On 15th January 2018, a ceremony for the signing of an agreement between the Open University of China (OUC) and Beijing Perfect World Education was held at Pixseed Digital and Art Education Base.
The cooperation aims to explore new ways of cultivating talents in art education. According to the cooperation plan, the OUC will join hands with Perfect World Education to set up a Digital Art Online Education Innovation Centre and develop cooperation in a number of aspects, including digital art education, industry research, resource construction, product design, project packaging, and an innovation incubator. The cooperation will train more practical high-level talents in the field of digital art in China.
Sixty people attended the signing ceremony, including OUC vice president Liu Chen; Tang Yingshan, director of the Department of Art Education; Xiao Hong, vice chairman of Perfect World; and Guo Lei, executive director of Pixseed. The signing ceremony was presided over by chief scientist of Perfect World and president of the Pixseed Academy, Luo Xun.
Xiao Hong said that Perfect World Education is committed to the cultivation of talents in China’s digital art field and the cooperation is a result of good timing, geographical convenience, and support from many different stakeholders. He hopes that the two sides can work closely together in future, give full play to their respective strengths, work hand in hand to create an innovative base for the training of digital art talents, establish an authoritative brand, and contribute to the development of China's digital culture.
Liu Chen affirmed this new model of university-enterprise cooperation, which represents a positive exploration of the training of digital art professionals. He said that the OUC has a lot of experience in transferring basic knowledge through modern technology and that the cooperation with Perfect World Education will help to use the advanced recourses of the digital art industry to complement the OUC’s existing teaching system. Furthermore, it will realise the integration of the digital art creation industry with basic education, explore a new set of "Technology + Industry" teaching methods, integrate technology into personnel training, and create a new pathway for the output of high-quality talent with innovative abilities for the digital art creation industry.
Guo Lei has high expectations for the cooperation. She said that the Pixseed will integrate Perfect World’s industry experience and rely on the OUC’s advantages in terms of resources, channels, and teaching management abilities to build the digital and art talent training and continuing education innovation base, and create a well-known brand in the field of digital and art continuing education in China. In the future, it will carry out academic research into digital creation, teacher training, online learning platforms, skills training, and educational degree improvement, and establish an innovative education system integrating "Educational degree + Occupational skills", "Education + Employment", and "Online + Offline" and Theory + Practice.”
Tang Yingshan explained that the goal of the cooperation is to establish a world class training organisation in the digital education field and create a model for university-enterprise cooperation. He also proposed a future plan wherein the OUC integrates Perfect World Education’s online learning platform into the existing online curriculum system while simultaneously exploring offline projects such as teacher training and short-term art training. At the same time, it will establish a working mechanism as soon as possible and set up a core working group, in order to rapidly advance bilateral cooperation and achieve the goal of creating a leading brand in the digital art continuing education field.
After the signing ceremony, the participating leaders visited the Pixseed digital and art education base, including the screening room, recording studio, keying room, the library, and the classrooms, and held a meeting. The early rounds of cooperation projects have been be preliminarily confirmed. Work will start from the reform of the general knowledge curriculum, which is based on industry skills, and the construction of courses with industrial and technological advantages will be developed. In addition, the two sides have reached a consensus on the future cooperation framework and are making progress in accordance with the plan.
The OUC has leveraged its advantages to complement the advantages of both sides. This strategic cooperation is of great significance in implementing the national policy emphasising the integration of production and education, promoting the development of digital art education in China, and assisting the development of the cultural and creative industries.
By Jiang Yanyan,OUC