The OUC's first legal forum, with the theme OUC Legal Education Research & Thinking, was held in Beijing on May 27, 2014, in time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Department of Law. Doctor Yang Zhijian, President of the OUC and Vice Chairman of China’s Law Education Research Association, together with Mr. Li Ling, Vice President of the OUC, Mr. Yan Bing, Vice President of the OUC and Director of the Teachers’ Excellent Thesis Reviewing Committee of the legal curriculum, Mr. Zhang Shaogang, Vice President of the OUC, and Professor Han Jing, Director of the OUC Reviewing Committee for the Law Degree attended the forum. 

Mr. Yang Zhijian stressed that the purpose of holding the legal forum was to provide a platform for academic exchange for teachers specializing in law education from all the branches and relevant schools of the OUC and to give impetus to these teachers in taking the initiative in conducting academic research into teaching methods and skills.  

The forum covers two themes.  The first part of the theme was “Legal Research”. Representatives Zhang Jianfei from Zhejiang Radio and TV University (RTVU), Gu Yao from Harbin RTVU, Zhu Hairong from Nanjing RTVU, Guming from Yongzhou Branch of Hunan RTVU, Zhao E from Ninghai School of Ningbo RTVU, Hu Xiaoyu and Dong Jiang from the OUC each delivered speeches outlining their personal achievements as related to the theme. The secondary part of the theme was the academic study and teaching of the law. Teachers Liu Fangzhen from Xi’an RTVU, Liang Cuili from Rongcheng Branch of Shandong RTVU, Wang Rong from the Jinzhou Branch of Liaoning RTVU, Liu Jianhong from Hunan RTVU delivered keynote speeches on law teaching and the construction of the legal curriculum in the OUC. 

Participating teachers and speakers held interactive exchanges on the report and expressed their individual thoughts. Mr. Han Jing commented on each of the speeches as a special guest expert and put forward his opinions and suggestions from the angle of law research. 

Yan Bing expressed his hopes in a summary speech to the legal forum. He remarked that the realization of the overall transformation of the RTVU is the transformation of people, which means the transformation of teachers. To every teacher, it means the process of adaption and upgrading. Each of the OUC’s teachers should strive hard to become a practitioner and leader in lifelong learning. Mr. Yan Bing proposed that the OUC’s teachers should focus on four issues, including “making no social distinctions in teaching; teaching students in accordance with their aptitude; teaching with a variety of arts and methods; and teaching to benefit teachers as well as students.”

Yan Bing announced the result of the excellent thesis evaluation from teachers in the OUC’s legal curriculum in 2013, while Yang Zhijian and Li Ling conferred the certificates on the award winning teacher representatives. 

More than a hundred people including administrators from relevant departments in the OUC and 41 branches at provincial and municipal levels, Air Force School, the OUC Beijing Experimental School, and the OUC Taiyuan Experimental School participated in the forum, which was presided over by Ye Zhihong, the Dean of School of Arts and Law. 

The forum received strong support from all branches of the OUC. It not only demonstrated the academic achievements of all of the teachers in the legal curriculum around the country, but also reinforced academic exchanges between teachers within the system. It also gave full play to the initiatives and innovation of the teachers in R&D and played an active role in the construction of the teachers’ team in the legal curriculum in the system, the professional development of teachers, and the construction of curriculum and discipline.  

By Dong Jiang, the OUC