On 15 October 2019, the Open University of China (OUC) held a two-way video conference on scholarship work through the cloud conference system. Liu Chen, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the OUC, attended the meeting and gave a speech and the heads in charge of the department of student work, relevant personnel from 16 branches, and some university leaders in charge of student affairs participated in the meeting through the distance interactive cloud classroom video system.
The meeting was presided over by Zhang Luanqiao, director of the Department of Student Affairs and Teacher Development.
Liu Chen restated the role of scholarship work in promoting the construction of a positive learning atmosphere, improving the quality of teaching, and the construction of the school-running system, and demanded that scholarship work should make corresponding adjustments in terms of candidate selection, evaluation, and bonus payment in accordance with the requirements of the overall goal of the university’s construction and development. He hopes that all branches will appropriate scholarships for students so as to better guide students to study hard, improve the quality of education and teaching in open universities, enhance students’ competitiveness in the workplace, and effectively realise the goal of building a respectable open university.
The conference summarised the practice of scholarship work over the past ten years from five aspects: historical development, basic situation, achievements, existing problems, and working ideas. It was pointed out at the conference that scholarships should make students feel the care extended by the university, strengthen their sense of belonging and identity, set a good example for students, motivate students to study, and help students learn to be grateful and make contributions to the university and to society. At the same time, existing problems with scholarship work in terms of the personnel team, evaluation methods, and the timeliness of the payment were also pointed out at the meeting.
Participants discussed the existing problems in the scholarship work and their work ideas for the next steps, put forward suggestions for improvement in terms of award setting, level of evaluation informatisation, and payment method for bonuses, and also offered advice and suggestions for financial aid work, innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, and alumni relations.
The conference emphasised that the recognition of the importance of scholarship work should be strengthened so as effectively leverage the role of scholarships. Scholarship work is an important part of the work of “educating all students, educating students throughout the whole learning process, and educating them an in all-round way,” which is the education system of the OUC. It is hoped that each branch will do a solid job in every part of the scholarship work in the future, especially in the publicity work, improve the social influence of the OUC’s scholarships, and work together to help the OUC become a respected university that is full of vitality and energy.
By Zhou Wen, OUC