On the morning of 22 December 2020, Qingdao Open University (OU) was officially inaugurated.
Qingdao OU is a new style of “Internet Plus” university, shouldering the responsibility of serving lifelong learning for all in Qingdao and promoting the construction of Qingdao’s open education and community education system based on 41 years of experience of exploring the deep integration of information technology and education.
Inauguration
Wang Qingxian, member of the Standing Committee of Shandong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and secretary of Qingdao Municipal CPC Committee, gave instructions to perfect the mechanism for promoting lifelong learning for all, to construct a lifelong learning system that is more flexible, has more abundant resources, and makes learning more convenient, and to make Qingdao OU into a major platform for lifelong education, a major platform for online education, a platform for flexible education, and a platform for external cooperation in Qingdao.
Zhu Peiji, deputy mayor of Qingdao Municipal People's Government, and Jing Degang, secretary of the Party Committee and president of the Open University of China (OUC), unveiled Qingdao OU. Those who witnessed the occasion included Ju Chuanjin, vice president of the OUC; Jiang Qiaozhen, vice chairman of Qingdao Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; Yue Guofeng, secretary of the Party Committee of Qingdao OU; and Zhang Xike, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and president of Qingdao OU. Liu Pengzhao, executive deputy secretary of Qingdao Municipal Education Working Committee, director of Qingdao Municipal Education Bureau, and secretary of the Leading Party Group read out a document entitled “Approval from Shandong Provincial People’s Government on Renaming Qingdao Radio and TV University as Qingdao Open University.”
In a speech, Jing Degang pointed out that over the past 41 years, Qingdao OU has trained more than 300,000 practical professionals for Qingdao and has made positive contributions to promoting equal access to education by cultivating professionals in reserve. In 2020, Qingdao OU jointed hands with several well-known enterprises to build "Internet Plus" enterprise colleges and explore the new “degree education + improvement of vocational skills + social training” talent formation model. At the same time, it has made great progress in the ranking of the OUC’s teaching inspection and achieved the “double improvement of both quality and quantity,” laying a solid foundation for its renaming and transformational development. It is hoped that Qingdao OU will use the renaming as an opportunity to further improve its educational quality and efficiency, to constantly meet people’s needs for diverse, individualised learning, and to provide strong support for the construction of a learning society and an educational system of lifelong learning for all.
Yue Guofeng, secretary of the Party Committee of Qingdao OU, said that the university will take the opening of Qingdao OU as an opportunity to fully implement the Party's educational policies and to conscientiously implement the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education. It will shoulder the responsibilities of building an open university in the new era to highlight the distinctive characteristics of the “Internet Plus” new style of university based in Qingdao and oriented towards the entire nation. It will create a new platform for international cooperation with countries along the route of the Belt and Road Initiative in Qingdao and make greater contributions to leading high-quality development with the opening up of higher standards.
Leading the way with the Qingdao Model of “Internet + Entrepreneurship + University”
Forty-one years ago, radio and TV universities came into being during the tide of reform and opening up, which kickstarted the promotion of the reform and development of educational causes and accelerated the cultivation of talented professionals who are well-prepared to take part in socialist modernisation by making use of modern technological means. Over the past 40 plus years, the university has taken a development path guided by “advanced means of communication + excellent teachers giving excellent teaching,” explored a path to realise open education, and accumulated experience of operating lifelong education. They have shouldered the heavy responsibility of open education, entrepreneurship education, and community education in Qingdao, and become an indispensable part of providing continuing education, training professional skilled talents, and building a learning city.
The university has built a learning platform based on the concept of “anyone can learn anywhere, anytime” by focusing on learners, gathering famous teachers, and integrating resources through open education. With its branch schools and more than 80 study centres, a modern distance education network covering urban and rural Qingdao has been formed. It has actively adapted to the needs of Qingdao’s economic development and filled the gap in talent resources in a number of different industries. A strong national marine education platform has been built for the entire country based on Qingdao's advantages in terms of industrial positioning and marine scientific research. The university has taken the national lead in the Qingdao model of “Internet + entrepreneurship + university” to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship in economic and social development. It has also coordinated and led the city’s urban and rural community education and promoted improvement of the quality of education for older adults as diversified guarantees to meet the need for learning of residents of Qingdao.
The OUC Comprehensive Reform Plan puts forward new positioning, new objectives, and new requirements for open universities in the new era. Standing at a new historical starting point, Qingdao OU’s conscious integration into the national strategy and active service of Qingdao’s development will further enhance its capacity to train talented professionals and improve the quality and efficiency of education. By adhering to a diverse and open educational concept, it will create a “Qingdao Model” of educational systems serving lifelong learning for all by integrating various kinds of non-degree education dominated by open education, entrepreneurship education, and community education using the credit bank as a carrier.
By OUC News Network, reprinted from People’s Daily