One of the Shandong Branch’s projects, “Zaoshang Jujube Industry,” was recently awarded the CBC Cup silver prize in the vocational education category at the Sixth China (Shandong) International Internet Plus College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. This was the first time that open education students participated in such a competition, representing a significant milestone for the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship across Shandong.

Project leader Liu Haotian is an open education student studying mechatronics technology at the Boxing campus of Binzhou RTVU. The project, based on the concept of “Internet+ agriculture,” developed more than a dozen types of mechanical auxiliary equipment and related technical support for the planting and production of winter jujube fruits. The project has helped to solve many of the problems facing jujube planting and production, including slow rate of mechanisation, incomplete equipment, and low production efficiency, and has promoted the transformation and upgrading of the production of winter jujube fruits.

The Shandong Branch attaches great importance to this competition. Liu Hailong, secretary of the Party committee, attended the pre-contest mobilisation and training video conference organised by the Open University of China (OUC) in person and stressed that attention should be paid to the event and no efforts should be spared in work related to the competition. Xu Wenmou, deputy secretary of the Party committee and president of the Shandong Branch, took the position of director of the competition organising committee and said that the competition is a touchstone for the university’s education and teaching reform and a stimulus for student development. Xie Minghao, member of the Party committee and vice president of the Shandong Branch, joined the guidance and coordination work and urged that RTVUs at all levels should attach great importance to the competition and coordinate the organisation work with the goal of promoting the development of the university and accelerating the construction of Shandong Open University.

The Shandong Branch formulated a well-designed implementation plan for competition organisation. Their efforts included but were not limited to setting up a competition organising committee and panel board, and offering a favourable incentive policy. Following application and initial evaluation, ten teams out of 140 were selected to compete in the final competition at the university level and then five teams were recommended for the final at the provincial level. The collaboration from relevant departments of the provincial RTVU, and the training and tutoring given by external experts, all contributed to the smooth participation and good performance in the competition.

By Shandong Branch