On the morning of January 13, 2015, delegates led by Education Attaché Mr. Priyanto Wibowo from the Education Office of the Indonesian Embassy in China visited the OUC. Mr. Yang Zhijian, President of The Open University of China (OUC), and Mr. Zhang Shaogang, Vice President of the OUC, held in-depth discussions with the delegates on promoting educational and cultural exchange between China and Indonesia and the construction of a “Sino-Indonesian Distance Education Development Eco System”. At the end of the discussions they reached a consensus.
President Yang noted that the cooperation between the OUC and the TRAMPIL Foundation of Indonesia was a concrete step towards implementing the requirement for educational and cultural cooperation between China and Indonesia put forward by the heads of state from both countries during APEC. Mr. Wibowo’s visit is an important sign of support for international cooperation in the field of education between the OUC and Indonesia. The OUC will continue to leverage its advantages in open and distance education to build a cooperation platform and promote the progress of Sino-Indonesian joint programmes.
Mr. Wibowo said that the Indonesian Government was glad to strengthen its exchanges with China in the areas of education and culture, including support for Sino-Indonesian student exchanges, and language and culture connectivity and study. Distance education is particularly applicable in Indonesia, since its territory is spread out over thousands of islands. He hopes that the support of the OUC’s advanced educational technology, teaching methods, and teaching resources will help to better promote Indonesian education and culture development.
Remote connection with the TRAMPIL Indonesia Foundation through OUC’s cloud classroom
The delegates led by Mr. Wibowo also visited the OUC’s cloud classroom and remotely connected with the headquarters of the TRAMPIL Indonesia Foundation. They learnt about the Foundation’s ideas for the cooperation and encouraged the TRAMPIL Indonesia Foundation to take advantage of its comprehensive coverage in Indonesia provided by its 24 distance learning centres (ICT). It should make Chinese education and local Chinese teacher training a starting point and then gradually drive cooperation in teaching and employment in the fields of agriculture, fishery, irrigation, water supply, power and tourism, so as to address the demand for professional talent in Indonesia.
Visiting the history exhibition on the “Deep Integration of Information Technology and Education”
On November 13, 2014, the OUC signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with the TRAMPIL Indonesia Foundation. In 2015, the OUC Chinese Language Centre will cooperate closely with the TRAMPIL Indonesia Foundation to finalize the conditions of the MOU and to establish an open and distance education platform with Indonesia to improve educational and cultural communication.
By Zhou Jin Lan, the OUC