Recently, Li Song, a member of the Party Committee and vice president of the Open University of China (OUC), led a delegation comprising five members to the XVIII World Congress of Comparative Education Societies, which was held at Cornell University in the United States.

Li Song presented an academic report titled “Research on Design and Application of Problem-solving Oriented Adult Online Courses”. The report focused on adult online learning, proposing a problem-solving-oriented online course design framework and using quantitative analysis to test the framework’s effectiveness.

Associate Professor Wang Yu from the Learning Resources Department, Zhang Huirui from the School of Education, Qi Xin from the Experimental College, and Lyu Guangru from the College of International Education respectively delivered presentations on "Designing Adult Online Courses for Lifelong Learning: From the Perspective of Deep Learning", "How Doctoral Students Understand Academic Identity in China: A Qualitative Study Based on the Grounded Theory", "A Comparative Study of Online Education Reforms of National Open Universities in China and South Korea in the Post-pandemic Era", and "Theory and Practice of Open Educational Resources: A Comparative Study Between China and the United States".

During the congress, the delegation also engaged in in-depth exchanges with Professor Miki Sugimura from Sophia University in Japan, as well as experts and scholars from organisations such as the International Baccalaureate.

It is reported that the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES), established in 1970, now encompasses 45 comparative education societies from diverse countries and regions. The congress is held every three years, and the XVIII World Congress of Comparative Education Societies was hosted by Cornell University in the United States. The theme of this year's congress was "Fostering Inclusive Ecologies of Knowledge: Education for Equitable and Sustainable Futures." Welcome addresses were delivered by N'Dri T. Assié-Lumumba, president of the WCCES and professor at Cornell University; Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education; and Michael Kotlikoff, president of Cornell University. The congress featured 78 parallel sessions and was attended by over 300 scholars from around the world.

By Lyu Guangru, OUC