To grasp the new situation for the teaching of economic management in open education, study the problems Economics and Management majors face, explore new approaches to teaching reform, and further implement the fundamental task of cultivating morality through education, the Faculty of Economics and Management of the Open University of China (OUC) hosted a special research activity from 31 May to 10 June, 2021.

The research team visited 2 companies, 2 higher vocational colleges, 7 OUC branches, and 1 study centre, holding 14 symposia, interviewing about 140 people, and distributing a questionnaire survey to over 1,000 participants. The research achieved solid results.

On 13 July, the Faculty of Economics and Management held a seminar on these, with all faculty and staff attending, and five teachers sharing the results.

In the survey, OUC-branch teachers spoke positively of recent reforms carried out in the teaching of economics and management and the leaders and teachers undertaking these, while making suggestions as to how they might progress.

Problems named in the survey included relatively weak teacher teams and lack of professional teachers in the OUC system, the reconstruction being undertaken of the open-university teaching system, and weak practical teaching.

The meeting involved in-depth discussion of the construction of education as a whole, and of majors related to Economics and Management in particular. The Faculty of Economics and Management indicated that it would seek to adapt to the times, the current needs of students, and the requirements of social and economic development.

The research was strongly supported by the OUC’s Zhejiang, Fujian and Gansu branches.

By Wang Jia, OUC