The Faculty of Education of the Open University of China (OUC) held a seminar for Sports majors, the first of its kind held at the university, on 10 November 2021.

The event aimed to further deepen teaching reform, improve the quality of learner development, carry forward the construction of sports-related majors, promote exchanges among members of the OUC system, and form a consensus on running schools. It was attended by Li Song, OUC vice president; Zhang Rui, professor of the Department of Physical Education, Peking University; Li Xiangru, professor of the Leisure and Social Sports Institute, Capital University of Physical Education and Sports; and Chen Bihua, professor of Hunan Open University (Hunan OU), as well as personnel from OUC Faculty of Education including Vice Dean Zhang Xia, School Head Lin Xiuqin, and Deputy Head Ma Tengfei. The heads and full-time teachers of sports majors from the OUC headquarters and branches also participated in the event.

Zhang Xia presided over the seminar. With the theme of “Building High-quality Sports Majors and Contributing to a ‘Healthy China’ Strategy,” it aimed to adhere to the people-centred development of education, remain committed to the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education, and conduct in-depth discussion on hot topics such as contributing to national strategy, keeping up with market demand, and serving public health. By closely integrating the construction of sports majors with the national strategy, national destiny, and people’s health, the seminar committed to “gathering wisdom and seeking breakthroughs” for the construction of the OUC’s sports majors.   

Li Song pointed out that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to sports work, raising national fitness up to a national strategic level, promoting the deep integration of national fitness and national health, and making people the main part of sports development and implementing a national health strategy in order to improve the health level of all people. He said that the demand for people to participate in sports is increasing along with the continuous development of China's economic level and the popularisation of fitness facilities is picking up speed. The sports industry is also becoming more and more diversified, but this is resulting in a shortage of sports talents. Therefore, it is high time for the OUC to open sports majors for the purpose of cultivating sports professionals to serve the national demand in China.

Ma Tengfei gave a special report on the opening of sports majors and their enrolment work. In 2019, the OUC began to investigate and demonstrate the needs and feasibility of setting up sports majors and started the application for opening sports majors and their curriculum construction. In 2020, the OUC received approval to set up the Sports Operations and Management major (a junior college programme) and the Mass Sports Guidance and Management major (junior college to undergraduate). As of the spring of 2021, nine branches of the OUC across China had applied to set up sports operations and management majors and started enrolment. In the autumn semester of 2021, the OUC Experimental School also applied to open a Sports Operations and Management major, achieving total enrolment of 643 students.

Zhang Rui gave a special report on the opportunities and challenges facing the high-quality development of China’s sports industry. She noted in her report that, with the release of important documents including the “Healthy China 2030 Plan,” the sports industry has ushered a time of excellent strategic opportunities, as well as an industrial dilemma of structural transformation. While we get to know the general laws of industrial upgrading from a macro perspective, we should also have an insight into the development opportunities of the industry based on the characteristics of the industrial system. We should seek to break through the industrial dilemma of the transformation and upgrading of sports supply and demand, promote the upgrading of sports consumption, and strive to promote the transformation of the sports industry from extensive development to intensive development.

Li Xiangru gave a special report on the current development trends of sports majors. He pointed out that since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the sports industry had ushered in a period of strategic opportunities for industrial development. The OUC should closely follow market demand for the development of the sports industry and focus on talent gaps in the development of the sports industry when setting up sports majors. It should coordinate advantageous resources from each branch, work hard to develop sports majors with the characteristics of open universities, and take the initiative to build outstanding sports courses. It should carefully develop a curriculum and syllabus suitable for distance education and successfully integrate online and offline teaching processes so as to contribute to the “Healthy China” strategy and promote the steady improvement of the health of the Chinese people.

When sharing experiences in curriculum construction, Zhao Guoping, dean of the OUC’s Guangzhou Branch, stressed that the construction of curriculum resources should be led by the OUC headquarters, with the OUC branches and study centres playing a supportive role so that a unified coordination is provided for all members throughout the country and a curriculum construction community is formed. Yang Yin, a teacher from the OUC School of Life and Health, stressed that sports majors should attach importance to school-enterprise cooperation and the integration of industry and education. Persons in charge of sports majors from other OUC branches also shared the characteristics of courses in their branches and their expectations for future work.

Chen Bihua summed up the seminar, saying that the OUC should adhere to fostering virtue through education, serving the public, and staying close to market demand. It should give full play to its advantages in terms of brand, system, and technology, and build sports majors that will serve the national strategy, market demand, and public health. In terms of course construction, she suggested making concerted efforts, sharing resources, and seeking integration and comprehensive development. She also summarised and reflected on the problems facing the construction of courses for junior college programmes. While actively exploring integrative solutions, she called for the creation of a professional team for course construction, so as to lay a solid foundation for the construction of undergraduate programmes and courses.

By OUC Faculty of Education