On 22 October 2019, the 3rd Symposium on Open and Innovative Education was held in Changsha, which was sponsored by the Open University of China (OUC), co-sponsored by the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) and organised by Hunan Radio and TV University (Hunan RTVU). Experts and scholars from the field of open and distance education in China and abroad participated in the symposium.

Jing Degang, secretary of the Party Committee and president of the OUC, and relevant leaders from Hunan Education Department and Hunan RTVU delivered speeches at the symposium. A video welcome speech from Professor Kwan Ching Ping Reggie, provost of OUHK, was also broadcast. The Symposium on Open and Innovative Education, which is hosted in turn by the OUC (headquarters and its branches) and the OUHK, aims to offer a platform for experts and scholars in open and distance education to share and exchange their experiences and conduct case studies. Since 2017, two sessions of the symposium have been held, the first session in Hong Kong and the second in Beijing.

During the academic communication stage, experts and scholars from the University of the Philippines Open University, Anadolu University, OUHK, OUC headquarters, Beijing Open University, Sichuan RTVU, Hunan RTVU, and Changsha RTVU gave keynote speeches. Focusing on “open and innovative education”, attendees held discussions from multiple perspectives, including concepts of open and innovative education, the integration and development of open education, the governance structure of open universities, and the status quo of research on international open educational resources.

“Openness and innovation are an inevitable trend in the future development of education. As part of the innate meaning of open education, it has long been our mutual concept. But how to be open and innovative is worth in-depth study and continuous exploration,” said Chen Jianmin, secretary of the Party Committee of Hunan RTVU, the organiser of the symposium. Chen Jianmin also stated that through organising this event, Hunan RTVU was able to learn from its counterparts in open education and incorporate their concepts and experience into its own work in order to stimulate the university’s future development.

By Chen Zonghao, Liu Jiao,www.rednet.cn