September 26th, 2016, "Brilliant Life: A Lifelong Learning Plan for Women", co-sponsored by All-China Women’s Federation’s Publicity Department and the OUC, was officially launched. The press conference was held in Beijing.
The plan was designed to provide learning services for women, improve women's scientific, cultural, and professional skills, and support the growth of women through distance education.
Party secretary, vice president, and first secretary at the secretariat of All-China Women’s Federation, Song Xiuyan, vice chairperson and secretary at the secretariat of All-China Women’s Federation, Jiao Yang, and OUC President Yang Zhijian attended the press conference. About 200 people from related departments and directly affiliated units of the All-China Women’s Federation, heads from related OUC departments, and student representatives from the plan attended the conference.
Song Xiuyan delivered a speech in which she pointed out that the implementation of the plan is an innovative initiative that adheres to the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech, and improves women's ability to achieve their dreams. She hoped that, with this plan, all women would have the ambition to explore and live their life to its fullest through lifelong learning. The implementation of the plan is a robust measure following the spirit of the Central Party alliance conference and carrying out a reform plan designed by the All-China Women’s Federation. It is an effective means that caters to women’s learning characteristics, keeps up with current development trends, and is a project central to promoting the growth of women in an innovative way. She stressed that the plan was a long-term task. At present, in only one month of trial operations, more than 8,000 students have joined the plan’s platform. At the conclusion of a one year pilot, the All-China Women’s Federation and the OUC will continue to develop the plan. The plan is expected to cover all of China within 3 years. At that time, the number of students is expected to reach nearly a million. Three years after that, the plan will continue expanding its city by city coverage and enrollment, enriching and adjusting course content, and disseminating scientific knowledge that is conducive to the growth of the women. The All-China Women’s Federation and the OUC will continue providing more thoughtful, authoritative, and credible learning support and services, allowing more women to enjoy the pleasure of learning, thereby enhancing their knowledge-base and capabilities through learning in order to realise their dreams.
Jiao Yang announced the plan’s main content, which is shaped by demand. For the first session, the plan will encompass 80 courses, 560 videos, and 150 class hours. These courses are designed to possess feminine qualities and are rich in content. In the future, more courses will be launched in phases to meet the learning demands of different groups of women at different levels. With the user experience as its focus, combined with characteristics of modern women's studies, a learning platform was established, integrating the PC terminal with the mobile phone. It is designed to make effective use of fragmented bits of time to realise "the last kilometre" of learning for women. With offline entities at its foundation, it aims to establish a diversified and integrated learning model, while simultaneously promoting and complementing online autonomous learning and offline concentrated learning. The plan is based on principles of benefiting the public, mainly through providing non-degree curriculum resources. Most of the online learning courses are free, and they are linked to the OUC’s credit bank. The pilot is connected with both degree and non-degree education, and is taking place in seven cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Shenzhen.
Yang Zhijian pointed out in his speech that the plan is tailored specifically to female learners, and it is the newest measure to take full advantage of the organisation of the All-China Women’s Federation, and the teaching system and resources of the OUC. It is also an important opportunity for the OUC to implement its educational philosophy, demonstrate its social value, promote national lifelong learning, and build a learning society. Yang said that in order to implement the plan well, the OUC has established a platform specifically for the plan. For the platform’s first session, four sections were created, which included cultural accomplishments, health & life, marriage & family, and parent-child education. Female learners will be able to learn whatever they want on the Internet via smart phones or PCs, anytime and anywhere. Going forward, the OUC’s headquarters will work hard to coordinate the forces within the national education system to make reforms and innovations that will advance the plan. Under the leadership of the All-China Women’s Federation, the OUC will work together with women's organisations at all levels to execute platform maintenance and operations, resources construction, faculty training, online/offline learning support, learning outcomes accreditation, accumulation and transfer of credit, and actively explore new patterns of mechanisms, all of which will make the plan high quality, and with distinct features.
Student representative Zhou Dongxiu, on behalf of Shanghai Wanxin Family Service Co., Ltd, the famous CCTV Children’s Channel hostess Ju Ping, and Guangming Daily reporter Wang Haiqing each introduced their learning and growth experiences with that platform, as well as their expectations for the learning platform.
School of Chinese Language and Literature, Beijing Normal University professor and doctorial tutor Kang Zhen was the first to lecture students, through a micro-course titled Responsibility of the Cultural Identity of Women.
By He Jing, OUC
Photo by Yu Zhangli