The Open University of China started the work of applying for approval of Bachelor’s degree-granting to Beijing Academics Degree Committee (BADC) in 2013.

In the third session of the fourth BADC, convened on 19 July 2015 in Beijing, the OUC was approved as a Bachelor’s degree-granting institution. The first batch of disciplines with the right to grant Bachelor’s degrees includes Business Administration, Law, Chinese Language and Literature, Computer Science and Technology, and Accounting.

In June 2016, the BADC convened an expert seminar to review and approve OUC’s twenty-six undergraduate majors with the right to grant Bachelor’s degrees.

On 28th of December 2016, OUC Working Conference of Bachelor’s Degree Evaluation Committee for Autumn 2016 was held in Beijing. The two-day conference was the OUC’s first plenary meeting of the Academic Degree Evaluation Committee (Committee) since it was authorised as a degree-granting institution and obtained the authority to confer Bachelor’s degrees in twenty-six majors. The Committee established eight sub-committees, i.e. Economics, Law, Education, Literature, Science and Engineering, Industry and Commerce Management, Public Management, Agroforestry & Medicine etc. to review the students who had applied for Bachelor’s degrees in their respective disciplines. The final list was submitted to the Committee for review. After several rounds of strict and meticulous reviewing and evaluation, the Committee voted to confer OUC Bachelor’s degrees to 109 graduates, including Tu Chongfen etc., in autumn 2016 semester.

By Yan Jingzhen, www.china.org.cn