On 12 November 2020, the autumn-semester bachelor-degree dissertation defences for non-commissioned officers were held on schedule at the Bayi School of the Open University of China (OUC).

The entire process took place online, allowing defences to be undertaken via mobile phone or computer and protecting those involved from Covid-19.

Given the continuing seriousness of the pandemic, the Bayi School decided to go completely online for this year’s defences in order to ensure the health of all participants while still allowing them to graduate on time.

Researchers from the Academy of Military Science were employed as adjudicators for the Law major, and professors from the China People's Liberation Army National Defence University for the Administrative Management and Business Administration majors.

“These defences could take place anywhere via mobile phone, which was very convenient,” said Zhang Renhao, a frontier-defence soldier in the northern zone. In spring of 2018, he enrolled in the Administrative Management undergraduate distance programme for non-commissioned officers at the Bayi School. His thesis Managing Troop Smartphone Use was unanimously praised for its topic selection, clear logic, strong arguments, and other aspects.

The Bayi School conducted substantial preparations for this event, such as assigning personnel to offer guidance on topic selection, revision, submission and checking plagiarism, the timing of the defences, testing of the network infrastructure, and so on, all carried out with meticulous planning and careful attention to detail.

By Zeng Jianhua, OUC