On 22 March 2011, President Yang Zhijian of the Open University of China (OUC) met with a delegation from the Korea National Open University (KNOU) led by its President Nam-Chul Cho.

After a meeting with President Yang, Vice President Zhang Shaogang gave the delegates an introduction to the OUC, and also invited President Nam-Chul Cho to discuss the use of the Internet and IT in distance education in Korea. President Cho said that Korean students frequently use mobile devices such as pad computers and smart phones to apply for courses, learn and interact with tutors and their classmates. Vice President Zhang also expressed interest in the differences between KNOU and cyber universities in Korea discussed by President Cho.

 

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The OUC Chinese Language Center showed the delegates the distance teaching/learning platform and various multimedia courseware for teaching Chinese. President Cho was deeply impressed by the Center's work and said he hoped to introduce Chinese language courses to the KNOU.

Professor Niu Jian, director of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, gave the delegates an introduction to the subject Business Korean oriented to Chinese working in Korean companies in China, to be developed by the OUC. Professor Niu hoped that the KNOU would help provide related materials on Korean language teaching and culture to the OUC, as references for compiling the textbook for the subject. At the end of meeting, both sides expressed their satisfaction with the progress they had made. They hoped that the follow-up work would be further discussed in the 3rd OUJ, OUC and KNOU International Seminar on Distance Education planned for mid-September this year.

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In the afternoon, President Nam-Chul Cho made a presentation focusing on undergraduate and postgraduate courses, teaching and learning processes, the characteristics of the KNOU and its fiscal condition and facilities. His speech was well-received by the audience. He also answered questions and had a lively discussion with the OUC staff after the presentation.

 

By Dai Jing, the OUC