From 17-18th May 2018, the Open University of China (OUC) held an examination management system construction conference in Beijing.

A total of 25 people, including the leaders and heads of eight OUC branches and academic affairs departments, directors of the teaching faculties, and related personnel from the Academic Affairs Department of the OUC headquarters, attended the meeting. OUC president Yang Zhijian and OUC vice presidents Liu Chen and Fu Chengyan also attended the meeting, which was chaired by Ye Zhihong, director of the Academic Affairs Department.

Yang Zhijian pointed out that examination work is an important part of structural reform. Examination issues should adhere to the issues. Firstly, university operation should be developed in a rigorous and standard fashion. Rigour means following the rules of running a university, establishing regulations and policies, and strictly implementing the framework of the whole system. Since an examination is not the end but a starting point, it should be carried out in a more standardised and stricter fashion. Secondly, a scientific and classified approach should be taken to university operation. Compared with 40 years ago, the quality of the OUC’s students and our learning content have both fundamentally changed. We should reconsider the orientation of the university and its purpose, and enhance our understanding of the direction and goal of the university against the new social context in China. Now, our core objective is to provide more people with educational opportunities, embody equity in education, realise the sharing of high quality resources, improve the quality of the student body, and promote lifelong learning for all people and the formation of a learning society. Thirdly, reform should focus on convenience, flexibility, adaptability, and quality. In the process of running the university, we should consider how to facilitate learning, including providing convenient and diverse learning channels, flexible learning times, and convenient and effective examinations. Fourthly, any reform of the examination system should be considered within the framework of the entirety of education and teaching reform. Examination reform is an integral part of the reform of education and teaching in the OUC. Over the course of examination reform, different factors must be coordinated and combined with each other. The reform of the examination system should go beyond the surface level and consider deep-seated ideological problems. A top level redesign should be conceived against the new background, orienting towards new problems and a new starting point.

Liu Chen pointed out that improving the examination management system is a constituent part of the OUC’s education and teaching reform in 2018. In the past, we have discussed a system for the construction and setup of majors, which have solved the problem of “access”. Today's conference on the examination system is designed to solve the problem of “exit”. With this in mind, we should focus on the following aspects. Firstly, against the background of the new era, we should strengthen the top level design of the examination system, with considerations given to the general requirements of a new teaching model, a new learner development goal, and the training rules. Secondly, we should carry out research on the examination system and put forward suggestions for examination reform and examination affairs management. Thirdly, examinations are an important method of checking the quality of teaching.

The form of examinations, the system design, and the selection of content should all reflect the concept “grasp meaning and improve quality to go to a higher level” put forward at a school board conference by president Yang Zhijian in 2018. In addition, we should pay attention to the relationship between teaching reform in national higher education and internal teaching operation within the OUC, as well as the implementation of teaching and learning evaluation, system design and practical operation, examination affairs management and the support conditions for examinations, easy admission and strict graduation rules, formative and final examinations, unified and separate examinations, online and paper examinations, unity and individuality, and the format, amount, and difficulty of questions. Yang Zhijian stressed that the overall goal of the examination work is to focus on the "Six-Network Integration" training model, in order to realise the promotion of teaching and learning through examinations and ensure the quality of higher education.

Hu Xing, deputy director of the OUC Academic Affairs Department, introduced the background, objectives, content, and preparatory work of the conference, as well as the OUC’s curriculum assessment model.

The participants discussed the future reform of examinations and the overall construction of the examination management system. They proposed that examination reform and examination management system design should be taken into consideration as part of teaching reform and that characteristics, such as the orientation, system operation, and learning objectives of the OUC should be fully considered. The principle of "greatness in simplicity" should be followed, and standardis and services should be reflected throughout the process. Online examinations should be promoted and individualised examination services based on a question bank should be provided. The reform of the examination content should be strengthened and the characteristics of the OUC should be reflected. During the meeting, the participants were divided into three groups, with the goal of discussing and revising the 19 examination management policies.

In a summary of the meeting, Fu Chengyan pointed out that the attendees had achieved several results. Firstly, the meeting was meaningful. In the new era, against the background of implementing the requirement to "simplify administrative procedures, decentralise power, combine decentralisation and control, and optimise of services" and optimise the educational structure reform at the "supply side,” the OUC has promoted the construction of the examination management system, an important part of promoting the reform of the whole system of education and teaching, and the realisation of the development of education and teaching. Secondly, the results are plentiful. The theme of the conference is outstanding. According to the requirements of the "construction of the examination management system,” eight experts gave a comprehensive analysis of the OUC’s examination system, and organised and modified the 19 policies, in a way that fully reflected the operation and culture of the OUC. The design of each system and the arrangement of the content is timely and reflects the requirements of the current time. Thirdly, the experience was enlightening. The spirit of president Yang Zhijian's speech established the direction for the construction of the OUC examination system. The valuable opinions and suggestions provided by eight experts at the grass-roots level added value for the construction of the examination management system and more possibility for the system to be implemented. The examination management system, after integration, has more rigorous logic, clearer content, and more streamlined procedures.

By Liang Chunhui, Photo by Wang Dongou, OUC