From 5-7 December 2018, a seminar on teaching work for the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering major of the Open University of China (OUC), and a meeting of the Teaching and Research Central Group, was held in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. More than 50 teachers, including members from the Teaching and Research Central Group and leaders of the major from the headquarters and branches of the OUC, attended the meeting.

Yuan Wei, deputy director of the OUC Faculty of Science and Engineering, gave a special report titled The Construction of Key Majors in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. She introduced the construction progress of key majors of the faculty and the work carried out in 2018. She focused on the spirit of national education reform and discussed future reform ideas around the fundamental issue of what kind of professionals to train, how to train them, and who to train them for.

Relevant teachers from the OUC Faculty of Science and Engineering discussed the contents of the adjustment of the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering major in 2018, the concepts of major construction and reform, the problems existing in the application and awarding of bachelor's degrees, the progress of teaching team construction, and the teaching of basic courses in Mechanical and Electrical Control engineering. A number of teachers from the OUC’s branches gave speeches on the construction of digital resources, the improvement of teaching ability, the construction of the teaching team, and the practical links and construction of the teaching platform. Participants of the meeting discussed and exchanged views, and summarised the experiences of teaching reform.

The participants of the meeting said that regularly and actively attending activities related to major construction and academic seminars would promote the follow-up construction and teaching of mechanical and electrical specialty. Through this meeting, a consensus has been gathered and the direction has been made clear. They expressed confidence in the stability and sustainable development of the OUC’s Mechanical and Electrical Engineering major.

By Li Zhixiang, OUC