On the afternoon of July 16, 2010, at the convention of the OUC Cadre and Faculty Representatives, Deputy Director of the Department of Personnel of the Ministry of Education Xu Tao announced the decision of the Ministry of Education Party Group to appoint Yang Zhijian the new president of the Open University of China (OUC).

Yang Zhijian gave his inaugural speech at the convention. He first thanked the party group for their trust in him. He also said that to be able to work at a university such as this was a great honor, but at the same time he felt a heavy weight on his shoulders. This weight mainly came from the nation's hopes and

The 10th International Conference on Teaching and Learning Chinese successfully finished on August 20 2010 in Shenyang, China. The conference was jointly held by The International Society for Chinese Language Teaching and Hanban. The theme of the conference was "New Teaching Materials and Pedagogy in International Chinese Teaching and Learning". Nearly 400 society members and essay writers from 38 countries, including the USA and Canada, attended. The conference was intended to highlight the teaching experience of outstanding teachers at the forefront of Chinese language teaching all over the world. It consisted of three main parts: theme speeches, seminars and forums and the "International Chinese Teaching Demonstration Class". The OUC's Chinese Language Centre gave a full demonstration of its newly developed MyEChinese distance teaching platform, winning wide attention and approval.

Over the past 30 years or so, talent has become a key element of the development and reform of rural China. Modern distance education has played an invaluable role in the process of cultivating talent.On 30 May, the OUC held the 22nd Roundtable Conference on China Distance Education in Hangzhou. Nearly a hundred delegates attended, including specialists and leaders from the OUC, China National Institute for Educational Research, China Agricultural University, China Liaoyuan Radio and TV School, Jiangsu Radio and TV University and Zhejiang Radio and TV University.They examined the historical mission of distance education in modern times, focusing on the Rural Students Training Programme of Zhejiang Radio and TV University.

 The OUC held its 2010 Admissions Conference in Qingdao from 26 to 28 May. The main theme of the conference was new situations, requirements and ways of thinking. The OUC needs to have a clear development direction, focus on effective management, use innovative admissions procedures, improve the quality of work and further advance the development of open education. Delegates summarised 2010 spring admissions, exchanged experiences from their various locations, analysed the points and problems arising from open education admissions, explored how to strengthen the management and improve the quality of admissions, as well as preparing for 2010 autumn admissions.

 The Open University of China, together with the Library Association of China, initiates the 2010 reading project of the China radio and TV universities Hand in Hand—A Reading Movement among Rural Youth.

The Movement will organise experts in the related fields through the Internet and other media to

Director-General Zhang Daliang and Director Liu Ying from the Ministry of Education pay a working visit to the OUC on 30th March. Photographed here in the Video-Conferencing Centre of the OUC (This photo shows Director Liu Ying, President Ge Daokai, Director-General Zhang Daliang and Vice President Li Linshu)

On 30th March 2010, Mr. Zhang Daliang, the Director-General of the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, and Ms. Liu Ying, the Director

 To improve the teaching quality of distance education for people with disabilities, and to upgrade the overall teaching management of the School for the Disabled of the Open University of China (OUC), we have carried out the selection for national model tutorial centres or schools in 2009.Three branch schools –Inner Mongolia School, Shenzhen School and Wuhan School- were selected. Each of these three branch schools was awarded a special subsidy of

The Fourth Confucius Institute Conference opened in Beijing on December 11th, 2009. The opening ceremony was chaired by Yuan Guiren, Chinese Minister of Education and Vice President of the Board of Trustee of the Confucius Institute Headquarter. Liu Yandong, State Councilor and President of the Board of Trustee of the Confucius Institute Headquarter, delivered a keynote speech. More than 1,000 distinguished guests from both home and abroad, including presidents of Confucius institutes from