The standards of a major are established via the standardisation system of the Open University of China (OUC), and are a major’s foundation, guiding its construction and teacher evaluation.

To implement the document Several Opinions of the OUC on Improving the Quality of Education and Teaching, and formulate standards appropriate to open education for the Administrative Management major, the OUC held a seminar on developing the standards for it in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, on 20 and 21 October 2020. Liu Xianghong, deputy secretary of the Party Committee, and secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the OUC, delivered a speech at the meeting, which was presided over by Gu Xiaohua, deputy director of the Faculty of Political Science and Law, and attended by 18 OUC experts.

Liu Xianghong pointed out that the standards of a major are the basis of its construction, and the implementation and evaluation of teaching within it. Their formulation is essential to maintaining quality, which is why the university attaches great importance to it.

Liu Xianghong stressed the necessity of paying attention to five issues while formulating the standards for Administrative Management. First, they should meet high requirements. Second, they should meet the requirements of moral, ideological and political education, match the standards of the discipline, and relate to the Comprehensive Reform Plan, “Four Platforms” and "Three Development Strategies" of the OUC. Third, they should correlate with the unique nature of the OUC. Since most OUC students are already employed, the emphasis of the standards should relate to skills training, taking into consideration the personal situations of students, and reflecting the features of open and distance education. Fourth, the standards should contrast with those of the majors in regular universities and higher vocational colleges, and be placed in a wider scope. Fifth, flexibility and room for improvement should be incorporated into the standards, and attention paid to interdisciplinary subjects and future integration of disciplines.

Finally, Liu Xianghong pointed out that it is very challenging to formulate standards for Administrative Management at the OUC because of its prominence there, which means that the standards set for it inevitably become a model for the standards of other majors.

The participants considered and drafted the standards before the meeting, and during it discussed and revised them sentence by sentence and word by word, ending up with a preliminary version for all levels of the major.

By Zhaodan,OUC