Between February 27-29, 2012, the Constitutive Meeting of the new ICDE Executive Committee was held in Oslo, Norway. The six members of the ICDE Executive Committee and more than 60 leaders from major universities all over Norway were in attendance. As a member of the ICDE Executive Committee and president of the Open University of China (OUC), Dr. Yang Zhijian attended the meeting and delivered a keynote speech.

The meeting was divided into two parts. The first was a seminar under the theme of "High Quality Higher Education – Challenges for Leadership, Strategies and Organization coming from an increasingly more Open and Online World", and the second was a meeting for executive committee members of the ICDE. At the seminar, Yang Zhijian gave a speech entitled "Values and Missions of the Open University of China" and outlined the OUC's history, experience, problems and challenges in implementing open and distance education in China, as well as the OUC's future direction and planned measures. During the executive committee meeting, the OUC was invited to take part in preparing the 25th ICDE World Conference to be held next year in Tianjin, and appointed to editorial board for the ICDE academic journal, Open Praxis.

Dr. Tian Belawati, Rector of Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia, was elected president of the new ICDE Executive Committee at the meeting. The Executive Committee approved the 2011 annual financial report by the ICDE Secretariat and reached decisions on more than 20 topics concerning the development of ICDE after discussion.

After the meeting, President Yang visited the Open University and Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education of the University of Helsinki (UH). Through meetings with experts and scholars there, he gained a comprehensive understanding of the UH Open University's teaching model, management model, adult learning courses and teaching materials, and expressed his hope to further collaborate with the university in the areas of adult learning and instructor training.

OUC President Yang Zhijian (third from left), Prof. Liu Dailin (third from right), and Director of International Cooperation and Exchange Division Yang Yongbo (first from right) pay a visit to the ICDE Secretariat

Delegation visits the Open University and Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education of the University of Helsinki

Yang Yongbo, the OUC