On the morning of 18 July 2021, Shandong Open University (Shandong OU) held a graduation ceremony at the university’s high-tech campus for grassroots cadres in degree programmes. 4,398 rural and urban cadres obtained certificates for having completed their studies.

In August 2015, Shandong Province launched a junior-college degree programme for rural and urban grassroots cadres, based at Shandong OU, relying on its strengths in adult education, and focusing on community needs via the Rural-revitalisation Strategy and the training and employment of grass-roots cadres, with examinations and enrolment tailored to them. It established 54 tutorial centres based on local conditions, stressing "ability + educational background", and integrated face-to-face teaching with independent study, rural education, online counseling, random testing, and on-site instruction, with the goal of training professionals dedicated to rural revitalisation.

So far, 28,804 students from the province have enrolled in the programme, and 17,818 have graduated, with 2,310 of the graduates elected as secretaries of Party branches or directors of village (neighborhood) committees, over 1,300 winning honours at or above the county level, and over 400 elected as either Party representatives, deputies to the National People’s Congress, or members of the Political Consultative Conference at or above the county level. Over 600 have started their own businesses, individually or in groups. Media publicity has attracted branches in Yunnan, Guangxi, Hebei, Henan and elsewhere to come learn from the university, and its Grassroots-cadre School has been named an "Advanced Poverty-alleviation Collective in Shandong Province".

By Shandong OU