2025 marks the final year of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the first year for planning the layout of the 15th Five-Year Plan. From the explicit requirements in the 2024–2035 Master Plan on Building China into a Leading Country in Education, such as "enhancing lifelong learning public services," "improving the system of the Open University of China (OUC)," "building a high-quality Seniors University of China (SUC)," and "building a high-quality National Digital University," to the further emphasis on "optimising lifelong learning public services" in the Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, the strategic position of lifelong education in the national development layout has become increasingly prominent.
Throughout the year, OUC thoroughly implemented the decisions and deployments of the Central government and the Ministry of Education (MOE), focused on the "Four Services" strategic direction, sounding the clarion call for comprehensively implementing the "1234 Strategy". All OUC faculty and staff firmly stand together, think together, and work together, striving to write a new chapter on the new journey of building a leading country in education, where digital empowerment of lifelong education serves the construction of a learning society and country.
1. The thematic activity on “Digital Empowerment for the Construction of a Learning Society” was held at the Open University of China. Education Minister HUAI Jinpeng attended the event and delivered a speech. He highlighted that we should drive educational activities towards more flexible and extensive self-learning and lifelong learning, ensuring that education accompanies every individual throughout their life.
On 26 June 2025, Ministry of Education (MOE), in collaboration with relevant departments, hosted a thematic activity on “Digital Empowerment for the Construction of a Learning Society” at OUC. Minister HUAI Jinpeng attended the event and delivered a speech. He highlighted the following:
We should deeply study and comprehend General Secretary XI Jinping’s important discourses on education and his significant instructions on the construction of a learning society. We, as educators, should establish a scientific view of education, meticulously plan and promote the construction of a learning society, and drive educational activities towards more flexible and extensive self-learning and lifelong learning. By doing so, we will ensure that education accompanies every individual throughout their life. We should focus on the key points of the construction of a learning society. It is imperative to take the reform pilot of the Three-Year Action Plan as an opportunity. It is crucial to seize the trend of intelligent development and actively promote the deep integration of artificial intelligence and lifelong education. This will expedite the construction of a ubiquitous lifelong education system. We should fortify the Smart Education of China Lifelong Education Platform, further amass abundant lifelong learning resources, and consolidate the digital foundation of lifelong education. We should improve policies, systems, and effective mechanisms, and perfect the national, local, and industry credit bank system. By uniting the efforts of various departments, a social learning system that combines the vertical, organised, and systematic classroom learning with the horizontal, open, and boundaryless lifelong self-directed learning can be established. We should create a strong atmosphere and environment for lifelong learning. By utilising big data and artificial intelligence to analyse the learning needs of learners from different industries, regions, and individual growth stages, new learning scenarios can be enriched. It is also necessary to promote the mutual progress of school education, family education, and social education, and to build a new type of learning society facing the future, shaping a new ecosystem of lifelong learning. We should strengthen international exchanges and open cooperation, both to draw on the beneficial experiences of the world to promote the construction of China’s lifelong learning system and to contribute Chinese practices and experiences to the world.
2. OUC Convenes the Second Party Congress and Fifth Staff and Faculty Congress with Second Trade Union Congress for Planning Next Five-Year Work, Comprehensively Implementing "1234 Strategy", and Enacting Three-Year Action Plan
To implement deployment requirements of the 2024–2035 Master Plan on Building China into a Leading Country in Education, OUC convened the Fifth Faculty and Staff Congress and Second Trade Union Congress on 9 April and the Second Party Congress on 20 June, planning the university's five-year work and comprehensively implementing the "1234 Strategy" which features "One Main Thread" focusing on leveraging digitally empowered lifelong education to serve the building of a learning society and country; "Dual-Wheel Drive" maintaining equal emphasis on degree and non-degree education; "Three Calling Cards" aiming to enhance excellence and quality in open education, optimise and strengthen the Seniors University of China (SUC), and explore creation of a digital university; "Four Platforms" striving to establish China's main platform for lifelong education, online education, senior education, and important platform for international cooperation.
