On the afternoon of Oct. 10, 2016, the opening ceremony of the first session of Chinese language learning for ZTE’s Pakistani Staff was held in a "cloud classroom" through the Open University of China’s (OUC) Chinese Language Centre.

The opening ceremony was held synchronously with the ZTE Islamabad office via the "cloud" classroom.

Participants in the ceremony included the director of Allama Iqbal Open University’s International Cooperation Affairs, Professor Zahid Majeed, the general manager of the government-enterprise ZTE Pakistan, Fan Jiang, along with eight trainees; the general manager of the business market on the ZTE government-enterprise website’s marketing centre, Li Meng; OUC Vice President Zhang Shaogang, the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges Deputy Director Chen Haishan, the Information Technology Department’s deputy director, Yuan Yaxing, the Department of News and Public Information’s deputy director, He Jing, and the Learning Resource Department’s deputy director, Rehati Nuersa.

Chinese representatives at the opening ceremony 

The OUC will carry out one-month Chinese language courses for learners via a blended teaching mode that integrates online self-study with online face-to-face teaching. OUC Chinese language tutor, Jiang Zilu, introduced the teaching plan.

Zhang Shaogang said it was innovative to carry out a transnational Chinese language training via remote connection. He hoped that after the first training session, more ZTE Pakistani staff would love the Chinese language and understand China. At the same time, the OUC would generate a positive response to the national strategy, the "Belt and Road Initiative," as well as attach great importance to cooperation with countries involved in the "Belt and Road Initiative" project. He hoped that Chinese language training for ZTE’s foreign staff would be a new starting point for the university-enterprise cooperation between the OUC and ZTE.

Fang Jiang and Li Meng were also glad they could cooperate with the OUC once more through this training. In 2015, ZTE helped the OUC build "cloud" classrooms. The cloud classroom network across the nation provided a bond linking the OUC headquarters, branches, and study centres together via HD, rapid, two-way video systems. This training is a new opportunity. It is hoped that, through this cooperation, the OUC and ZTE will move towards deeper cooperation.

Prof. Zahid Majeed introduced the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), the largest public open university in Pakistan and one of the world's largest open universities. As of the 2016 spring semester, the number of students at the AIOU had reached more than 1.3 million, with 44 teaching divisions and 1,200 study centres throughout the country. Among the students, 56% of them are female, and more than half of the students come from the countryside in the rural areas. AIOU hoped to cooperate with the OUC and ZTE to meet the learning demands of even more of Pakistani society through distance teaching on the network’s equipment.

By Cao Xiaoyan, OUC