Taiyuan, 10 June 2025 - XU Mingjun, Vice President of the Open University of China (OUC, also known as the Seniors University of China, SUC), visited Taiyuan, Shanxi Province to conduct an investigation into local elderly education and attended the inauguration ceremony of SUC Shanxi Branch.

Vice President XU highlighted that in recent years, China has prioritised elderly education, enacting a series of major policies and strategic plans. In January of this year, the 2024–2035 Master Plan on Building China into a Leading Country in Education set forth the goals of "establishing a ubiquitous and accessible lifelong education system" and "ensuring the successful operation of SUC." SUC will fully support the development of its Shanxi Branch to foster a new operational paradigm that includes collaborative course development, joint teacher training, shared scientific research, co-hosted achievement displays, interconnected platform services, and jointly promoted distinctive demonstrations.

WANG Dong, Deputy Director of the Shanxi Provincial Education Department, stated that the Department will fully support the development of SUC Shanxi Branch and enhancement of Shanxi Open University (SXOU). SXOU is encouraged to further expand its scale, elevate its educational quality, and build distinctive brands. It should also strengthen cooperation with various levels of government departments and all sectors of society to create a powerful synergy for the high-quality development of elderly education in Shanxi, thereby effectively serving the province's high-quality economic and social development.

QI Liping, Secretary of the Party Committee of SXOU, emphasised that the university will take the establishment of SUC Shanxi Branch as a new starting point and commit fully to the effective implementation of all related work.

In addition, the delegation also conducted on-site visits to the Seniors College of SXOU and the Taiyuan Seniors Open University, followed by a symposium to discuss key findings and further development of elder education.

Contributed by SUC