In accordance with the Constitution of the Academic Committee of the Open University of China (OUC), the Agroforestry and Medicine sub-committee of the Second Academic Committee of the OUC held its first 2019 plenary meeting in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, from 4-5 June, with the aim of promoting the development of the Agroforestry and Medicine discipline and majors.
Nine members of the Agroforestry and Medicine sub-committee and secretary Liu Shu from the OUC Academic Committee attended the meeting. Three teachers from the OUC Faculty of Agroforestry and Medicine at the headquarters and one teacher from the Teaching Centre of the OUC Zhejiang branch attended the meeting.
The theme of this conference was "Learner Development for the Rural Revitalisation Strategy and the Development of the OUC’s Agricultural Discipline.” Guo Xiaoxia, director of the Agroforestry and Medicine sub-committee, summarised the work of the sub-committee in 2018 and introduced its working concepts for 2019. Lin Xiazhen, member of the Zhejiang branch, and Wang Xunjian, member of the Hubei branch, gave themed reports entitled “The Rural Revitalisation Strategy and the Training of Countryside, Agricultural, and Rural Residents" and "Thoughts on Issues Related to Open Agricultural Education under the Rural Revitalisation Strategy” respectively. The participants focused on how the OUC can serve the Rural Revitalisation Strategy, as well as the OUC's school-running system and the development of agricultural disciplines in the context of the Rural Revitalisation Strategy. After the meeting, the members investigated the implementation of the "Rural College Students Training Project" and the implementation of the undergraduate horticulture Major at the Pinghu School of the OUC Zhejiang branch. They also held a discussion with some students and teachers from the Pinghu School and visited the Miaonong Four Seasons Fruit Fragrance Farm run by Ma Jianfa, an undergraduate horticulture student. The field investigation helped the members to understand the learning and development needs of rural college students, stay closer to and further integrate themselves into the development of disciplines, and provide a reference and thought process to guide the teaching reform of Agriculture majors.
During the meeting, Fu Jinfeng, dean of the Agriculture and Forestry School of the Faculty of Agroforestry and Medicine, and Li Ruifu, deputy dean, reported on the teaching reform plan for agriculture majors and the implementation of ideological and political education in agriculture majors. Zhao Xinsheng, a teacher of medicine, reported on the undergraduate major in Health Service and Management demonstration plan.
The conference reached the following consensuses: it was suggested that the OUC should continue to adhere to the "four-orientation" direction of school running, seize the favourable opportunity of the implementation of the strategy of rural revitalisation by the central government, and launch its "Learner Development Plan for the Rural Revitalisation Strategy" (tentative title). It should carry out the fundamental task of strengthening morality in the construction and implementation of agriculture majors and curricula, strengthen discipline (major) construction, improve the relevance and applicability of majors related to the Rural Revitalisation Strategy, further deepen the reform of education and teaching based on the actual needs of the Rural Revitalisation professionals, explore the identification, accumulation, and credit substitution of vocational qualification certificates or learning achievements related to Rural Revitalisation talent training or the cultivation of a new type of professional farmers, and enhance the publicity of the OUC serving the learner development of rural revitalisation and scientific research.
By Fu Jinfeng,OUC