On 5 November 2020, the symposium “Collaborative Development of International Cooperation and Communications at Open Universities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region" was held at the Tianjin Branch of the Open University of China (OUC).

Yang Xiaotang, OUC vice president; Zhou Zhi, secretary of the Party Committee of the Tianjin Branch; and Liu Zhigang, Tianjin Branch vice president, together with staff of the Hebei Branch and the OUC International Department, attended.

Yang Xiaotang introduced the OUC’s “Internationalisation Plan", expressing the hope that, in the context of coordinated development in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, the open universities there would jointly "go global" and find new ways to cooperate in internationalizing OUC branches in the region. He stressed the importance of strengthening communications and cooperation with countries in the Belt and Road Initiative in order to explore ways to extend education to international communities and establish platforms for foreign cooperation in education.

Delegates from the Tianjin and Hebei branches said that they would support related pilot projects on their campuses, work to coordinate and cooperate with brother colleges and universities in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, and implement the building of an "International Cooperation Platform" as part of the OUC Comprehensive Reform Plan.

Yang Xiaotang and the delegates also visited the Cross Border E-commerce College at the Tianjin Branch. It is committed to construction of the Cross-border E-commerce major, covering both degree education and vocational training, as well as entrepreneurship guidance and project incubation, based on integration of government, industry, universities, and other research institutions. Yang Xiaotang spoke highly of the training offered at this college, and expressed the hope that it would become a national model.

By Dai Jing, OUC