The School of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering of the Open University of China (OUC) was inaugurated at a conference to initiate a lifelong education system for petroleum and chemical engineering education in China held on 10 November 2018. Li Yongwu, vice minister of the former Ministry of Chemical Industry and former chairman of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation;
Hao Changjiang, chairman of the China Education Association for the Chemical Industry (CEACI); and Lin Yu, vice president of the OUC, attended the meeting.
Lin Yu and Hao Changjiang jointly unveiling the School of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering
The School of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering of the OUC is an industrial college established by the OUC in cooperation with the CEACI. It provides non-degree continuing education and degree continuing education for petroleum and chemical industry practitioners and is an important part of the school-running organisational system of OUC.
Li Yongwu pointed out that the petrochemical industry is currently facing a period of transformation. It is necessary to continuously improve the quality, knowledge, and skills of people who work in the industry, drive the training of learning staff through the construction of a lifelong education system, and promote the upgrading and development of petrochemical enterprises in the direction of sustainability and intellectualisation. This will result in more attention being paid to lifelong education in the petroleum and chemical industry. He hopes that along with the establishment of the OUC School of Petrochemical Engineering, petrochemical industry colleges and universities, companies, institutions, and organisations nationwide will take a more positive attitude, be more enthusiastic, and take more powerful measures. They will use the cooperation between the government, industry, institutions and enterprises as a carrier, make policy a guarantee, and integrate professional teachers and trainers into enterprises, in order to promote the construction of a lifelong education system and mechanism in the petrochemical industry.
Lin Yu pointed out that modern society has entered an era of lifelong education. The establishment of the OUC School of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering will play an important supporting role in strengthening the construction of a lifelong education system in the chemical industry and promoting the sustainable development of chemical talents. He stressed that after its establishment, the School of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering should focus on the needs of its employees, vigorously promote the integration of industry and education, follow the teaching norms, standards, and requirements of the OUC, enhance the reform and development of related majors, and make use of the flexible mechanism of the credit bank to realise the integrated design of academic education and non-academic education, and identify a road that runs in line with the characteristics of the petroleum and chemical industry.
Hao Changjiang said that the OUC is a truly borderless university, providing free access to all students. It is a brand-new school-running model that involves the comprehensive participation of companies, colleges, and universities at undergraduate levels and vocational colleges, within which all kinds of education at all levels are interlinked and education is open to enterprises, colleges, universities, and members of society. The construction of the OUC School of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering will be a future focus for the CEACI and will require the participation, cooperation, and sharing of social forces. It is hoped that more chemical industry enterprises will actively support and join in the effort to build the school.
By Shen Juan,OUC