The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) pointed out that “we will promote the digitalisation of education and build a society and country of learning where lifelong learning is pursued by all” and restated that “we will pursue a proactive national strategy in response to population ageing”.
In November 2022, the general office of the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on Unveiling the Seniors University of China in the Open University of China. In light of the deployment and requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on strengthening the work of ageing in the new era and with the approval of the Central Institutional Organisation Commission, the Leading Party Group of the Ministry of Education decided to unveil the Seniors University of China at the Open University of China (OUC).
Over the years, the OUC has given full play to its own advantages, leading its whole education system in advancing the strategy of “bettering and strengthening senior universities”. It has been active in exploring a new model of “Internet + education for older adults” integrating the development of “health care and preservation, learning and travel”. It has been leading system construction, resource collection, platform building, education innovation, and scientific research. An open, convenient, standardised and orderly education service system for older adults with widespread coverage has taken initial shape.
On 18 November 2021, the Guideline of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Strengthening the Work on Ageing in the New Era was released, which explicitly stated that “we will make preparations to establish the Seniors University of China by relying on the Open University of China to build a national public service platform for the sharing of older adults education resources”. Over the past year, the OUC has sped up the preparations for the Seniors University of China and preliminarily built a public service platform for the education of older adults. To date, the platform has gathered 399,000 education course resources for older adults lasting a total of 3.942 million minutes, and completed the older adults education database. It offers rich forms of education services to meet the needs of older adults for a high-quality education life in the new era.
By OUC