On November 1, 2012, a high-level delegation from Canada's Athabasca University visited the OUC. The delegates were Dr. Margaret Haughey (Vice President, Academic), Brian Stewart (Vice President Information Technology), Dr. Cindy Ives (Associate Vice President, Learning Resources) and Dr. Iain Grant (Manager, Special Projects).

After in-depth discussions, the two sides decided to establish a joint research center for distance education and jointly develop distance education courses and teacher training programmes.

OUC President Yang Zhijian and Party Committee Vice Secretary Zhang Shaogang met with the delegation. While introducing the OUC’s “Distance Education Based on Cloud Computing” design concept, Professor Yang Zhijian also expressed his willingness to learn from Athabasca's experiences in developing resources and building a strong team of faculty. Professor Zhang Shaogang summarized the current state of the OUC and its concept of international cooperation. The delegation visited the “From China Central Radio and TV University to the Open University of China” exhibition of OUC history and the digital learning experience center. They learned about the operation and development of the Learner Support Centre, Library and Chinese Language Center, and praised the OUC's effective application of information technology in teaching.

Vice President Brian Stewart and Associate Vice President Cindy Ives attended a seminar on information technology and teaching resources with teachers and related personnel from the Department of Teaching Resources Management, Information Technology Department, Development Planning Office, School of Economics and Management, and Examination Center. The two parties exchanged information on their current state of information technology application and teaching resource construction. They also discussed possibilities of working together to construct course resources.

Dr. Margaret Haughey gave a lecture to OUC faculty and staff entitled “Ideas Online: Possible Directions for the Future?” She analyzed how the application of information technology is influencing open and distance learning, reform in course design, development of online learning resources and environment, and the trend towards personalised study. This interesting and informative lecture sparked lively audience discussion and everyone benefited from it greatly.

Athabasca University was founded in 1970 and is Canada's Open University. Athabasca University is dedicated to the removal of barriers that restrict access to and success in university-level study and to increasing equality of educational opportunity for adult learners in Canada and worldwide.Its practices in open course design, learner support services, and development and application of educational technology have been universally acknowledged by international distance education institutions.

By Chen Na, the OUC