Recently, the project “Fostering Digital Competency, Building Re-Employment Capacity, and Enhancing Well-being for Older Adults in the Digital Economy” for international exchanges and cooperation as approved by the 2022 Budget and Management Committee of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

The project is numbered CN HRD 05 2022A with a fund of $140,531. The application for the project was organised and completed by the Open University of China (OUC).

From January to May 2022, the OUC International Department organised the writing and submission of the project’s “Concept Note” based on selection inside the university and consultation with relevant invited experts at home and abroad. After passing the APEC’s online defence and other stages, it was jointly nominated by seven member economies, including Chile, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Thailand. On 18 May, it received the “Approval in Principle” from the APEC’s Budget and Management Committee after preliminary review. From May to October 2022, the project application team conducted several discussions and revisions of the project proposal in line with the relevant opinions of the APEC. In October 2022, it passed the final review.

Fan Xianrui, vice president of the OUC, serves as the first leading official of the project, leading the specific implementation. The objectives of the project are to upgrade the digital literacy and skills of older adults in APEC economies, to enhance capacity building for employment of older adults in the digital era, and to make contributions to the economic recovery and prosperity of APEC member economies in the post-pandemic era. The major contents of the project include investigating the current situation of digital literacy and skills of the older adults in 21 APEC economies; developing and designing micro-credentials courses with global vision for digital literacy and digital skills; holding online-offline integrated international conferences and releasing background research reports and micro-credentials courses; and summarising the experiences of the project, making policy suggestions, and sharing optimum practices.

 

By Hou Songyan, OUC