On 21 August 2020, the Open University of China (OUC) held its autumn semester work conference. Jing Degang, secretary of the Party committee and president of the OUC, gave a work report at the conference. Members of the leading group summarised the work they were responsible for and put forward ideas for future work.

The heads of nine OUC departments, including the Academic Affairs Department, the Information Technology Department, the Learning Resources Department, the Department of Reform and Development, the Experimental School, the Credit Bank, the Finance Department, the Department of External Education, and the Open University for Older Adults, gave speeches and exchanged views on key work. The meeting was presided over by Cao Guoyong, executive deputy secretary of the OUC Party committee, and Ju Chuanjin, OUC vice president. All members of the OUC's leading group, middle-level cadres, personnel in charge of enterprises run by the OUC, and personnel with senior professional titles attended the meeting.

At the meeting, Jing Degang gave a work report entitled “Forging Ahead in 2020: Successfully Conclude Previous Work and Create a Stable Foundation for a New Start.” He pointed out that, the OUC, under the leadership of its Party committee and with the arduous efforts of various departments, has responded well to the impact of COVID-19, making key achievements in ten areas.

First, the OUC’s unique advantages have been brought into full play during the epidemic. The OUC has made full use of its advantages in information technology, learning resources, and system coordination, and it was among the first universities to implement the “No suspension of classes during school closures” directive. Second, a broad consensus on the “Three Major Strategies” has been reached. A development trend with equal focus on three important aspects — creating excellence and improving quality in academic education, expanding the scale of external education and training, and helping the Open University for Older Adults grow better and stronger — has been formed and has become a consensus among all members of the OUC system. Third, the university’s education and teaching have achieved initial results. The OUC has waged a quality protection war against the three illegal or arbitrary actions and great achievements have been made in the adjustment of the structure of majors, the transformation of learning resources, and the evaluation of education quality. Fourth, steady progress has been made in the development of the Open University for Older Adults and external education and training. A model integrating the development of the “Health Preservation and Study Tour” and the OUC training brand has been established and initial results have been achieved in both areas. Fifth, cooperation between the OUC and enterprises has been expanded. Cooperation and exchange with technology companies such as iGetGet, Huawei, Tencent, Baidu, China Unicom, and iFLYTEK have been strengthened and cross-boundary cooperation has been developed.

Sixth, the Credit Bank has been put into operation. The OUC has established and put into operation the national Credit Bank for vocational education. Seventh, a culture of advancing bravely forward has been stimulated among the faculty. Both the OUC leadership and faculty have displayed a more active and energetic attitude in their work, and a better work atmosphere has been created. Eighth, the construction of the Party has been promoted in an all-round way. The OUC has comprehensively strengthened party building. Party building activities continued during the COVID-19 epidemic. The construction of model institutions and the “Centennial Action" have been launched. Furthermore, an ideological work mechanism has been established and improved. Ninth, comprehensive, strict Party governance has become the norm. The ideological understanding of the Party has been further deepened, political supervision has been strengthened, daily supervision has been refined, the handling of letters and visits has been standardised, internal management has been institutionalised, and audit work has been normalised. Tenth, the capacity of the governance system has improved.

The Comprehensive Reform Plan of the OUC has been reviewed and approved by the Party group of the Ministry of Education, and the university’s internal control system and education informatisation management have gradually improved.

Jing Degang set out the arrangements for work in the new semester around two issues: “What kind of open university should the OUC become” and "How should the OUC operate.”

First, from a strategic point of view, it is necessary to make “building the OUC into a first class global open university" as put forward by the first representative congress of the OUC a key goal and implement the “1233” project. In the “1233” project, 1 is the construction of a teaching team that is based on modern, internet-based thinking, loyal to the party’s education mission, stresses political awareness and morality, and is willing to dedication themselves to the cause. 2 means the enhancement of two abilities, i.e., the ability to identify and apply global teaching resources, and the ability to manage and govern "Internet plus" education and teaching. 3 means that we should establish three systems — network security guarantee, quality evaluation and monitoring, and innovation driven development — and implement three strategies, namely, to create excellence and improve quality in degree education, to expand the scale of external education and training, and help the Open University for Older Adults grow better and stronger.

Second, in terms of tactics, the OUC should do the following:

• Build a platform: According to the requirements put forward by Minister Chen Baosheng at the Ministry of Education's (MOE) party group meeting on 17 August 2020, the OUC should become the “main platform for lifelong education and online education and a platform for flexible education and international operation”;
• Promote golden courses: The OUC should deepen education and teaching reform, speed up the innovation of its mechanisms, promote useful courses, and attempt to create golden lectures.
• Optimise resources: The OUC should optimise learning resources and strive to integrate resources from enterprises, the MOE, and other social sources;
• Enhance services: The OUC should develop student-centric education and teacher-centric governance, and strengthen the concept of its teaching services;
• Create characteristics: The OUC should promote reform and innovation, run first-class majors, and create unique characteristics;
• Strive for excellence: All university’s departments should strive to improve their work and work together to help the OUC to become a first-class university.

Third, in terms of measures, the OUC should

• Strengthen the work of the headquarters: Long-term planning should be combined with short-term objectives in advance of the 14th five-year plan in advance and the three-year action plan. The OUC should develop the Experimental School, the Department of External Education, and the Open University for Older Adults into special zones so that school-run enterprises can be more competitive in the market;
• Improve the scale of OUC branches: According to the requirements of the Comprehensive Reform Plan, the OUC should accelerate the construction of its branches, and ensure the three requirements for the major strategic deployment of the university are implemented;
• Help colleges and schools grow into excellence: The OUC should strengthen the rectification of the corporate and industrial colleges, establish their brands and characteristics, increase their scale, and help them to become an important force to support the development of the university.

Jing Degang stressed that there are four things that require attention and successful completion in the second half of the year. The first is to build a lifelong education service platform. According to the instructions and requirements of Minister Chen Baosheng, the OUC should strengthen the research and demonstration of a lifelong education service platform, and then accelerate its construction and operation. The second is to vigorously implement the work for the establishment of model institutions and the Centennial Action, study, publicise, and implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, and further strengthen party building. The third is to comprehensively implement the Comprehensive Reform Plan of the OUC, and strive to improve the modernisation and governance capacity of the school governance system. The fourth is that the OUC should study and formulate the 14th Five-year Plan by leveraging the strength of all members of the university and contribute to poverty alleviation in order to welcome the 100th anniversary of the founding of the communist party of China with outstanding achievements.

Written by Li Xiaoqiang, photo by Zhuge Huanyu