On the 40th anniversary of Open University of China (OUC), 150 students from the Wontone Automotive Learning Centre of the OUC Experimental School and their parents participated in a meeting to allow the students to thank their parents.
It was held at the OUC headquarters at Wukesong, Beijing, on 12 May 2019, for Mother's Day. Liu Chen, deputy secretary of the OUC Party committee; Feng Liguo, director of the General Office of Party and Administration; Zhang Luanqiao, director of the Department of Student Work and Teacher Development; Xu Mingjun, director of the Publicity Department; Yan Xiaoping, executive deputy-director of the Credit Bank Management Office; Fu Jianjun, director of the OUC Secondary Technical School; Li Song, director of the Faculty of Education; Yuan Wei, deputy director of the Faculty of Science and Engineering; Cheng Gang, director of the Learning Resources Department; Guo Qingchun, dean of the OUC Experimental School, and its vice deans, Li Xinhui, Xu Gang and Qi Kun; Pan Yaocai, principal of the Wontone Automotive Learning Centre; principal assistant Lu Peng, and all faculty of the OUC Experimental School, attended the event.
The activities began with the singing of the national anthem, after which principal Pan Yaocai of the Wontone Automotive Learning Centre gave a welcome speech, thanking the parents for coming, and expressing the hope that they would be open to working with the university and helping their children in the future.
Yu Xingyue spoke as a student representative, asking the parents to understand and trust their children, who in turn promised to repay their love and meet their expectations.
A video about the growth of the students of the Wontone Automotive Learning Centre was shown. In it they told their parents how they had progressed since coming to the centre, and at the end of the video said things they had never before expressed to their parents, leading to emotional exchanges among them.
The students also expressed their gratitude towards the OUC leaders and teachers with beautiful flowers, deep bows, or merely words of thanks. Afterward, a parent representative came onstage to thank the OUC teachers for their hard work and care.
Xie Yun, a course coordinator of the Automobile Operation and Maintenance major of the OUC Experimental School represented the teachers, introducing the school's teaching objectives and learner-development model, and thanking the students and parents for their trust in it.
In his summary, Liu Chen, deputy secretary of the OUC Party committee, thanked the parents for coming to mark the growth of their children, at the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the 40th anniversary of the founding of the OUC. The core mission of the OUC is to promote educational equity and the all-round development of its students, and since 2013, it and the Beijing Wontone Automotive School have been cooperating through the Wontone Automotive Learning Centre of the OUC Experimental School as an exploration of open vocational education, and to give students both work skills and cultural competence. He hoped that they would continue to strive and improve, and make their parents, teachers and alma mater proud.
After the meeting, the students and parents visited the OUC library at the Wukesong Campus, and the Weigongcun Learning Centre, to learn about the OUC's digital library and cloud classrooms. They also had a lunch-time symposium with teachers of the Experimental School teaching centre, and exchanged their feelings about learning and teaching.
By Miu Ling,OUC