"Distinguished professors, my name is Yan Xuedong, and I am performing peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. My student number is 1580101204267, and the title of my dissertation is ..."

At Beijing time 9.30 (local time 2.30 a.m.) on the morning of 24th November, 2017, staff sergeant Yan Xuedong, who is majoring in law at the OUC, was attending the distance dissertation debate organised by the OUC Bayi School via Internet at the Congo Peacekeeping Military Camp.

Yan Xuedong, a law major, attends his graduation debate

On-site debate for law students

On this day, the Bayi School base hosted the 2017 Autumn Bachelor Degree Dissertation Debate for 12 military officers. Among them were 10 officers in Gansu, Guangdong, Hebei, and overseas who were unable to leave their posts. Yan Xuedong was one of them.

Yan enrolled in the OUC Bayi School in the spring of 2015, majoring in law. In September, he was deployed with the 21st engineer medical team to perform a one year overseas peacekeeping task. He studied hard; many of his colleagues packed their luggage with food and goods before going abroad, but he packed a large number of books. While performing his tedious overseas peacekeeping task, he still took the initiative to prepare for exams, study hard, write a dissertation, and strove to attend dissertation debates on schedule.

To better organise the dissertation debate, OUC Bayi School established a leadership team in charge of related work, including a one on one thesis selection mentorship for students, confirmation of debate time, communication regarding the debate process, and debugging of Internet devices. They worked earnestly, carefully planning and preparing for the debates. The Director of Logistics & Facility Management Teaching Affairs Office, Joint Logistics Institute of National Defense University (NDU) professors Zhang Tiejun and Luo Yinglu, associate professors Qian Lufeng and Wang Limeng from Logistics & Facility Information Resource Teaching Affairs Office, Joint Logistics Institute of National Defense University (NDU); Cong Wensheng, a researcher from the Military Science Institute’s Military Regulation Office, and Logistics Regulation Office director Lin Gaosong were invited as expert panel members of Administrative Management, Computer Science and Technology, and Law major debates to ensure proper formality, authority, and high quality.

During the debate, professors Cong Wensheng and Lin Gaosong gave high praise to Yan Xuedong's thesis, stating it was well organised, novel in topic selection, and expressed clearly; it is indeed a solid piece of work. They also pointed out certain deficiencies in the thesis. On the whole, they were satisfied with his debate. They fully affirmed his studiousness, despite a difficult working environment, hoping he would continue to improve his capacities while fulfilling his honorable peacekeeping task, and make his due contributions to building a first-class military troop.

"I never thought I would be able to perform the dissertation debate on time while working overseas. But I did, thanks to the advanced distance education teaching methods, and the fine services provided by Bayi School tutors. I am grateful for their hard work, and I will work harder to improve my own capabilities, and make my own contributions to building a first-class military troop," said an excited Yan Xuedong to the tutors after debate.

By Zeng Jianhua, OUC Bayi School