On 19 August, in accordance with the Three-Year Action Plan for Accelerating the Building of a Leading Country in Education (2025-2027) from the Central Education Work Leading Group, Three-Year Action Plan (2025-2027) of OUC (SUC) for Implementing the Master Plan on Building China into a Leading Country in Education was issued, launching ten major projects including Project for Fostering Virtue and Talents in the New Era, Comprehensive Reform and Innovation Project for Expanding and Enhancing Open Education Quality, Optimisation and Strengthening Project for SUC, and Research and Creation Project for Digital University.
3. OUC Makes Solid Progress in Digital Empowerment of Lifelong Education to Support the Construction of a Learning Society with its "Four Platforms and One Support" and "Digital Foundation" debut at World Digital Education Conference
On 15 May 2025, the 2025 World Digital Education Conference was held in Wuhan, Hubei Province. During the conference, OUC organised the parallel session “Explore Digitally, Act Wisely: Empowering Large-Scale Personalised Lifelong Learning through Digital Intelligence”. During the session, the new-generation information infrastructure for the field of lifelong education - the Digital Foundation System was released. This system integrates resource integration, data-driven services, intelligent services, security protection, and open sharing. It is designed to build a unified, open, intelligent, and secure capability system that will robustly support the high-quality development of lifelong education. During the digital education achievement exhibition held concurrently with the parallel session, OUC showcased its lifelong education network through immersive family learning scenarios. This network, which covers urban and rural areas across the country and connects thousands of households, leverages the university's institutional and systemic strengths. It focuses on the "four services" and constructs a "four platforms and one support" system (Smart Education of China Lifelong Education Platform, National Education Platform for the Elderly, Smart OUC Integrated Platform, International Teaching Platform, and Credit Bank). By utilising digital empowerment, it makes lifelong education truly ubiquitous and accessible to all. Over the past year, the Smart Education of China Platform has undergone continuous intelligent upgrades. It has developed 5 technical specifications for platform interconnection, resource sharing, and data access, and launched 6 intelligent applications including AI customer service, recommendation, learning companion, search, navigation, and summarisation, along with 8 AI agents in its studying columns. The platform has added 7,192 new high-quality learning resources and served over 55 million users.
4. OUC Deeply Implements the Open Education "101 Plan", Advancing the Incubation and Development of First-Batch Model Courses and Model Resources, Propelling 20 Open Education Textbooks onto the Shortlist for the 2nd National Excellent Textbook Award
To implement the “Implementation Opinions on the Comprehensive Reform of Education and Teaching in Open Universities through Digital Intelligence Empowerment and Integrated Coordination”, and to promote the Open Education "101 Plan", OUC has set the objective of creating exemplary models for reforming quality components of talent cultivation in open education in the era of digital intelligence. Adhering to the principles of "problem-oriented, customised teaching, student-favoured, and socially recognised", focusing on the positioning of application-oriented talent cultivation, and strengthening competency requirements for professional positions, OUC has launched curricular and resource reforms targeting key educational components such as digitally and intelligently empowered courses, textbooks, faculty, practice, and assessment.
The university has advanced the high-quality development of 69 model courses and model resources, covering disciplines and majors including public administration, economics, education, computer science, civil engineering, and nursing, with 5 million course enrolments recorded. Throughout the year, OUC organised 14 thematic seminars, conducted two rounds of one-on-one course polishing sessions for 140 courses, and held three university-wide showcase events.
The reform achievements have been incorporated into the comprehensive reform pilot programme of the MOE's Three-Year Action Plan for Building a Leading Country in Education, receiving honours including the AI-Enabled Online Teaching Innovation Achievement Award from the China Association for Educational Technology. These efforts have facilitated 20 open education textbooks winning the 2nd National Excellent Textbook Award, accounting for 51% of all continuing education award-winning textbooks (on the published shortlist), representing an increase of nearly 30% compared to the award proportion in the inaugural edition.
