Editor's note: After bidding farewell 2019, we have greeted the arrival of the third decade of the 21st century. Standing at this new starting point, what kind of future will the Open University of China (OUC) embrace? How can the OUC seize the opportunity to shoulder a new historical mission during the course of “shaping an educational system serving lifelong learning for all?” In January 2020, a reporter from E-Learning magazine interviewed Jing Degang, secretary of the Party Committee and president of the OUC.
Manager’s view: Jing Degang, secretary of the Party Committee and president of the OUC, indicated that it was necessary to summarise the past and remember when considering the OUC. We must profoundly rethink the present and have the courage to make reforms. In the future, we must be confident and forge ahead.
According to Jing Degang, if the OUC really wants to be an “Internet +” university, it must learn from the world’s most advanced information technology companies, and look to them for knowledge, wisdom, talent, and strength. He underlined that we must consider the OUC from multiple perspectives and look to the future if the OUC is to become the national team leader of “Internet + education”, a major pivot of the lifelong education system, and a model for global open universities. The OUC must seize the day and live it to the full in order to polish the brand of the OUC and to run a new type of university full of vigour and vitality.
Jing Degang, secretary of the Party Committee and president of the OUC
To view the OUC from the perspective outside the OUC
Reporter: Sun Chunlan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee Political Bureau and vice premier of the State Council, conducted a survey of the OUC on 15 January 2020. What instructions has she given for the university’s reform and development?
Jing Degang: Vice Premier Sun Chunlan came to the OUC for an inspection visit at the beginning of the year. The visit embodied the attentiveness of the Party Central Committee and the State Council to lifelong education and their concern for the OUC. All the teachers and students were greatly encouraged and felt privileged by the visit. The vice premier affirmed the OUC’s achievements over the last forty years since its establishment. She gave a series of important instructions on the issues of quality, education, teaching, the credit bank, the construction of political and ideological courses, education for older adults, and internationalisation. These are fundamental principles that we must work hard to achieve in our future work. We have created work plans to put into effect the guiding principles of Vice Premier Sun Chunlan’s instructions during her survey of the university. Next, we will act on her instructions, step up efforts to press ahead, focus on implementation, and report outstanding achievements of educational work and governance to the vice premier.
Reporter: Could you talk about the OUC’s future in the New Year?
Jing Degang: 2020 is an important year. It is of great historical significance to speak of the future development of the OUC on such a great occasion.
In 2020, we will finish building a moderately prosperous society and realise the first centenary goal. It is the Party's solemn pledge to the people and a crucial step in realising the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. 2020 is also a significant year for the OUC educational system. In line with the Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020), 2020 will be the year in which we “formulate a flexible and open lifelong educational system,” “improve the modern national education system,” and “shape the lifelong education system.” In order to meet the target as scheduled, the OUC educational system has shouldered an extremely important historical mission as the “national team” in the domain of lifelong education.
2020 is also the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century. This new decade is an essential period for the OUC’s transitional development. In the new decade, the Party, the government, the people, and the development of the open education cause, have given the OUC new tasks, demands, and expectations. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly stated the need to “build an educational system of lifelong learning for all.” This part has a total of five sentences with 262 words, and all of them are in line with the OUC's reform development targets, the historical mission of the OUC’s own development, and the pursuits of the lifelong educational system of the OUC. They have charted the way for the development of the OUC’s cause from both the historical and realistic perspectives.
At the First Party Congress of the OUC it was established that we should adhere to the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education by developing education rooted in the vast land of China, to address inadequacies, to create features, and to polish the OUC’s brand. Over the next 30 years, three goals have been laid out to build a first-class open university. Over the next five years, efforts will be made to implement the “1233” project.
We must keep moving forward, get ready for another start, and forge ahead on our new journey with greater determination and courage by bringing into full play the integrated superiority of running the school towards a fixed target. We should make the OUC into the “national team” of “internet + education”, a major bolster of the lifelong education system, and a model for global open universities. As long as we put into practice Vice Premier Sun Chunlan’s important instructions and all the requirements raised at the university’s Party congress in a down-to-earth way, I am confident that we can build as first-class open university.
Reporter: Standing at the starting point of a new decade, what is the new train of thought for the OUC to build itself into a first-class open university?
Jing Degang: The first is to view the OUC from an internal perspective. The OUC has made glorious achievements over the 40 years of its operation, and has educated two generations of people. The OUC has explored a path to achieve open education, to accumulate operational experience of lifelong education, and to make historical contributions to China's reform and opening up and economic and social development. Looking back at the past, we feel proud. We have lived up to Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s ardent expectations, the requirements of the Ministry of Education, and the people’s excitement for lifelong education.
The second is to view the OUC from an external perspective. We can’t become intoxicated by past achievements or trapped in the traditional radio and TV educational pattern. We must have the courage to transcend ourselves and to view the OUC from an external perspective . While summing up our historical achievements, we must consider how open education can adapt to the new era, to serve economic and social development, to meet the people’s new demands, and to lead the application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence in the field of education. Only when we look from the outside in can we identify the problems and weaknesses of the university, and further address inadequacies, shore up points of weakness, and create new features.
The third is to view the OUC from a future-oriented perspective. The report delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on the two-step development plan based on the completion of the moderately prosperous society in all respects stated that socialist modernisation will be basically realised from 2020 to 2035 and that China will become a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful from 2035 to the middle of the 21st century. One most important prerequisites for completing the construction of a modern country is strong education. With its historical mission of lifelong education, the OUC must become strong. Otherwise, it will be a drag on educational power. In order to build a first-class open university, we must closely follow the cutting edge of global open education, seize the trends of global open education development, and aim for the major indicators of the future development of global open education, sustaining reform efforts and continuing to move forward.
To view the OUC from an internal perspective is to look back over the past and remember our history; to view the OUC from an external perspective is to reflect on the present and be brave in making innovations; to view the OUC from a future-oriented perspective is to be confident to forge ahead with keen determination. These are our current strategic considerations for reform and opening up and when looking forward to the future based on the present.