On May 7th, 2015, a 4-person delegation including Mr. DongKook Lee, the Acting President and Professor of Korea National Open University (KNOU), and Professor Yuan Fujie of the Open University of Japan (OUJ), took part in the “Education and Services for Older Adults Staff Building Forum” sponsored jointly by the OUC and China Association of Social Welfare and paid a special visit to the OUC after the meeting. Mr. Zhang Shaogang, Vice President of the Open University of China (OUC), met the delegation.

               Mr. Zhang Shaogang, Vice President of the OUC meeting with the delegations

                                  The delegations visiting the OUC history exhibition
 

                                          The delegations visiting the OUC Library

                              The delegations visiting the OUC Chinese Language Centre

During their discussions, Mr. DongKook Lee and Ms. Yuan Fujie expressed that they were impressed with the special speech delivered by President Yang Zhijian at the forum, and highly praised the education and services provided for older adults by the OUC. They hoped to strengthen the role of “Trilateral Distance Education Forum among China, Japan, and South Korea” as a communication platform and deepen the cooperation of open universities among the three countries.

Mr. Zhang Shaogang said that, by participating in the “Education and Services for Older Adults Staff Building Forum”, he gained a deeper understanding of the development of the education for older adults in KNOU and the OUJ and appreciated their achievements. Mr. Zhang Shaogang proposed to push forward trilateral cooperation in the following three aspects: Firstly, to carry out comparative studies on older adults education and services for the aged among China, Japan, and South Korea on the basis of the reports made by the three parties during the “Education and Services for Older Adults Staff Building Forum”; Secondly, to establish curriculum resources which appeal to each of the three parties in order to promote the mutual understanding and learning of each others’ language, culture, knowledge, and skills; Lastly, to initiate a visiting scholar exchange programme to boost and expand cooperative projects. The delegation agreed with the proposal made by Mr. Zhang Shaogang and decided to jointly cooperate in its implementation.

The delegation also visited the “Deep Integration of Information Technology and Education: OUC History Exhibition from the Radio and TV University to the Open University of China” and focused on understanding the operation of the Learner Support Centre, the Library, the Chinese Language Centre, and the Credit Bank. The delegation was very interested in the development of open and distance education by the OUC.

The OUC, the KNOU, and the OUJ launched the “Trilateral Distance Education Forum among China, Japan, and South Korea” in 2009. Presidents and scholars from the three universities and experts in international distance education circles have held constant and in-depth discussions on the hot issues in open and distance education at the forum.

                                                                                                       By Chen Na, the OUC