The working conference of the Open University of China (OUC) for the second half of 2018 was held in Beijing from 31 August to 1 September 2018.
The OUC leadership and all mid-level cadres attended the working conference. The conference was designed to broaden the mindset of the participants, make further reform, and make work more relevant to the actual development of OUC reform and push the OUC to new heights. Party secretary and president of the OUC Yang Zhijian made "striving to write an inspiring chapter for the OUC" the theme of his summary of the work of the first half of 2018. He also set key tasks for the second half of 2018 and put forward new requirements.
The OUC leaderships and all mid-level cadres attended the working conference.
Yang Zhijian said that, in the first half of 2018, all OUC departments had worked hard to address the key tasks set for the year. For example, “building a system for a national credit bank for vocational education" has won a national teaching achievement award. This is a landmark event in the history of the OUC. Furthermore, the OUC has adhered to making strengthening the morality of education a fundamental task and pushing forward "ideological course construction" in a down-to-earth way. At present, five ideological courses and the feature film Never Forget the Original Intention and Bear the Mission in Mind (Volume I,II) have been completed. Other works have also achieved significant results, such as the "My Learning Story" speech contest, the English-speaking contest, the teaching skills competition, the founding of a learning centre in Tanzania, targeted poverty alleviation through education, teaching reform investigation, discipline and subject construction and reform, and traditional Chinese landscape painting online education training. He also said that thanks to the joint efforts of all the departments, the social presence of the OUC has been consistently improved and the scale of enrolment has hit a record high. The societal recognition of the OUC has been enhanced and exchange and cooperation has deepened.
He stressed that the OUC’s reforms have entered the deep end. A number of in-depth problems and contradictions have emerged, such as that between level and quality, discipline and subject reform and construction, education informatisation, and construction and school running community. The key to addressing these problems lies in the enhancement of the OUC’s core competitiveness.
With regards to the work for the second half year, he noted that all the departments should continue to focus on their work while making steady progress in emancipating their thoughts, seeking truth from facts, and keeping up with times. They should adhere to the general requirements of the MOE; strive to write an inspiring chapter for the OUC; push forward the development of Party construction and all business sectors, in particular, online teaching team construction; and promote reform, realise innovation, and push the OUC to new heights.
He also added some points for consideration and put forward some requirements. First, it is necessary for the OUC to adhere to its strategy and not be influenced by the current contradictions, but instead to push forward in a steady way, never forget its original intention, and promote development according to its blueprint (OUC Construction Plan), project (1314 Project), and annual work plan. Second, the OUC should improve its core competitiveness, build consensus, unite all its forces, and carry out work by focusing on core competitiveness in terms of discipline and subjects (e.g. course, tutor, distance support service, etc.), and OUC online platform (an integrated platform including the integration of PC and mobile terminals). Third, it should promote innovative reform, catering to the requirements of the new era. All relevant personnel should emancipate their thoughts and seek truth from facts in a larger pattern and with a broader horizon and deeper understanding. Fourth, the OUC should build product consciousness and cater to current demands to design and produce goods that can realise value. The products of the OUC are discipline/subjects and courses. Fifth and finally, it should build an incentive mechanism to lead its work.
All the participants at the conference had a group discussion based on the spirit of the speech given by Yang Zhijian and the key tasks for the second half of the year. They put forward their specific work focuses for the second half of the year based on the situation of their own departments.
By He Jing, OUC