The series of live lectures titled Open Discussion of Food Safety, launched by the Open University of China (OUC) programme “Famous Lectures by Renowned Teachers”, ended recently. From when the lectures began on 4 September 2020, they attracted more and more attention, with nearly 700,000 taking in a single lecture.
By September 30, the total number of views for the 8 live lectures had reached 3.2 million, an indication of their positive reception by teachers, students and the general public.
The series was a special online open course launched by the OUC in response to general secretary Xi Jinping's instructions to "give prominence to protecting food security" and "practise frugality and oppose waste", which will be a gift presented at the 3rd Chinese-farmer Harvest Festival. Zhu Junfeng, Zhu Qizhen, Kong Xiangbin, Shen Qun and Luo Yunbo, professors of China Agricultural University, Zhong Kai, research librarian with the China Food Information Centre, and Li Ruifu, deputy head of the OUC’s Faculty of Agroforestry and Medicine, shared their knowledge of the aspects of food and food safety that are of public concern.
The lectures focused on the integration of regional rural development, agricultural economic management, agriculture for tourism, food-processing technology, and other areas of growing interest with the latest instructions of the General Secretary and national policies, incorporating ideological and political education into the content as the new situation, and the challenges and requirements of China's agricultural development, demand, and satisfying the educational needs of students.
OUC policy was to first give access to the lectures to students via the official WeChat account of the Digital Library, and the Huixuexi learning platform. At the same time, the OUC collaborated with sites such as Kuaishou, Tencent News, Tingting FM and finance.ifeng.com to bring them to the public. It is worth mentioning that this was the first attempt by the OUC to promote a lecture series jointly with the Life Channel of BTV. "Do not Forget the Cost of Rice and Firewood Even at Harvest Time" is a collection 102 short videos about harvests and the reuse of leftover food that was used to introduce the lectures. Before the live broadcasts of the lectures, 63.17 million people participated in the promotional activity.
The lectures were jointly planned by the OUC Faculty of Agroforestry and Medicine, the Department of Learning Resources (Digital Library), and the Audio-Visual Publishing House. They were jointly 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.
Preparation for the 1st live lecture
Screenshot of the 2nd live lecture
Screenshot of the 3rd live lecture
Preparation for the 4th live lecture
Screenshot of the 5th live lecture
Studio recording of the 6th live lecture
A poster for the 8th live lecture
By the OUC Press, the Faculty of Agroforestry and Medicine, Learning Resources Department; Photo by Hu Liping