Editor's Note: On February 16, 2016, the Ministry of Education (MOE) issued a notice entitled, “Recognition of Party Member's Vanguard Post, Outstanding Innovative Work and Excellent Research Report in 2015” (No. 5 from the Party Committee on Educational Institutions, 2016). The Open University of China’s (OUC) “Distance Vocational Education Orientations in Rural Areas and New Innovative Pattern of Cultivating Professional Farmers" was awarded "Outstanding Innovative Work."
Since launching the MOE’s "One College Student Per Village Programme" (hereinafter "One College Student Per Village"), organised and implemented by the OUC and its educational system in 2004, a total of 19 specialties closely resembling higher vocational training at junior college levels, including more than 120 courses, were opened. Forty-two OUC branches have participated in the work. Through joint efforts within the system, as well as with party committees and government departments at various levels, and through cooperative development and an innovative cultivation model, a series of phased achievements were made, including extending higher vocational education to townships and training nearly 300,000 new professional farmers who are determined to stay, who will study hard, and who can be relied upon.
I. Innovative training model to promote educational equity
As a successful example of bringing higher education to rural areas, serving farmers, and providing a learning path that differs from regular universities and colleges, the "One College Student Per Village" programme explored a path for modern higher vocational distance education using information technology to integrate quality educational resources and practical technical courseware into universities and colleges nationwide. The programme aimed to train rural leaders to lead in the application of agricultural technologies, help people grow wealthier, and promote social and economic development in rural areas. Farmers enroll themselves as college students and don’t need to transfer their residency registration. Instead, they attend a local college, study on their own, and accumulate learning credits. After completing the required credits, they earn an academic diploma recognized by the State. "One College Student Per Village" has provided higher education opportunities for underdeveloped areas and vulnerable groups in education, promoted educational equity, and accumulated valuable experience in the implementation of a distance education-based poverty alleviation project.
II. Innovating educational models and jointly promoting the project’s implementation
The programme has made full use of the OUC’s organizational advantages, established a standardized teaching management model, as well as classified the management, coordination, and distribution of responsibilities. A total of 1,378 study centres from 42 branches participated in implementing the project. The branches, schools, and study centres worked together to complete the training process through systematic operations aligned with their responsibilities. Proactive actions were taken at various levels to encourage local party committees and governments to incorporate "One College Student Per Village" into local economic, social, and educational development planning, as well as into the process of reforming and developing vocational education in rural areas. Among the 42 branches, nearly 40% of local educational operations departments were involved in the “One College Student Per Village” programme, including Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Inner Mongolia, and Heilongjiang provinces, as well as cities such as Qingdao, which provided both protection and support for the project’s implementation.
III. Establish specialties and curriculum system based on agriculture, rural areas, and farmers
The design of specialties and the construction of the course platform were carried out based on agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. Five main subject categories of agricultural technology, forestry technology, animal husbandry and veterinary medicine, agricultural and forestry management, as well as textile and food were split into six course modules and a number of course groups, integrated into the curriculum platform, and the courses opened. The highly flexible courses and programmes, better adapted to the characteristics of regional restrictions in agricultural specialties, offered learners a greater range of choices. In total, more than 120 courses across 19 majors in five main subjects were constructed and opened on the "One College Student Per Village" course platform.
IV. Design and develop diversified learning resources centering around learners’ self-directed learning
High quality, convenient, practical course “learning packages” were designed and developed to provide a convenient means for farmers to learn independently. Each course will have a learning package that includes curriculum guides, textbooks, video textbooks, curriculum formative assessment books, and assessment instructions. Meanwhile, the "One College Student Per Village" distance education network and the "Online Learning for College Students as Village Officials" network were constructed and opened to offer online teaching and provide teaching support services through various channels. In order to meet diverse learning needs, a mobile learning pilot programme using an electronic Pad as the main terminal has been carried out in Hunan, providing nearly 10,000 “Zero Learning Pads” for students.
V. Transform learning content, highlight training of practical skills and local characteristics
The characteristics of farmer college students, such as their poor academic foundations and time conflicts between work and study, dictate that practical skills training has to be a focus of the curriculum and learning content. Fundamental theories need only be “necessary” and “selected.” Course assessment methods should be diversified, and the assessment and evaluation of the learning process should be emphasized. In addition, the OUC headquarters, together with its branches, have constructed nearly 30 courses incorporating local characteristics related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers to address the problem of local adaptation in specialty courses. More cooperative efforts have been made with departments to build courses, such as the Practice of Party Construction in Rural Areas, Methods and Art of Village Leadership, Rural Public Crisis Management, and so on.
VI. Serving farmers’ lifelong learning and promoting the construction of grassroots organizations with fruitful achievements
The programme aims to train new professional farmers, and serve farmers’ lifelong learning and the construction of rural grass-roots party organizations. It has been very fruitful in developing a large number of outstanding farmers. As of fall 2015, nearly 500,000 students had enrolled and 300,000 students graduated, among which approximately 38% were leaders or reserve cadres for village Party Committees and Party Committee Branches. Some of the graduates even served as delegates to the CPC’s 17th and 18th National Congress. The new type of farmers trained under the "One College Student Per Village" programme, and who are willing to stay and do well in the work, have led their families to greater wealth and become leaders in generating wealth through rural science and technology, disseminating their advanced knowledge and implementing lifelong learning. Through participation in “One College Student Per Village” studies, a large number of rural grass-roots cadres have improved their own governance and administrative ability, and become core leaders in the construction of a new countryside. The quality of grass-roots party members has been raised and the government at rural levels consolidated.
School of Agroforestry and Medicine, OUC