On 1 December 2021, Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU) held its first ceremony to confer honourary doctorate to outstanding academics. Jing Degang was conferred with a Doctor of Education honoris causa by HKMU Pro-Chancellor Dr Charles Lee Yeh-kwong.  

At the ceremony, it was pointed out that, “Dr Jing is a leader in the transformation and development of the OUC educational system. He has led and organised reforms and innovation, and implemented diversified plans. He has proposed the ‘three-step’ goal to build a world first-class open university and defined the 10 major tasks for the next five years. Dr Jing has organised and drafted The OUC Comprehensive Reform Plan and promoted the renaming of China’s 39 provincial radio and TV universities as open universities. Dr Jing has not only integrated and optimised educational resources, but has also built platforms to promote international academic exchanges.”

“Dr Jing has strictly controlled education and teaching quality and has deepened further reform of enrolment, teaching, assessment, and other key links to improve the quality of open education. Dr Jing has also worked together with the Ministry of Education for operation evaluation to improve the quality guarantee system of open universities. Furthermore, he has led the university in making use of Fifth Generation Mobile Communication Technology to build smart campuses characterised by ‘one route, one network, one platform’ and to promote the profound integration of information technology with education and teaching.”  

“Since Dr Jing took office as secretary of the Party Committee and president of the OUC, he has pushed videos and network courses online by bringing into full play the advantages of integrating online education with learning resources and provided educational institutions support in sharing digital learning resources. He has been active in giving impetus to the establishment of the credit bank, which has received great attention and strong support from the State Council and the Ministry of Education. Dr Jing has created a new type of development oriented to degree education, social training, and education for older adults.”

“Under the leadership of Dr Jing, the number of OUC students has increased by 13 percent, and the overall quality of the university has improved significantly. In 2021, the OUC was awarded the 2020 Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education by UNESCO, demonstrating the global recognition of the OUC’s contributions to serving lifelong learning for all.”

The predecessor of Hong Kong Metropolitan University is Hong Kong Open University. By adhering to the educational philosophy of “education for all without discrimination,”the university is committed to offering opportunities to access higher education for people of all social classes in Hong Kong to train talented people for social development.

Every year, Hong Kong Open University awards honourary doctorates to distinguished personalities who have made great contributions to science, culture, and the improvement of overall social life quality regardless of where they are from.

Written by Jin Hongyu, photos by Weng Jianbin and Zhuge Huanyu, OUC