On August 13, 2015, “Anhui Province’s Education Event and People of 2014” awards ceremony was held in Hefei, an event jointly organized by the Press Office of Anhui Province’s Department of Education, Anhui Province’s Education Publicity Centre, and the Anhui Youth Newspaper. Anhui Open University (Anhui OU)’s major First Government-lead Initiative, “Online Adult Education Park,” was selected and awarded as “Anhui Province’s Education Event of 2014” and the Anhui OU won a prize recognizing its excellence in implementation.

The selection process intends to highlight achievements in educational reform and development in Anhui province in 2014, to promote the tradition of respecting teachers and valuing education. This will lead all of society to better understand, care about, and support the education movement. The event has been warmly received in the educational system across the province. Organizers received a total of 208 submissions from 106 units. The “Education Event of 2014” received 83 nominations from 50 units, while 125 “Educators of 2014” were nominated by 83 units. After an initial round of screening by the organizers, online voting decided the 10 events and 12 people of the year.

In 2013, following requirements by the “Higher Education Revitalization Programme,” Anhui Province’s Education and Finance departments launched a project titled, “The Reform of Distance Teaching Models and the Digitization of Adult Higher Education.” Its purpose was to establish Anhui’s “Online Adult Education Park” in three to five years. Anhui OU is the project lead, vigorously involved in the research and development of an online platform for Anhui adult higher education which will reform distance teaching through colleges and universities. As of June 2015, the platform’s functions to serve teaching and teaching management have gradually improved and 27 colleges and universities directly under the provincial education department have joined the park. The platform offers more than 50 specialties, 300 courses, and nearly 4000 online teaching resources with over 2000 video resources. It attracts over 20,000 online learners and peaks at over 800,000 visits per month. Central and provincial mainstream press and media such as Guangming Daily, China Education Daily, and Anhui Daily successively reported Anhui OU’s undertaking of the project to establish an online platform for Anhui adult higher education, garnering widespread public attention. 

                                                                                                  By Li Ru, Anhui OU