21 June 2022 is a great day for all the people of the Open University of China (OUC). On this day 10 years ago, the Ministry of Education (MOE) issued the Approval of the Establishment of the Open University of China Founded on the Basis of the China Central Radio & TV University, opening a new chapter in the development of the OUC.
It has been a decade of exploration and development, a decade of tackling tough issues head-on, and more importantly, a decade of brilliant achievements and fruitful harvests. It has been a decade of hard explorations and unremitting pursuits by all the people of the OUC with a great many pains and gains. The OUC has inked “a stroke of endeavour” while “making improvements in quality to create excellence and build a world-class open university,” and every member of the OUC has been “a true hero” in the pursuit of their dreams. Over the past ten years, the OUC has stepped up its efforts to prosper and make innovations, and has continually kindled the brilliant life of its students by offering them the convenience of a learning service where “anyone can learn anytime and anywhere.” The “Open University of China” brand has been polished brighter, and the OUC has truly taken root in the vast land of China.
On 8 November 2012, the report delivered at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) proposed that, “we should work hard to run education to the satisfaction of the people. We should accelerate the development of modern vocational education and bring about the full potential of the development of higher education. We should actively develop continuing education, improve the system of lifelong education, and build a learning society. We should vigorously promote education equity, ensure balanced allocation of educational resources with a focus on rural, remote, poor, and ethnic minority areas, and support special education.”
No matter how far we have travelled, we should never forget the path that has taken us to where we are.
Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020)
In 2010, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council called the First National Education Work Conference in the new century and promulgated the Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium-and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020). The plan explicitly stated the need to modernise education, bring a learning society into shape, and turn China into a country rich in human resources by 2020. Explicit requests were made to “make major efforts to develop modern distance education,” “renovate the e-education model to push high-quality and high-level distance degree education,” and “do a good job in running open universities.” This was the first time that the name “open university” as used in China’s official documents. The goals and missions stated in the outline have shaped the organisation, reform, and development of the OUC.
Since then, there has been a greater demand inside the national radio and TV university (RTVU) system “to rename RTVUs as open universities,” coupled with extensive studies and discussion of open universities in academic circles. The renaming of open universities was thus put on the agenda.
The Approval of the Ministry of Education for the Establishment of the Open University of China Founded on the Basis of China Central Radio & TV University
On 21 June 2012, the MOE issued its Approval for the Establishment of the Open University of China Founded on the Basis of China Central Radio & TV University. It was made clear in the approval that the OUC is a new-style higher education university directly under the administration of the MOE and is mainly committed to offering adults open and distance education with the support of modern information technology. The OUC has adhered to prioritising both degree and non-degree continuing education. It has developed course-based learning resources, made full use of high-quality educational resources in colleges and universities, and promoted the joint construction and sharing of learning resources. It has been active in promoting the construction of a credit bank, exploring the construction of a lifelong learning “bridge” by establishing a system for the mutual recognition of learning results and the accumulation and transfer of credits.
According to the approval notice, the OUC is entitled to set up undergraduate majors, the first batch of which included 19 undergraduate majors. Meanwhile, the OUC is entitled to confer bachelor’s degrees.
The approval underlined that it is hoped that the newly established OUC can emancipate its mind and update its concepts. The OUC should deepen reform and maintain a scientific orientation to improve its quality and develop its characteristics in an effort to meet diversified and personalised learning needs and to make due contributions to the construction of a flexible and open lifelong education system.
The approval to rename the RTVUs as open universities was not only a phased achievement of the implementation of the outline of the national education plan to boost educational reform and innovation but also a major strategic approach to promoting the construction of a lifelong education system characterised by learning for all and lifelong learning. It is a pioneering undertaking of far-reaching significance for China to bring together the resources needed for the development of lifelong education.
On 31 July 2012, the Open University of China was officially inaugurated in the Great Hall of the People, and a new-style university was presented to the public.
Looking back on our original aspiration means progressing along the journey ahead toward a bright future.
Developing the OUC is a completely new undertaking of educational reform and development and is, therefore, a complex social system project. Openness means that everyone can learn anytime and anywhere with a university run in the society. Where there is a need, there is an open university, providing targeted education with warmth. The establishment of the OUC is by no means the end of the mission of the RTVUs. Instead, the OUC has been positioned with a new prospective. By inheriting the past and ushering in the future, it has embarked on a new journey of constructing an open university with new horizons, new goals, and new strategies.
On 20 November 2019, at the First Party Congress of the Open University of China, the goal of building the OUC into a world-class open university through three steps by the year 2035 was proposed, alongside the “1233” project, i.e., to build one team, to enhance two abilities, to establish three systems, and to implement three major strategies.
On 31 August 2020, the MOE issued The OUC Comprehensive Reform Plan. This is another landmark event in the development of the OUC. It symbolises that the transformation and upgrading of the RTVUs and the construction of open universities have entered a new stage, launching the high-quality development of open universities.
Today, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. This is both “a new historic juncture in the development of China” and a new historic starting point for open universities to create still greater glories. At the new beginning of the new era, the OUC has once again undertaken a new mission. As Jing Degang, Party secretary and president of the OUC, said, “Only when open universities take aim at trends, grasp rules, and overcome difficulties can they rise to challenges and get ahead of their competitors in the new round of higher education competition, getting established to promote new development and achieve a new leap forward.” We should “realise the transformation from seeking quantity to strengthening quality, from a focus on qualifications to one on knowledge, from providing degrees to enhancing skills, and from prioritising online teaching to the integrated development of online and offline teaching. We should work hard to build the OUC into a major platform for lifelong education, a major platform for online education, a platform for flexible education, and a platform for international cooperation. We should make the OUC a major force serving lifelong learning for all and supporting a skilled society.”
Ten years ago, a new-style university was presented to the world. Today, it is a university without walls beyond time and space that serves all people, a university that pays equal attention to degree and non-degree continuing education, a university that integrates information technology and education, and a university that gathers and shares quality education resources. Ten years later, the OUC has succeeded in exploring an educational path that is rooted in the vast land of China and suitable for China’s national conditions with Chinese characteristics.
In a period of inheriting the past and opening up the future, the OUC will do a good job in running the university centred on the people and earnestly promote the high-quality development of the open education undertaking with greater determination. The OUC will cultivate talent for the Party and the State to serve the country and the people.
By OUC News Network