In order to enhance its faculty overall, and bring recognition to individual teachers, the Open University of China (OUC), in the Autumn 2020 semester, launched a series of live-streaming open lectures to appeal to diverse members of the public. For the Spring 2021 semester, evening and weekend classes were added, along with a greater variety of channels, to reach an audience exceeding 500,000.

In the current semester, the OUC has delivered 14 such lectures, with an average of 39,085 clicks per lecture. The most popular have included Misunderstandings in the Literacy Education of Children by Wang Haiping of the Faculty of Humanities; Everyday Applications of Statistics by Yi Linglan of the Faculty of Economics and Management; and Cultivation of Community Organisations, an evening lecture by Sun Jiangtao of the Faculty of Political Science and Law, which received over half a million visitors.

The OUC intends to continue developing similar lectures in a variety of disciplines for the overall benefit of its students while also expanding its broadcast channels, promoting itself as a brand associated with a specific culture, displaying the excellence of it teachers while enhancing their reputations, and highlighting the value of the university as a public good.

Written by Zhou Mingkun and Cheng Qian, photos by Zhang Lina, OUC