From 21-23 April 2021, the Open University of China (OUC) held a seminar with a focus on teaching work in the science and engineering majors in Hunan Province.
A total of 78 people, including Lin Yu, vice president of the OUC, Wang Huanqing, vice president of the OUC Hunan Branch, Luo Ji, vice president of the OUC Yunnan Branch, and persons in charge of the Faculty of Science and Engineering of the OUC headquarters and the science and engineering majors in the OUC system, as well as members of the Teaching Research Central Group, participated in the event. The event included keynote speeches, achievement sharing, and exchanges and discussions.
Wang Huanqing pointed out that the reinforcement of teaching reform, a focus on ideological and political education, and improving the quality of teaching are the current key themes of science and engineering teaching work. The seminar created a good exchange platform for such a purpose.
In his report, Lin Yu introduced the general situation, development opportunities, quality concept, education and teaching, and related work of open education. He pointed out that despite the fact that to date, open education in China has a huge scale and a promising market for enrolment, it also faces challenges like an enclosed school running system and a lack of clear-cut development orientation and operation standards. He noted that, first, in the future, it will be necessary to develop open education that is characterised by quality lectures by famous teachers, reasonable evaluation standards, and a strong guarantee system, and that is practical, adaptable, convenient, and flexible, in order to provide students with easy access to high-quality open education. Second, the OUC will continue to strictly regulate enrolment and examination work, fully implement the teaching process, standardise teaching management, vigorously promote information construction, and improve the evaluation of education operations in OUC branches in a comprehensive way. Finally, he stressed that the key points of and direction for the teaching reform of open education should be further clarified and teaching reform policies should be standardised and implemented. The report, which included a wide array of in-depth content, was clear and concise and emphasised key points, making it easier for teachers engaging in science and engineering education to unify their thinking and clarify their work direction. The report was highly praised by teachers.
Luo Ji gave a report with an emphasis on the following aspects: talent training model reform and curriculum system customisation; learning bridge construction and the integration of education connecting junior college degree programmes with undergraduate programmes; the integration of industries and education; university-enterprise cooperation; curriculum reform; and teaching materials construction. It put forward valuable suggestions with reference to actual cases.
Yuan Wei, deputy director of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, made a speech entitled "Unite as One and Do a Solid and Flexible Job in the Teaching of Science and Engineering Majors in the New Era.” Shao Yunda, deputy director of Faculty of Science and Engineering, focused on teaching standards, the ideological and political teaching design competition, and the student innovation and entrepreneurship competition in science and engineering majors. Li Zhixiang, director of the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, introduced two new majors, vehicle engineering and robot engineering. Teachers from the OUC branches in Liaoning, Jiangsu, Heilongjiang, Sichuan, Hunan, and Harbin and OUC Publishing and Media Group gave reports on the achievements made in the construction of shared majors, teaching teams, ideological and political education, double qualified teachers, and the construction of teaching materials used for media integration. Later, the teachers were divided into two groups to discuss teaching reform and quality improvement in science and engineering majors, offering valuable opinions and suggestions.
This seminar, held within the overall context of the coordinated development of science and engineering, played a role in promoting and deepening education and teaching reform in science and engineering, improving the quality of programmes and courses, opening up a new chapter for ideological and political education in courses, and enhancing cohesion between teachers. During the seminar, teachers from science and engineering majors reached a consensus, clarified their development direction, and gained new confidence to carry out quality education in the OUC's science and engineering majors.
By Yu Qijing,OUC