In order to study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at the National Education Conference, carry out the fundamental task of fostering morality and cultivating students, further promote the construction and reform of the Administrative Management major, and improve the quality of learner development, the Faculty of Political Science and Law of the Open University of China (OUC) held a seminar on the teaching of Administrative Management major in Guangyuan, Sichuan province, from 14-15 May 2019.

Liu Xianghong, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the OUC and secretary of the Discipline Inspection Committee, and 84 teachers from 30 branches, including persons in charge of the Administrative Management major, members of the teaching research central group of the major, and members of the core curriculum teaching team, attended the seminar, which was chaired by Gu Xiaohua, deputy director of the Faculty of Political Science and Law.

In her speech, Liu Xianghong pointed out that, as the OUC’s largest major, the Administrative Management major should aim for excellence in its future construction and reform, establish a firm concept of guaranteeing and constantly improving the quality of personnel training, and build a number of good courses reflecting the characteristics of the OUC. This will allow it to adapt to the development of modern information technology and students' needs, and the teachers in the OUC system will continue to improve their professional, teaching, and management abilities.

Wu Zhaohua, vice president of Sichuan Radio and TV University (Sichuan RTVU), Yang Songlin, secretary of the Education Work Committee of the Municipal Committee of the CPC of Guangyuan, and secretary and director of the Party Group of the Bureau of Education, and Luo Xingfa, president of Sichuan RTVU and secretary of its Party Committee, attended the meeting and delivered speeches. Liu Jingduo, director of the OUC Faculty of Political Science and Law, attended the seminar and delivered a speech on the topic of “A New Orientation for the Era of Curriculum Ideology and Politics.” Chen Kun, deputy director of the OUC Academic Affairs Department, participated in the meeting and introduced the requirements for the OUC's key major construction.

The participants had a heated and in-depth discussion on the three themes of curriculum ideological and political education, teaching team construction, and the Administrative Management professional development programme (an undergraduate programme starting from high school diploma holders). They put forward constructive suggestions, which broadened the concepts of the construction and reform of the Administrative Management major.

During the seminar, Huo Hong, a teacher from the Dalian branch, shared the branch’s practice and exploration of ideological and political education. Cao Hongmei, a teacher from Huai'an RTVU in Jiangsu, introduced their experience of team building in the teaching of Principles of Politics. Feng Yun, a teacher from the Hunan branch, introduced the branch’s Rural Administrative Management major, which is based on a combination of online and offline methods. In terms of the reform and practice of science teaching, Wan Hong from the Sichuan branch shared their practice and experience of actively expanding the development space for the administrative management major under the theme of "Running Open Education at the Grass-roots Level and Strengthen Services by Connecting with Industries.” Li Jing from Zhanjiang RTVU in Guangdong province shared her own online teaching experience. The teachers at the seminar generally believed that the experiences the five teachers shared was practical and inspiring, and will be very helpful in carrying out relevant work in their own branches in the future. They hope that the OUC will organise similar events in order to exchange and share experience in the future, so as to give full play to the advantages of the school-running system and successfully construct the Administrative Management major.

During the seminar, the central teaching group of the Administrative Management major held a meeting about dissertation writing. The members of the central group gave suggestions and formed some consensus on improving dissertation writing in the Administrative Management major. In the future, the central group will continue to hold in-depth discussions on this issue and form constructive opinions.

The teachers all agreed that the seminar was pragmatic and efficient, and gathered consensus and strengths from all sides. Ideologically, it enhanced their knowledge and understanding of the implementation of the basic task of cultivating students by virtue and strengthening the function of ideological and political education, and further clarified the direction and focus of the reform of the Administrative Management as a key major in the future.

By Zhao Dan,OUC