Recently, the Party Committee of the Ministry of Education, the Information Office of the Ministry of Education (MOE), and the China Education Press Agency jointly set up a column titled “Learning From and Implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping's Important Speech at the Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China” and successively published articles reflecting on studying the speech from some departments of and organisations direct affiliated to the MOE.

Below we share the article “Vigorously Promote the Great Party-building Spirit and Strive to Build a New Type of High-Quality University with Unique Characteristics” written by Jing Degang, secretary of the Party Committee and president of the Open University of China (OUC).

“One hundred years ago, the pioneers of Communism in China established the Communist Party of China and developed the great founding spirit of the Party, which is comprised of the following principles: upholding truth and ideals, staying true to our original aspiration and founding mission, fighting bravely without fear of sacrifice, and remaining loyal to the Party and faithful to the people. This spirit is the Party’s source of strength.” General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the great founding spirit of the Party for the first time at the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. He called on the whole Party to continue to promote our glorious traditions and sustain our revolutionary legacy, so that the great founding spirit of the Party will always be kept alive and carried forward. The great founding spirit is not only the Party’s source of strength, but also the foundation of the OUC’s strength and the core of how we fulfil our goal of successfully running open universities.

China’s open universities were born, developed, and expanded under the strong leadership of the CPC. They are the result of generations of people who have listened to the Party, followed the Party, and inherited the great party-building spirit and long-term hard work. The predecessor of the OUC was China Central Radio and TV University (CCRTVU), founded by Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of reform and opening up, in February 1978. It was renamed the OUC in June 2012. Over the past 40 years, the OUC has formed a national urban and rural education system consisting of the OUC headquarters, 44 provincial branches, and 3,743 study centres. It has accumulatively enrolled 22.27 million students with degree education qualifications, accounting for 10.2% of the total number of professionals who have received higher education or possessed various types of vocational qualifications. It has cultivated 16.17 million graduates, accounting for 13.5% of the total number of university graduates in China since the resumption of the college entrance examination. Today, it has 4.88 million currently enrolled students, accounting for 11.7% of higher education in China.

Over the past 40 years, the OUC has made up for the gap in degree education qualifications between two generations, and has created a development path characterised by “advanced communication means and famous lectures by renowned teachers,” forming a fine tradition of “respecting learning and make it universally beneficial, and providing education for all with no distinctions.” It has accumulated the human resources required for reform and opening up, and has accumulated Chinese experience in developing low-cost, high-efficiency higher education and vocational education for in-service personnel, fully demonstrating the advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Party in “mobilising the strength to do big things.”

History continues to move forward, and the great party-building spirit has been passed down from generation to generation. Today, open universities are standing at a new historical starting point. On 20 November 2019, the first Party congress of the OUC put forward the goal of building a world-class open university in “three steps” by 2035 and launched the “1233” project (building one team, improving two capabilities, building three systems, and implementing three strategies). This session of the Party congress reached a common consensus, boosted morale, and sounded a clarion call for the reform and development of the OUC. On 15 August 2020, the Party Group of the Ministry of Education reviewed and approved the OUC Comprehensive Reform Plan, which stated that the OUC will be transformed into a major platform for lifelong education in China, a major platform for online education, and a platform for flexible education and external cooperation, as well as a prominent force serving lifelong education for all and a powerful bolster for a technical society. This move marked a new stage in the transformation and upgrading of the RTVUs and the construction of the open universities, a prelude to future high-quality development. The blueprint has been laid out, and now it is up to the people of the OUC to struggle to achieve it. The OUC will keep in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping’s instruction, vigorously promote the great founding spirit, live up to the times, live up to the youth, and live up to the ardent expectations of the Party and the people.

The OUC must always uphold the truth and ideals, and maintain a “pioneering” spirit, a fervour for “creating,” and a style of “acting.” It is necessary to continuously enhance the “Four Consciousnesses” (i.e., maintaining political integrity, thinking in terms of the big picture, following the core leadership of the CPC Central Committee, and keeping in line with the central Party leadership); strengthen its "Four-sphere Confidence" (i.e., confidence in its path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics); and achieve the “Two Upholds” (i.e., upholding General Secretary Xi Jinping’s core position on the CPC Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and upholding the Central Committee’s authority and its centralised, unified leadership). The OUC should continuously improve its political judgment, insight, and execution, and proceed from the new development stage, implement new development concepts, and build a new development pattern. It should grasp the baton of our generation, and follow the long march of promoting the high-quality development of open education in the new era, and promote the “four transformations,” i.e., from seeking quantity to strengthening quality, from a focus on qualifications to one on knowledge, from providing degrees to enhancing skills, and from prioritising online teaching to the integrated development of online and offline teaching. The people of the OUC should have the courage to become down-to-earth strugglers, firm innovators, and tough-dealing fighters, striving to open a new pattern for the cause of the university.

The OUC must always fulfil its original aspiration, shoulder its mission, and strive to follow a three-pronged spirit, that is, the spirit of serving the people, blazing new trails in development, and engaging in arduous struggle. The key to building a world-class open university, creating the “four platforms,” and realising the “four transformations” lies in the OUC’s people and work. It will adhere to a people-centric and learner-centric model, proactively adapt to developmental and environmental changes, and meet the diverse learning needs of students. It will continue to forge ahead based on the principles of “success does not necessarily count on me” and “success must have my contribution” to undertake its historical responsibility, demonstrate new responsibility, and make new achievements as it forges ahead in the 14th Five-Year Plan.

The OUC must not be afraid of sacrifices and must fight bravely, maintain the courage to innovate, the audacity to be the first. The OUC should be a loyal successor to the glorious tradition and fine style of work of the Party and a loyal successor of its pioneering spirit, constantly strengthening ambition, dignity, and confidence. It should inherit the pioneering culture of firm beliefs, sincere implementation, great sense of responsibility, courage to overcome difficulties, sincere unity, and strict self-discipline. It should strive to build a high-quality and professional cadre team with Party members and cadres that have a strong sense of responsibility and continue to move forward despite the difficulties and pressure ahead. It should take the initiative to stand on the front lines despite the risks. Furthermore, it should actively create a good environment for business handling and entrepreneurship, so that everyone can focus on doing things and dare to undertake their responsibilities, and so that talented professionals can focus on dealing with the right things and achieve their goals.

The OUC must always be loyal to the Party, live up to the people, take root in China to run education, and run universities around the people. It should carry out the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education and insist on using Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism of Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to mould souls and educate people. It should insist on making learners the centre and using modern information technology to continuously improve the experience and effectiveness of online learning. It should adhere to strict standards for teachers, subjects, curriculum, teaching, and student graduation quality to improve the system and mechanism of standardised management of schools. Finally, it should insist on vigorously developing non-academic education, which will make community education a new channel for learning across China, social training a new brand of open education, and education for older adults a new highlight in the field of education. This will make open universities into a new type of high-quality, distinctive university that is close to the common people.

Over the hundred years of the Party, the original aspiration for education has never faded and has even become more firm. The OUC will make efforts to move forward to foster education and make contributions to the future of China. With a new journey and a new mission, the OUC will unite more closely around the Party Central Committee under the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping, vigorously promote the great founding spirit of the Party, and succeed based on long-term hard work, an unswerving mental state, and an attitude of indomitable struggle. The OUC will respond to the Long March of the new era with new and greater contributions to the construction of an education system that serves lifelong learning for all and to the goal of realising a learning society where “anyone can learn anytime and anywhere.”

Reprinted by the OUC from China Education Daily, 6 Sept., 2021