On 22 March 2019, the OUC School of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering was inaugurated after a contract was signed between stakeholders, including the OUC and the China Education Association of Chemical Industries, aiming to deliver both academic and non-academic continuing education to employees in the petrochemicals industries.
Its establishment marks an important development in open education, improving the human resources in the petrochemicals industries throughout the country, and it will be conducive to both industry development and educational reforms.
The School has established 26 study centres in petrochemical industrial parks, companies and colleges across the country, distributed in 18 provinces and municipalities. The majors include Chemical Engineering and Processes (undergraduate), Applied Chemical Technology (junior college), Industrial-analysis Technology (junior college), Industrial and Enterprise Management (junior college), Safety Technology and Management (junior college), and others. In-service graduates of general (vocational) high schools, general (vocational) technical secondary schools, technical schools and colleges are those mainly targeted.
While offering degree education, the School has also launched industry training programmes, participated in construction of the Credit Bank, and established a petrochemical learning-achievement certification centre in the industry. So far, it has built one Department for Learning Achievement Transformation Affairs and three Learning Achievement Certification Centres. It has also participated in research and implementation of the national system of certification and the accumulation and transformation of learning achievements in continuing education. It is involved in coordinating work related to the development of certification standards for learning achievements in a variety of fields in the industries, exploring and implementing connections between non-degree and degree continuing education, and promoting construction of a lifelong-education system in the petrochemicals industries nationwide.
The School will take advantage of its online-education platform, and deepen cooperation with industry associations. It aims to integrate high-quality educational resources in the industry and create a curriculum designed for the petrochemicals industries and their development needs. It aims to achieve cooperation between schools and enterprises via study centres jointly built and managed by companies (industrial parks) and colleges. The ultimate goal is to realise transformation of the industries as a whole and their healthy and sustainable development.