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From a national perspective, there are three types of Internet platforms for “Modern Distance Education Programme for Rural Party Cadres”: Dedicated satellite channel for rural cadre distance education surfaced through web pages, Internet-based distance education network for rural Party cadres and various tutorial websites, and local area networks. The programme's transmission system makes full use of China’s existing communication network and integrates effectively with it. The actual transmission system is made up of three networks: China Unicom's dedicated SDH network (progressively transmitted to websites of county-level learning centres through dedicated SDH and fiber optic lines), the Internet and the cable television network. The rural terminals receive, broadcast, store and playback the distance education programmes for rural and provincial Party cadres transmitted by CEBSat. The terminals also support various types of network connections to transmit and share resources over the Internet.
Case 2: National Science and Technology Training Programme for Farmers in the New Era
A. Programme Background
The objectives of the "2003-2010 National Science and Technology Training Programme for Farmers in the New Era" are: to train a large number of new-generation farmers able to engage in specialized production and industrialized management with broad understanding, scientific knowledge and management skills; to establish an advanced, flexible and efficient technical training system which meets farmers' needs; to gradually form an operating mechanism for new-generation technical training that is coordinated by the government, led by the agricultural department in cooperation with other departments, and broadly supported by the public. To fulfill the objectives, the training programme designed and implemented five projects: “Green Certificate Project”, “Cross-Century Young Farmers Technology Training Project”, “New Type Farmers Entrepreneurship Cultivation Project”, “Employment Training Project for the Transfer of Rural Surplus Labor Force”, and “Agricultural Remote Training Project”. The five projects are interconnected, but each has its own focus in terms of target recipients and objective. “Green Certificate Project” is a basic system of technical training for China's rural masses that trains farmers in accordance with the standard job requirements of agricultural production. “Cross-Century Young Farmers Technology Training Project” is jointly run by the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. It offers comprehensive technical training to outstanding rural youths to train them to lead rural areas to prosperity and build new socialist rural areas. “New Generation Farmers Entrepreneurship Cultivation Project” selects outstanding students from the first two projects who are entrepreneurial and capable of managing large-scale production. They are developed as managers of large farming businesses capable of specialized production or leaders of rural enterprises through policy education, information services, venture capital support and follow-up technology support. “Employment Training Project for the Transfer of Surplus Rural Labor Force” helps rural laborers find employment in the cities through guidance and demonstration, improves their employment aptitude and skills, and promotes the reasonable and orderly transfer of surplus labor force. “Agricultural Distance Training Project” employs modern educational methods to increase broadcast coverage and provide technology, information and consulting services quickly and effectively, making advances in agricultural technology available to thousands of households in a short time.
B. Implementing Body
The implementing bodies for “Training Programme for Farmers in the New Era” are the Ministry of Agriculture’s Science and Technology Training Centre for Farmers (Central Agricultural Broadcasting and Television School) and China Liaoyuan Radio and TV School. The Science and Technology Training Centre for Farmers was founded in 1999 and approved by the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform (SCOPSR) in 2003 to be formally added to Central Agricultural Broadcasting and Television School (CABTV School), thus becoming one school with two names. Its objective is to strengthen the organization and management of education and training for farmers, coordinate technology training resources for farmers, and provide education and training for farmers in an orderly and effective way. CABTV School, a comprehensive training institution for farmers operated by the Ministry of Agriculture, is the implementing body of the National Science and Technology Training Programme for Farmers. It integrates multiple functions including education and training, promotion of science and technology, and information transmission. It uses modern methods of distance education to conduct diverse, multi-level and multi-channel training that covers China's vast rural areas. In addition to science and technology training for farmers in the new era, CABTV School also offers secondary degree education, post-secondary continuing education, self-study examination support for junior college programmes in cooperation with institutions of higher education, Green Certificate training, training for the transfer of rural laborers, entrepreneurial training, professional skill appraisal, and various kinds of practical skill training. In succession to the Spark Programme and Harvest Programme, with the approval of the State Council in 1988, the State Education Commission organized the Prairie Fire Programme to reform and develop rural education, raise the cultural level of rural laborers, enhance the ability of rural communities to learn and apply scientific technologies, promote rural economic and social development, and train primary and secondary technical professionals for the rural areas. To support the Prairie Fire Programme, the former State Education Commission decided in April 1990 to establish China Liaoyuan Radio and TV School (China Liaoyuan School) within the OUC. China Liaoyuan School uses satellite TV to provide educational services to cultural technical schools, vocational education centres, and vocational high schools in rural areas. The school's ultimate objective is “to serve agriculture, rural areas and farmers”, and in line with national needs it continues to expand its service base, not only providing services to rural areas and various citizens, but also offering abundant teaching resources for OUC agricultural degree education, vocational education and adult education. Though CABTV School and China Liaoyuan School are administered by different ministries, they are both implementing bodies of the programme.
