Since 2016, the Open University of China (OUC) has been committed to exploring the construction of overseas learning centres in response to the call of the Central Committee of the Party and the State Council to provide open education outside China as part of the Belt and Road Initiatives.

The OUC has established four such centres; the OUC (Shenzhen)-Papua New Guinea (PNG) Learning Centre is one of these, a collaboration of the OUC, Shenzhen Open University (Shenzhen OU), and the University of Goroka (UoG).

On 6 September 2022, the OUC held an online meeting of teachers and students in the Chinese-language course at the PNG Learning Centre. It was attended by a teaching team consisting of Chinese instructors from the OUC International Department (Chinese Language Centre) and International School of Shenzhen OU, as well as student representatives from the PNG Learning Centre at the UoG, the head of Confucius Education, and the Culture Research Centre of UoG via video link. Staff of Bell & Horn Education and Technology (Beijing), involved in the development of the Chinese-learning Platform for the centre (the PNG Chinese-learning Platform) explained and tested platform functions, and demonstrated course resources.

The meeting also involved an online and offline exchange with Dr. Matthew Landu, the executive vice president of the UoG, who joined centre students onsite, and Mr. Robert Parua, educational-project officer of the Beijing UNESCO office in China, as well as a UoG alumnus online. Dr. Landu expressed appreciation for the efforts to build the Chinese-learning platform and Chinese teaching team by the OUC, Shenzhen OU, and Bell & Horn, and the hope that in-depth cooperation would continue via the centre. Mr. Parua stated that cooperation with the OUC and UoG would help enhance teaching and research, and promote the internationalisation of the UoG, and that the study of Chinese would help students planning to study in China and/or at the OUC.

By Dai Jing,OUC