On 9 May, 2018, the "Senior Education" forum, part of the 7th China International Senior Services Expo, was held in the China National Convention Centre in Beijing.
The forum was jointly sponsored by the China Association of Social Welfare and Senior Services (CASWSS) and the Open University of China (OUC), and organised by Zhongfuzhangzhe Senior Services, Welfare China magazine, and Beijing Zhongfuzhangzhe Cultural Media. A total of nearly 300 people from the fields of education, culture and communications, as well as from industries across the country, participated in this forum.
The deputy executive director of the CASWSS, Zhang Mingliang, delivered a speech at the conference. He said the aging of the Chinese population has become of matter of increasing concern. An important measure for dealing with this aging, improving the quality of life of the elderly, and promoting social harmony, is the development of education for older adults. However, this faces numerous problems, including insufficient resources, unequal development of urban and rural areas, flawed guarantee mechanisms, poor coordination among government departments, and a lack of general acceptance of the need for such education in society as a whole. We should expand the channels available for and methods of senior education, and promote the integration of seniors into society, in order to enhance their well-being and enable them to share the fruits of national development. The Open University for Older Adults, set up by the OUC, is oriented toward seniors and senior-service practitioners in terms of both degree and non-degree education, exploring the construction of a new type of university for older adults, laying a foundation for promoting distance education for older adults, and expanding the coverage of distance education for them.
Introduced by OUC vice president Liu Chen, Xie Laiyi, director of the Career Development and Comprehensive Management Office of the Open University for Older Adults, delivered a speech on "promoting the innovative development of the Open University for Older Adults and building a new form of distance education for them" as part of the OUC's mandate of exploration and innovation in educational practice.
As one of the main types of new university for older adults, the Open University for Older Adults is an important means of helping older adults gain access to distance education. Since the founding of the Open University for Older Adults, it has been actively trying to achieve this. The RTVU system began to offer education to older adults in the 1980s, and three decades later, many branches of the OUC have set up open universities and other educational institutions for older adults. The OUC has also strengthened its cooperation with the system of open universities for older adults and the seniors-services system, and worked with government agencies and industry associations to make full use of advanced information technology in open education, building a new system of education pension services, and exploring the cooperative model of "senior services + education". Currently, distance education for older adults that is based on the OUC system is undergoing new developments.
Zhang Jinchun, deputy head of the Older Artists Orchestra of the Ministry of Culture; Zhao Baoquan, president of the newspaper Happy Elderly; Li Jianguo, chairman of the Beijing Pension Industry Association; Wang Lanyun, dean of the OUC Jiuhua Mountain Institute for Older Adults; Liu Ming, dean of the OUC Tianfu Institute for Older Adults; and Bao Xiaoyu, planning director of Beijing Gongchuang Zhiye Cultural Development delivered speeches at the forum, providing theoretical guidance to senior educators and sharing their innovative ideas. The participants took careful notes, and found that the sharing was an important experience that had broadened their horizons.
By Qi Shuang and ZhugeHuanyu. Photographer: ZhugeHuanyu, OUC