Recently, the Open University of China (OUC) project, "Quality Lectures by Famous Teachers", launched another course, "Open Discussion of Grain and Food Safety", open to learners from both inside and outside the OUC system. Experts from China Agricultural University (CAU) and well-known agricultural enterprises have been invited to lecture in it.

The course will cover grain production and trade security, food processing and safety, and other topics, and has been jointly planned by the OUC Faculty of Agroforestry and Medicine, the Learning Resources Department (Digital Library), and the OUC  Publication and Media Group, and promoted by the Life Channel of Beijing Television (BTV), the Research & Training Centre for Community Education of the Ministry of Education, and the Agricultural Information and Economic Research Institute of the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences. It will be broadcast via multiple channels simultaneously.

In order to respond to the instructions of general secretary Xi Jinping on "placing food security in a prominent position" and "practicing strict economy and combating waste", the course developers have incorporated ideological and political elements extensively, combining issues familiar to majors of Rural Regional Development and Agricultural Economics and Management with current affairs and national policy. The content of the lectures therefore pertains to both the new challenges facing China's agricultural development and the curricula of those two majors, which the team determined would make it suited to the public.

In the first class broadcast live on 4 September 2020, Zhu Junfeng, CAU professor and senior consultant with the Asian Development Bank, lectured on reducing the waste that takes place in the processes of grain harvesting, storage, transportation, and final processing, drawing on his scientific background to deliver a clear and practical message. His lecture attracted over 530,000 viewers on multiple channels of the OUC network, and was well received both inside and outside the system.

It is worth mentioning that this is the first attempt to jointly promote a lecture series with the BTV Life Channel. With the theme of "Do not Forget the Cost of Rice and Firewood Even at Harvest Time", 102 short videos on harvests and the reuse of leftover food were posted on its platform as a way of promoting the lectures. Before the broadcast, 63.17 million people participated in promoting activity.

Screenshot of a Live Broadcast on the OUC "Huixuexi" Platform

BTV Life Channel videos on the theme of "Don’t Forget the Cost of Rice and Firewood Even at Harvest Time"

By OUC