In order to implement the requirements of the Opinions of the State Council of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Strengthening the Work of Older Adults in the New Era, take advantage of the strengths of the open-university system, and promote the education of older adults at open universities, the Education Sub-committee of the OUC Academic Committee held a forum on innovative development of open-university education for older adults on 16 September 2022.

Li Song, vice president of the OUC and director of its Academic Committee, attended.

Li Song stated that, given opportunities for such development, the sub-committee should exert its strengths in conducting research on the construction of the system of the National University for Older Adults, the development of schooling, and other practical issues, researching solutions that institutions catering to older adults have already adopted, and providing academic support to innovative measures in the open-university system.

Liu Caimei, deputy director of the Business Development and Comprehensive Management Office of the OUC University for Older Adults, in her article In the Digital Era, New Media Boosts the Development of Education of the Elderly, shared her experiences with digital course-resource construction, operation of online learning services, and explorations of integrating online and offline teaching, presenting her multi-level and innovative model of education of older adults. Liu Zhigang, vice president of Tianjin Open University, introduced the current situation, model, and characteristics of senior-education work at the university, and made suggestions for future development in a paper titled Giving Full Play to the Advantages of the Open University System and Technology to Help the High-quality Development of Education for the Elderly. Zhu Xinzhou, deputy director of the Hunan Lifelong Education Guidance and Service Centre, presented three aspects of the work of Hunan RTVU on elder education: joint construction, integration and sharing, and proposed future research on the construction of majors and development of human resources. He also spoke on future research on construction of elder education and resources. Chen Sheyu, president of Nanjing Open University, shared his views on ageing in Nanjing, the development of community and elder education there, the problems and prospects of university construction, and a special project, "Nanking Academy", that integrates development of elder with community and lifelong education.

The forum was presided over by Li Ying, deputy director of the Education Sub-committee, while Zhang Xia, dean of the Faculty of Education, and all members of the sub-committee attended.

 

By Liu Jinglu, OUC