C. ICT Application
● Resource Construction
CABTV School transmits teaching resources using different technologies such as radio, TV, Internet, telephone, and satellite network as well as through media including newspapers, magazines, CDs, text messages and printed materials. CCTV 7 broadcasts 550 hours of TV programmes each year on its fixed programme “Agricultural World”; CCTV broadcasts 152 hours of programming each year on its “Early Bus to Prosperity” segment. CABTV School is equipped with a satellite master station (with national satellite network license) with 360 satellites receiving stations at community-level schools nationwide to hold conferences and training via satellite video. 12872 “Big Horn” broadcasting stations have been set up in rural areas all over the country. China Rural Distance Education Network (www.ngx.net.cn) created a web domain that connects 33 provincial-level CABTV schools.
Resources for China Liaoyuan School are constructed by the national RTVU system, National Centre for Educational Technology, and agricultural universities and academies with diverse construction methods and resource categories. China Liaoyuan School has more than 2000 resource items relating to various practical technologies, has broadcast 4000+ hours of educational TV programmes, and has accumulated multimedia teaching resources including video materials, VCDs, CAI courseware, and printed materials.
● Resource Transmission
Using transmission methods such as radio, TV, Internet and satellite network and media such as printed materials, audio-visual materials (VCDs, audio tapes, MP3), computer courseware, network courseware, newspapers and magazines, CABTV School offers education and training that integrates face-to-face tutorial and practical teaching. Having undergone the evolution from print to TV to computers to the network and finally to wireless mobile technology, the school focuses on adopting multimedia technologies for teaching activities. Its ICT environment is supported by China Rural Distance Education Network (www.ngx.net.cn), which is a major information portal of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Science and Technology Training Centre for Farmers (Central Agricultural Broadcasting and Television School). The website includes sub-sites like China Rural Labor Transfer Training Network (http://www.nmpx.gov.cn) and Agriculture Online—China Agricultural Network (http://www.ngonline.cn/) which collectively form a national platform for sharing educational resources relating to large-scale farming. China Rural Distance Education Network is mainly used to publish various types of information, whereas sites like Agriculture Online and China Rural Labor Transfer Training Network offer the actual resources and teaching services for distance training.
Aside from the primary transmission methods of satellite and TV, China Liaoyuan School also uses new resource transmission technologies like IP digital broadcasting and computer networks to provide technology-related educational resources for vocational education, ordinary education and rural laborers. Also, since July 1, 1990, China Liaoyuan School has broadcast its programmes on CETV1 (transmitted by Asia-Pacific Satellite at 134°E) and CETV2 (transmitted by SinoSat-1 at 110.5°E), covering China and Southeast Asia.
Case 3: “One Village, One College Student” Programme
A. Programme Background
“One Village, One College Student” (“One for One”) was first proposed by Agricultural University of Hebei (AUH). The Ministry of Education authorized the university to conduct a self-run trial on students within Hebei Province. Though AUH's “One Village, One College Student” project was more than a year earlier than the Ministry of Education’s “One Village, One College Student” programme, it was mostly regarded by the public as a local phenomenon or university teaching experiment. It was only in 2004 when the Ministry of Education formally launched “One for One” nationally and entrusted its implementation to the OUC and the national OUC system that the programme began to sweep the country and elicit a significant response.
The objective of “One for One” is to train technical and management professionals who can remain and exert their influence in rural areas, cultivating them as leaders in the development of the rural economy, culture, agricultural production, and prosperity through technology. By starting with one college student per village, the benefit of the programme gradually expands from individual to nuclear family to extended family and further to the entire village.
B. Implementing Body
The OUC and the national OUC system implement “One for One”, and OUC hosts the office for the programme.
“One for One” began in the autumn of 2004. It mainly recruits rural youths who have graduated from ordinary high schools, vocational high schools, technical schools and secondary specialized schools. Middle school graduates can also register to take courses. Veterans, demonstrators of agricultural technology, village cadres, enterprise leaders, and technology-oriented entrepreneurs are also encouraged to participate in the programme.