On 7 September 2020, the Financial Management Department of the National Government Offices Administration (NGOA) and the Open University of China (OUC) jointly held an opening ceremony to launch the resource sharing platform for the universities for older adults affiliated to China’s state organs. Wang De, director of the Financial Management Department of the NGOA, and Jing Degang, secretary of the Party committee and president of the OUC, attended the ceremony and delivered speeches.

Over 15,000 students, teachers, and administrators from 60 universities for older adults in more than 50 departments of the state organs attended the ceremony and watched the "first class" of the new semester through the Sangyujinhui Cloud Classroom WeChat mini-programme and the website of the resource sharing platform. Li Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Financial Management Department of the NGOA, presided over the ceremony.

Wang De pointed out that the goal of the Financial Management Department of the NGOA in cooperating with the OUC in developing and building a resource sharing platform for the universities for older adults of the state organs is to provide a platform with centralised and unified management and services for all departments of the state organs, a fully functional teaching support platform for teachers, and a convenient and easy-to-use platform for learning and exchange for older adults, in order to provide them with practical, high quality, targeted education services for older adults. He hopes that the universities for older adults of the state organs should give full play to the role of the platform in order to satisfy older adults’ desire for learning. Teachers should make full use of the advantages of the platform, innovate their teaching methods, create excellent courses. Students should be able to enjoy the convenience of the resource sharing platform and learn in a safe, appropriate way, thereby realising the goal of helping "older adults to live happily and feel a sense of accomplishment.”

Jing Degang noted that the OUC is a new type of higher education institution that has a mission to promote lifelong learning and operates with the support of modern information technology. With the feature of Internet+ education, the OUC offers open education to students throughout the whole country. Over the past 40 years, with 20.5 million students enrolled and 15.12 million graduates, it has set out on a path defined by Chinese characteristics and in line with China's national conditions. Education for older adults is an important part of the OUC’s development strategy and the OUC has formed a new operation model characterised by Internet+ education for older adults. Cooperating on the construction of this resource sharing platform is an important way for the OUC to serve the lifelong learning need of the Chinese people as a whole and to build a demonstration platform for education for older adults in China. The resource sharing platform should be a "window" for universities for older adults affiliated to various departments of the state organs to display their teaching achievements, an "assistant" for teachers to carry out teaching activities, and a "classroom" for senior students to seek knowledge and pursue learning.

After the ceremony, Zhang Qinqi and Liu Jiyong, instructors from the "Chinese National Music Chorus Dream Team in Aerospace" recommended by the University for Older Adults affiliated to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, gave the first lesson of the new semester, Singing and Spectrum Recognition, for senior comrades through the resource sharing platform, marking the formal launch of online teaching in the 2020 autumn semester in the universities for older adults affiliated to the state organs. Other live broadcast courses on the morning of the same day included A Detailed Explanation of Clerical Script promoted by the University for Older Adults of the National Radio and TV Administration, Smartphone Use, promoted by the University for Older Adults of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and Reading Out Aloud with Expression, promoted by the University for Older Adults of the Ministry of Education. The courses were well received and won praise from the students.

By Jiang Haiyan and Qi Shuang,OUC