The Open University of China (OUC) officially established its School of the Arts on July 3, 2013. The opening ceremony was attended by Zhang Shuanggu, vice president and secretary-general of the Chinese Society for Educational Development Strategy, and Yan Bing, vice president of the OUC.
The newly established school puts special emphasis on the development of non-degree courseware that are taught and edited by famous artists. The School of the Arts strives to provide first-class art courseware, including painting, music, calligraphy, and traditional Chinese opera. The courses meet demands for community education, continuing education for the elderly, cadre education, rural education, and preschool education. They also meet the OUC’s demands for course development of the art programmes, with the aim of improving the skills and competences of the OUC learners. The school focuses on the development of digital course resources, such as micro-lectures, online courses and video courses. With the help of China Education Television and the OUC’s online learning and support service platform, it endeavors to make learning available to anyone. In addition, online learners’ efforts can be quantified by the OUC’s credit bank and used to obtain certificates. In this way, online learners can both acquire knowledge and abilities, and obtain professional certification.
The school will cooperate with the OUC Publishing & Media Group to establish the “OUC Research Institute of Painting and Calligraphy Art”. In addition, the school plans to establish the “Art Studio for Audio & Video Production” in conjunction with the OUC Multimedia Press, in order to study learning resources that suit social needs.
By Tang Yingshan, the OUC