In October 2019, the 2019 China Annual Conference for International Education & Expo was held by the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE) in Beijing. During the event, the CEAIE and the Association of Australian Universities jointly held the “Australia-China University Leaders’ Forum” on 17 October.

As a member of the CEAIE, the Open University of China (OUC) was invited to attend the forum and OUC vice president Lin Yu gave a speech at the forum entitled “More University Dreams Raised Up by Contemporary Information Technology” on behalf of the OUC.

Lin Yu pointed out that higher education in China is developing towards a point of widespread popularisation, which will create new and different challenges for higher education. During this process, the diversification of higher education and universities will become inevitable and the backgrounds of people in education become even more complex. Higher education for a population with different backgrounds, academic experiences, and needs should be richer and more targeted. The OUC is a representative of universities of this kind that caters to such changes. Lin Yu pointed out that the OUC is committed to providing learners with “high quality, appropriate, and practical courses taught by famous teachers and guaranteed by learner support and convenient and flexible services.” In the 5G era, the OUC will use more modern information technologies to help more people realise their “university dreams.”

Forty-four Chinese universities and 15 Australian institutions participated in the forum. Representatives from Chinese and Australian universities spoke freely and shared their experiences in fields such as technology and higher education, student mobility, internships and employment, the integration of scientific research and teaching, the sharing of scientific research between China and Australia, and the “Belt and Road” initiative.

Written by Hou Songyan and photographed by Chen Na, OUC