On 20 and 21 October 2020, the Faculty of Political Science and Law of the Open University of China (OUC) held a teaching seminar for the Social Work major in Harbin.

Liu Xianghong, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and secretary of the OUC Discipline Inspection Commission, and Geng Yulong, vice president of the Heilongjiang branch, attended the meeting together with 45 teachers from 29 branches across the country.

Liu Xianghong introduced the main contents of the OUC Comprehensive Reform Plan, and stated five requirements for implementing it in this major. First, strengthen and promote teaching of ideology and politics. Second, enhance the abilities of and promote the online-teaching teams. Third, research and develop a credit-recognition system and standards for the major, and set up related pilot programmes. Fourth, promote "double-qualifications" of teaching staff, and enhance both their research abilities and teaching skills. Fifth, make use of the strength of the OUC as a national organisation to boost the major.

At the meeting, teachers from the Heilongjiang and Dalian branches as well as the OUC headquarters shared teaching ideas, including methods of integrating ideological and political education into their courses. Personnel from the School of Social Work and School for the Disabled shared the histories of the undergraduate and junior-college Social Work degree programmes, and gave an overview of their ten years of operations. Teachers from the Tianjin, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Xiamen branches, as well as the School of Social Work, shared their experiences with training, teaching, resource construction, project planning, and so on, in ways relevant to branches across China. It is important to enhance the quality of teacher teams, promote communication among teachers, and discuss reform and development of the Social Work major.

During the seminar, techniques used in social work were incorporated into the activities for the first time, enhancing cohesion. In the future, the major will continue to take advantage of the strengths of the OUC system, provide high-quality services to students, and promote its own development.

By Zhang Yini,OUC