On 5 January 2021, Gu Xiulian, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People’s Congress, director of the Working Committee of Care for the Next Generation of China, and honorary chairwoman of China Association of the Universities for the Aged, conducted an investigation trip to the Open University of China (OUC).
On 27 January 2021, the Open University of China (OUC) held a meeting for the start of the construction of its "Smart Learning Platform" informatisation project. The meeting was attended by Lin Yu, OUC vice president, as well as responsible personnel from relevant departments and representatives of contractors. The members of the project work teams watched the meeting live online.
On 25 March 2021, Wang Jianjun, a member of the Party Group of China’s National Health Commission, and executive deputy director and chair of the China National Committee on Ageing (CNCA), along with Wu Yushao and Xiao Caiwei, members of the Party Group of the CNCA and CNCA vice chairs, took part in an investigative tour in the Open University of China (OUC), and held discussions with Jing Degang, secretary of the Party Committee and president of the OUC; Liu Chen, vice secretary of the Party Committee and president of the OUC University for Older Adults; and department personnel.
The Open University of China’s (OUC) “One College Student Per Village” programme was awarded the 2020 UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education (UNESCO Prize for the Use of ICT in Education), as announced by the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 6 April 2021. This is the second time that a Chinese institution has won the award since 2008.
Recently, the “One College Student Per Village” programme implemented by the Open University of China (OUC) was awarded the 2020 UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education.
In order to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), review the May the Fourth Movement, and further study and implement the guiding principles of the important speech General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered at the meeting launching a campaign on Party History Learning and Education, the Open University of China (OUC) launched the “Tell Stories of Party History and Be Progressive Youth: Youth United” learning activity, part of the campaign on Party history learning and education within the OUC educational system, on 29 April 2021.
The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has posed an unprecedented global challenge. Nearly 1.2 billion students in over 160 countries and regions have had to suspend their studies to some extent.
The Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) held its 34th Annual Conference from 1 to 3 June 2021 at the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). The conference was held both online and offline, and its theme was “Opening minds for a sustainable future: Re-orienting ODL to surmount challenges”. The paper submitted by the Open University of China (OUC), titled “Best Practices of Poverty Alleviation through ODE: A Case Study from the OUC” received a silver medal of AAOU Best Practice Award.