On March 6, the Experimental School of Binhai New District of the Open University of China (the OUC) was founded at Tianjin Radio and TV University (RTVU). Yang Zhijian, the President of the OUC, and Feng Xuefei, the President of Tianjin RTVU, signed the agreement between the two universities to co-sponsor the OUC Experimental School of Binhai New District.
Yang Zhijian, President of the OUC, and Xu Guangyu, Deputy-director-inspector of the Tianjin Education Commission, joined them in unveiling the nameplate of the Experimental School. Yan Bing, Vice President of the OUC hosted this founding and signing ceremony.
Yu Maodong, Vice Director of the Tianjin Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and CPC Party Secretary of Tianjin RTVU, attended the ceremony and delivered a speech. He said the two sides signing the agreement to cooperate in building the OUC Experimental School of Binhai New District is a big step taken by the OUC in its pursuit of the national education strategy, promoting their school management system and supporting the development of Tianjin RTVU, while providing a precious opportunity for Tianjin RTVU to continue developing, helping all to better understand and experience the profound meaning of open education. To be open should involve being interconnected initially. A system with components competing against one another, delaying each other, and undermining each other cannot lead to advancement. Secondly, opening up should lead to external combinations, as the world is infinite with various things and endless needs. Only with the attitude of coming together and global integration can we finish and successfully fulfill the mission of the career. And all the more so when it comes to education, especially continuing education, for which to be open is our best choice and the way to gain the most. The current situation of Binhai New District in Tianjin, especially in meeting the needs of Tianjin's economic development, necessitates that we should cultivate a large number of highly motivated industrial workers with both knowledge and skills. The programme to train and assist a new type of industrial worker, put forward by the OUC, aims to achieve this goal and will support the future development of the economic society in Tianjin to the greatest extent. Yu Maodong showed that all the members of Tianjin RTVU should cherish this opportunity and bravely shoulder their responsibilities and obligations in succeeding and in finishing this mission to construct the Experimental School in Binhai New District and in diligently making contributions for the development of a prosperous society in Tianjin.
During his speech, President Yang pointed out that the foundation of the Experimental School of Binhai New District is a significant institutional innovation in the organizational system of the OUC, an important field of exploring the strategy of the transformation of the OUC, and also an important measure in running the open universities well and achieving the goals of “joining the mainstream, fixing the position, and showing characteristics”. The founding of the Experimental School of Binhai New District mainly aims to deepen the overall strategic cooperation between the OUC and Tianjin RTVU, explore the new model and mechanism, choosing a route most conducive to the different development situations of economic societies in various regions and the new trend of the development of the modern vocational education, and meeting the needs of a wide spectrum of society desiring to receive a high quality education. Breaking the mold of traditional education, the OUC Experimental School of Binhai New District promotes the new pattern of industrial workers, which follow principles derived from peasant workers. The OUC will plan and propose an assistance programme for the cultivating and development of a new pattern for industrial workers to directly cultivate their skills and talents, meeting the needs of the region, the industry, and even special positions for skilled workers, according to requirements for cultivating and training modern industrial workers. This programme not only reflects the social value of the OUC, but also directly leads and promotes the reform of nurturing learners of the original RTVU, including the goal of nurturing learners, establishment of programmes, curriculum structure, course content, etc.
Yang Zhijian emphasized that due to the requirement “to run the open universities well” presented by the National Outline for Medium and Long-term Educational Reform and Development, there has been much experimentation by national and regional schools, including some progress as well as difficulties by several open universities, who especially need to explore new methods and mechanisms to meet everyone’s needs to achieve cooperation among the different educational institutes in order to progress harmoniously. He also hoped that the OUC Experimental School of Binhai New District could further stimulate reform, innovate and explore new ways to promote the construction of the OUC school system, while at the same time promote the transformation strategy of Tianjin RTVU.
The OUC Experimental School of Binhai New District, based on the Binhai School of Tianjin RTVU, was founded after consultations and discussions between the OUC and Tianjin RTVU according to the framework agreement signed by the two sides in 2013 focusing on strengthening overall strategic cooperation. According to the agreement made by the two sides, the cooperative target of this school is mainly divided into two aspects: the first one is utilizing the Binhai Experimental School as the carrier to implement the pilot programme for nurturing and developing the new pattern industrial workers, carrying out both degree and non-degree continuing education, targeting business employees in Binhai New District, helping businesses to transform and update, to assist the growth and development of employees, to explore new ways to cultivate professionals, to promote the ideal of lifelong learning and the characteristics of the OUC for the new pattern for industrial workers, and to probe new ways to use the “credit bank” to bridge the gap to lifelong learning; the second one is according to the requirements and process for the construction of pilot programmes for open universities and construction of the OUC, through co-building the Binhai Experimental School, to explore the innovative issues and related mechanisms in the construction of open universities and the OUC school system, issues faced by open universities serving the learning industry, and issues facing the new mode and new mechanism in the construction of the learning-type industry, and to promote the strategic transformation of the Tianjin RTVU system and the construction process of Tianjin Open University while co-building the Binhai Experimental School and implementing the assisting programme.
By Yao Wenjian, the OUC