5. "Quality Leadership, System Synergy, Excellence and Enhancement": OUC Completes First-Round Branch Operation Evaluation After Five Years and Launches its Second Round
OUC jointly with the Education Quality Evaluation Agency of MOE, completed the first-round branch operation evaluation after five years. This endeavour comprehensively enhanced standardisation level, support capacity, teaching quality, and social reputation of the system's operations, achieving remarkable results in promoting development through evaluation. Building on the experience of the first round, OUC meticulously organised the second-round evaluation plan and indicators, making clear arrangements at the quality work research and deployment meeting held on 23 December.
The second-round branch operation evaluation will focus on the strategic theme of "Digital Empowerment for Lifelong Education to Serve the Building of a Learning Society and Country," implementing a high-quality, distinctive, and contribution-oriented evaluation philosophy. It will combine routine data monitoring with comprehensive expert review to conduct thorough assessments across seven dimensions: branch positioning, system-wide operation, resource support, teaching operation, quality management, teaching effectiveness, and social contribution. This will further leverage evaluation to promote construction, reform, quality enhancement, management improvement, and distinctive development, thereby laying a solid quality foundation for building a world-class open university with Chinese characteristics and serving the development of a ubiquitous and accessible lifelong education system and a leading country in education.
6. OUC Selected for MOE's "2025 Industry Workers' Dream-Realisation Education Initiative Participating Institutions", Promotes 41 Provincial Branches' Selection to Empower Industry Workers' "Dual Enhancement"
On 2 April, All-China Federation of Trade Unions, MOE, and two other ministries jointly issued the Opinions on Widely Implementing the Dream-Realisation Education Initiative to Advance Industry Workers' Academic Credentials and Competency Enhancement, launching a new round of industry workers' education and capacity-building programs. OUC was selected for the MOE's "2025 Industry Workers' Dream-Realisation Education Initiative Participating Institutions". Additionally, it promoted 41 provincial branches onto the list, forming a collaborative work pattern wherein the national operation system partners with local trade unions and enterprise unions, achieving vertical linkage and coordinated advancement.
As a key implementing unit of the action, OUC fully leverages its system-wide operation and digital advantages to advance policy implementation. The university cooperated with MOE to formulate supporting documents and organized expert teams for in-depth policy interpretation. It built service platforms, was entrusted to develop a project application platform, and organised project evaluations.
Strengthening educational practice, OUC recruited over 50,000 new students in 2025, hosted the "Industry Worker Talent Cultivation Innovation Development Symposium," and released the Compilation of Industry Worker Talent Cultivation Innovation Development Achievements. According to the plan, the action aims to create no fewer than 300 projects and fund 3 million industry workers to realise their university dreams by 2030. Since the programme's launch in 2014, OUC has trained over 780,000 industry workers.
7. OUC Expands and Enhances Social Services: Primary and Secondary School Teacher Training Reaches 108,000; “OUC Domestic Service” Training Initiative Serves 469,000 People; 5,725 “Family Education Instructors” Certified; “Capable-as-Teachers Community Education Initiative” Serves 1.2 Million People
OUC continuously enhances and expands its social services with high-quality development. First, its flagship programmes continue to gain momentum. The primary and secondary school teacher training programme enrolled 108,000 participants; the healthcare vocational skills development programme trained 7,578 people; the “OUC Domestic Service” training initiative provided training services to 469,000 participants; and 5,725 “Family Education Instructors” were certified.
Second, system-wide synergy continues to strengthen. OUC compiled the Catalogue of OUC System's Featured Training Programmes, exploring new collaborative mechanisms for non-degree education across the open university system; the “Capable-as-Teachers Community Education Initiative” pooled system-wide resources, serving approximately 1.2 million participants.
Third, external cooperation continues to deepen. Together with the Social Security Capacity Building Centre of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other partners, OUC launched the National Alliance for Digital-Intelligent Domestic Services Industry-Education Integration and Ecosystem Development, advancing deep integration between industry and education in the home services sector.
