IV.Improving Government Support and Management of Open Universities
Open universities are relatively new. Against an ever-changing background, government support and oversight of open universities has become a challenging problem. According to the author, the key is to deepen reform, to strengthen top level design, to transform government interaction, and to streamline administration, delegating power to the lower levels so as to make improvements in the policy support and management service mechanism.
1.Continuous Improvement of Government Support Policies for Open Universities
First, by launching distance education, lifelong learning, or the legislation of open universities in a positive way. Foreign countries generally exercise distance education laws or regulations over open universities. In recent years, the issue of open university legislation has received the attention of CPPCC members as well as experts and scholars. Under the current conditions, there is probably quite a lot of difficulty in drafting separate legislation for distance education in China, but we must keep on appealing. The MOE has launched the prior research and investigation on legislation for lifelong learning, including suggestions on relevant content from distance education and open universities. This will give forceful impetus to pilot construction of open universities. Support should be given to the issuance of relevant local documents in advance to promote the relative legislation and to accumulate experience for a national legislation strategy. Useful experiences and cases on the legislation of open universities and distance education abroad can also contribute to drafting local legislation. While making revisions of the existing laws and regulations, contents pertinent to distance education and open universities can also be added.
Second, by issuing policies supporting exploration on the construction of open universities' “credit bank” and an “overpass” to lifelong learning. Though this task has been defined in the approval documents of the MOE to the six open universities, the relevant advancement policies have not been promulgated yet. Presently, the need continues for the government to further enhance its support for advanced exploration of the construction of an open university “credit bank”, capitalizing on the advantage of the education system of open universities, shaping the national layout, and accumulating practical experience in building the “overpass” for lifelong learning at the national level. For one thing, the government can entrust open universities to carry on relevant research and practices, to explore the accreditation, accumulation, and transfer system for various types of learning results, and to promote communications and connections at different levels among different departments. For another thing, the government should make full use of the system, resources and technological advantages of open universities to construct a community education network, to vigorously develop non-degree education, such as cultural entertainment education, old age education, and vocational training, and to promote the development of lifelong learning for all.
Third, by formulating polices that intensify communication and coordination between and among open universities, regular universities, and vocational schools. Policies shall be made to promote course selection, credit transfer, resource sharing, and teacher employment between and among open universities, regular universities, and vocational schools by way of system innovation. This will contribute to an orderly flow of students among different types of schools, and promote communication and connection between different types of education. Junior college graduates from vocational schools may get direct entrance registration to receive undergraduate education at open universities, and undergraduate graduates can enter regular universities for further education according to relevant requirements. Yuan Guiren has also talked of the need to explore and promote coordination and cooperation between and among regular universities, vocational schools, and open universities［10］. The lifelong learning channel for developing learners shall be expanded by removing education barriers between and among open universities, regular universities, and vocational schools.
2. Further Improving Management and Service Mechanisms of Open Universities
First, by deepening “separated management, operation, and evaluation” between the government and open universities. In theory, “the separation of management, operation, and evaluation” is clear. However, in practice, the role of government is sometimes out of place, missing, or redundant. In particular, the mechanism by which open universities explore their new role is to be perfected through self-development and self-discipline. However, social participation and university governance and evaluation are still insufficient. On one side, open universities are an independent legal entity, and they are legally entitled to autonomy in education. The government shall encourage open universities to practice autonomy in education and management in accordance with the university charter. Meanwhile, open universities shall be managed and supervised by the government. According to the writer, it’s the responsibility of the MOE to formulate policies, to make an overall plan, to contribute to general coordination, and to exercise macro management and quality supervision of open universities throughout the country so as to guide pilot construction and overall reform of open universities in advancing the strategic transformation of the RTVU system. It’s the responsibility of the provincial administrative education authorities to be responsible for pilot construction and overall reform of open universities in their own province to advance the transformation and upgrading of RTVUs in the local province under the leadership of the provincial people’s government, and to provide relevant conditions to guarantee education and quality supervision and control of open universities in their own province according to the requirements of the MOE.
Second, creating a cooperative win-win situation for open universities. Open universities have never been alone in their work, and it would be hard to improve their competitiveness by themselves. It’s necessary for the government to formulate the relevant policies, and to create an orderly open and cooperative win-win development situation. All open universities are encouraged to strengthen cooperation in specialty construction of disciplines, coordinated research, joint utilization of online platforms, sharing of quality resources, unified quality standards, credit transfer, and the sharing of study centres to explore and shape a new type of relationship for resource sharing, win-win cooperation, and mutual benefits. Impetus should be given to different open universities to explore the establishment of diversified “alliances” on an independent and voluntary basis. At present, agreements have gradually been reached on forming an alliance of open universities. In 2011, Sheng Lianxi indicated in his article that it was a strategic choice to organize the alliance of open universities［11］. In 2014, Yang Zhijian also proposed cultivating and forming an alliance of the RTVU system in China in his book Transformation and Upgrading and System Construction -- Research Report on China Radio & TV University System［12］. The government has positively supported open universities in establishing a market-oriented win-win mechanism, and a mechanism for innovative cooperative joint development, management and utilization, and benefit distribution through the promulgation of policies. To this end, more constant opportunities can be created for the meeting of interests and the increase of cooperation in open universities.
Third, setting up rules for healthy competition among open universities. Since open universities in China are run by the central and local governments respectively, it’s an inherent requirement for open universities to be run with characteristics reflecting their high level. Objectively speaking, there are competitions among the open universities, particularly in the exploration of education model, construction of teaching team, application of information technology, quality of learner development, the strength of scientific research, and other aspects, which can be regarded as competition among different school runners. Learners are the common “customers” of all open universities. A good healthy competition mechanism shall guarantee that learners can be free to choose registration or termination for the learning of a certain course in a certain specialty in some university at any time with the transfer of their achieved credits in line with their own interests within the system of open universities. Only when an open university can offer better specialties, courses, teachers, and service, can it attract more students to register for learning. It is possible for the government to set up game rules for healthy competitions among open universities, to formulate unified quality standards, and a third party accreditation institute, to improve the "entry and exit” mechanism, and to make open universities compete with and complement one another in terms of educational products and support. At the same time, various policies are employed for open universities to achieve staggered development and featured development so as to avoid “flourishing everywhere”, redundant construction, and cut-throat competition through various policy guidance. To this end, the open universities will achieve characteristic development with a healthy competition mechanism to modify education service to continuously meet the diversified and individualized learning needs of learners and to make substantial benefits for them in the end.
V.Conclusion
Open universities, as a new type of education institution, are faced with many new difficulties and challenges in the course of pilot construction, and many of them are worthy of further discussion. Targeted policy measures are proposed in the research to get a full understanding of solving essential and pressing problems concerning the key challenges and new issues on the overall pilot construction of open universities. They are major conditions driving the sound development of open universities, and also internal requirements of the pilot work on the reform of national educational mechanisms. The writer focuses the research and analysis on the four aspects of exploration and progress, understanding of the significance, building a solid reputation, and support and management of open universities based on the comprehensive analysis of the existing theoretical and practical work achievements. Efforts are made to raise targeted new judgments, new views, and to reach valuable new thoughts and new agreements for reference by the authorities in formulating relevant policies.
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