A Symposium on Education for older adults by the Open University of China (OUC) was held on October 25-26, 2014 in Chengdu, China. The symposium focused on how to respond to the Ministry of Education, who is leading a special campaign on investigation and research tasks related to the National Development Plan on the Education for Older Adults (2016-2020), and discussed relevant topics on the planned subject of “Study of Education for Older Adults” for the OUC from 2012-2014.

The review panel for this topic exchange activity includes: Vice President of the OUC Zhang Shaogang, Director of the Research Institute of Open and Distance Education of the OUC Wang Ying, Party Secretary of Chendu Radio & TV University (Chengdu RTVU) Zhao Gang, President of Chengdu RTVU Zhou Jiping, Party Secretary of Sichuan RTVU Luo Dayu, Vice President of Ningbo RTVU Chen Shu, and Vice President of Dalian RTVU Fang Jiashi.

Dozens of radio & TV universities from Beijing, Shanghai, and Dalian participated in the symposium during each stage, including its opening, mid-term report, and concluding report, as well as the exchange activities. 11 responsible persons for the topic focused on the current status of the education for older adults, the learning desire of older adults, and the needs of pension service institutions and professionals. They reported on the status of the topics and exchanged views on it. Some specific suggestions were proposed by the expert panel based on the current development of research on the education for older adults, the existing problems in this area, the research direction, as well as the research ideas and characteristics of each topic, and follow-up study. It is suggested that case collection and case study should be emphasized in terms of education for older adults; both theory and practice should be integrated with each other; the education for older adults in the OUC should have unique characteristics; and that the OUC should carry out its own scientific research on this topic. The symposium also explicitly stated that the OUC should take an active and leading role in promoting the development of education for older adults. At the symposium, the participants also explored innovations in how to demonstrate various forms of subject management.

The participants at the symposium also visited the i-ecological vegetable garden and Chengdu Community Education Experience Centre founded by Community University of Chengdu RTVU, experienced rich community teaching resources and various kinds of education activities, such as crop planting, photography, calligraphy and painting, and tea arts.

By Lu Feng, the OUC