On 13 October 2021, the Open University of China (OUC) and the Higher Education Teaching Evaluation Centre of the Ministry of Education (MOE) jointly launched a class to train teaching evaluators in its branches.

Those in attendance at the meeting included Li Song, vice president of the OUC; Chen Wei, an expert recommended by the Centre, dean of the International Education Centre of the Shanghai Business School, and deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Adult Education Association; Han Yi, director of the OUC Department of Quality Monitoring and Control; Li Ruiqing, director of the OUC Discipline Inspection and Audit Department; Cheng Qian, section chief of the Teaching Process Management Section of the Academic Affairs Department of the OUC; experts from the OUC headquarters; and 17 experts from universities, online colleges, and the OUC system attended via video link. The meeting was presided over by Hu Po, deputy director of the OUC Department of Quality Monitoring and Control.

Li Song pointed that the key mandate of degree education at the OUC lies in bringing about high-quality development for the “new era”. Evaluation is important for guaranteeing the quality of teaching while also examining the system and circumstances as a whole, and uncovering problems. He expressed the hope that the experts would focus rigorously on uncovering problems and their causes, and formulate solutions to promote the progress and reform of the OUC.

Li Ruiqing emphasised the discipline involved in evaluation, and requested that the experts observe this, and abide by national regulations while visiting branches.

Liu Xiping, former vice president of the Dalian delivered a speech titled “Evaluation: Principles, Methods, Skills and Precautions”, in which he introduced the key points to be observed in both remote and on-site evaluation, as well as its processes and methods. Cheng Qian introduced the OUC’s forms of operation at the teaching, management, and school-wide levels, while Han Yi explained in detail the indicators evaluators take into account, and how they assign points. The meeting emphasised that the scope of evaluation covers only the OUC-branch degree programmes. 

The meeting ended with a Q&A.

Written by Zhang Hong, photos by He Dandan, OUC