Fourth, service support continues to advance. OUC spearheaded the "Wisdom Ignites the Future, Learning Enriches Life: Higher Education Resource Sharing Initiative for Lifelong Learning."
8. OUC Continues to Expand Depth and Breadth of Services for National Strategy of Proactively Addressing Population Ageing, Serving 89.26 Million Senior Learners
In 2025, the education service system of SUC continues to expand, having established branch campuses at Tsinghua University, Hefei University of Technology, etc., with 44 provincial branches, 96 branch campuses and co-construction units, and 82,000 primary-level learning points established nationwide. SUC’s service capacity has been significantly enhanced, aggregating 350,000 quality course resources, optimising the smart senior learning companion "Little Leaf," serving 89.26 million senior learners. The university’s demonstration pathways continue to expand through the sustained development of proactive health courses by renowned TCM masters, serving over 42.86 million participants. On 31 March, Academician ZHONG Nanshan delivered the "First Lecture of the School Year," attracting 12.41 million live viewers and creating the viewing effect of "ten thousand screens sharing one lecture, one lecture shared by millions."
Moreover, social impact continues to grow as SUC forges a golden calling card for "silver learning." On 22 March, in partnership with China Education Television, SUC launched the "Golden Age Cup" National Senior Arts Showcase & Performance - a six-month event featuring 8,164 works that garnered over 20 million views. The intergenerational learning practice "Shangsi Bamboo Horse Dance Intergenerational Learning Programme" was selected for UNESCO Integrated Case Study Report. The research project "Model Construction for Sustainable Development of Digital-Intelligence-Empowered Lifelong Education - Based on Innovative Practices of SUC" was selected for the inaugural "Sustainable Social Value Global Open Research Initiative" announced by Tsinghua University's Institute for Sustainable Social Value.
9. OUC Actively Participates in Global Governance of Open Education, was Elected as AAOU President and Builds its 35th Overseas Learning Centre - Open Learning Centre in Brazil, São Paulo
OUC’s global influence in open education continues to grow in 2025. At the World Digital Education Conference held 14-16 May, OUC became a founding council member of the World Digital Education Alliance. At the World University Presidents Forum held 8 November, OUC showcased practical achievements in "making lifelong education universally accessible through digital intelligence" and became a founding member of the "Global Universities AI Education and Teaching Innovation Collaboration Mechanism." From 21-23 October, OUC hosted the 38th Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) Annual Conference and was elected as AAOU President (2026-2028).
On 3 June, OUC, together with China Agricultural University and the University of São Paulo, jointly established the OUC’s Open Learning Centre, São Paulo, Brazil and held the inauguration ceremony. Since 2017, focusing on digital education, international Chinese language education, and vocational skills education, OUC has collaborated with regular higher education institutions, leading enterprises, and local open universities to establish 35 overseas learning centres across 28 countries.
10. National Education Sciences Planning Establishes First-Ever Special Project for Lifelong Education System Research, Focusing on Core Tasks of "Building a Ubiquitous and Accessible Lifelong Education System," "Improving the OUC System," "Building a High-Quality SUC," and "Building a High-Quality National Digital University"
To implement the deployment of 2024–2035 Master Plan on Building China into a Leading Country in Education and serve core tasks through high-level, high-quality research projects, OUC signed the Cooperation Agreement on "Special Project for Lifelong Education System Research" under National Education Sciences Planning with the China National Academy of Educational Sciences on 26 April, which marks the first establishment of a special project for lifelong education system research under the National Education Sciences Planning framework.
On 19 August, the List of “Approved Projects for 2025 National Education Sciences Planning” was announced, including eight projects under the "Special Project for Lifelong Education System Research", Among these eight projects, OUC undertaking one major project, one key project, and one general project; regular higher education institutions undertaking two key projects and one general project; and the Open University of Sichuan and Beijing Open University each undertaking one general project. On 31 October, OUC organised a centralised project kick-off meeting for all eight projects.
By OUC