Since its establishment in 1979, the Open University of China (OUC) has had a focus on offering training in rural areas throughout the country, with the aim of promoting development in these areas.
Practical assistance to new business leaders
In the Dendrobium Garden of Shiicha Village, Xiuying District, Haikou City, Hainan Province, a young man oversaw the growth of volcanic Dendrobium, ensuring that staff understood the essentials of planting and pruning.
This young man, Wu Qingwei, is head of the Haikou Shicha Dendrobium Planting Specialized Cooperative. On 13 April 2018, as a technician, he demonstrated the “intelligent sprinkler irrigation system” of the Garden to General Secretary Xi Jinping.
The efforts of people like him have moved Shicha Village from “depending on Heaven for food” to a typical example of rural revitalisation.
He says, "My studies at the OUC helped me a lot, with courses such as Rural E-Commerce and Management of Rural Enterprises being particularly practical. My learning has made me able to embrace scientific and systematic management, and given me the confidence to help bring prosperity to the village.”
In July 2004, the Ministry of Education launched the "One College Student Per Village" programme, implemented by the OUC for 18 years. By the end of 2021, the programme had covered 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, with 1,513 county-level study centers. A total of 29 junior-college and undergraduate majors or specialised orientations were offered, including Agriculture, Forestry, Animal Husbandry and Food Products. 916,189 students had been admitted, and 616,076 had graduated. At this time there are 217,200 registered students.
By taking root in communities, the OUC has offered training specific to individual rural areas, to trainees who know agriculture and love their hometowns, allowing them to achieve equal access to education, to assist in poverty alleviation, and to boost rural revitalisation. Hundreds of these rural college students are leading by starting up businesses and promoting the transformation of rural industrial structures.
Rural training tailored to local conditions
A visit to the Zhongxin Citrus Cooperative in Lyushiqiao Village, Pujiang County, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, reveals the secret to prosperity. ”The cadres should give practical guidance and assistance to villagers”, says Bai Ronghua, a student in the Rural Revitalisation class and Party branch secretary of Lyushiqiao Village.
Having tasted the sweetness of learning, Bai Ronghua asked all members of the village Party-branch and villagers’ committees (the “two committees") to join in the OUC’s educational reforms. Lyushiqiao Village has now become a model of rural revitalisation in Sichuan Province.
Sichuan Open University has set out to improve the education of rural leaders by relying on the open universities in its 18 cities and prefectures. Shanxi Open University has basically achieved the goal of having at least one village official with a college education in every administrative village before the reelection of the new “two committees” by 2021.
In addition, the OUC has established a funding guarantee for rural college students, which combines the exemptions, reductions and awards offered by universities, government funding, and individual contributions. Since 2018, a budget of 14 million yuan has been allocated to teachers in local primary schools, middle schools and kindergartens to pursue degree continuing education, and is targeted at the least-developed “three regions and three prefectures” (The “three regions” are Tibet, the Tibetan ethnic areas of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, and the four prefectures in southern Xinjiang’s Hotan, Aksu, Kashi and the Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture. The “three prefectures” are Liangshan in Sichuan, Nujiang in Yunnan, and Linxia in Gansu.)
We have strengthened infrastructure in formerly undeveloped areas. By assisting in building computer rooms, cloud classrooms, book houses, and free online-learning platforms, and providing community teaching resources to older adults, we have implemented degree and non-degree education programmes and targeted poverty alleviation through education.
Internet + education to create a high-quality learning experience
In a class on the basics of livestock anatomy, Wang Qide, a student from Sichuan Open University, checks the internal structure of a simulated goat and conducts virtual anatomical procedures using AI and VR.
He says, "This experience is hard to get any other way. It gives me a full overview of the goat’s body structure, and the positions of various organs. Furthermore, I can dissect it by hand, and learn enough to be able to raise Nanjiang Yellow Goat."
On 21 May 2012, the first OUC cloud classroom entered use. So far, the OUC has built 538 intelligent cloud classrooms and 236 demonstration models of digital learning resources in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.
To give full play to the advantages of "Internet + education", the OUC has explored integrating artificial intelligence, 5G, big data and other information technologies into teaching and academic affairs, such as making exclusive learning plans for students using AI, targeting high-quality educational resources, providing automatic student evaluations, and so on. In April 2021, the "One College Student Per Village” programme was awarded the 2020 UNESCO King Hamade Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education, the UN’s highest award of its kind.
The OUC has also formed an interactive “knowledge map” connecting teachers and students, allowing automated support but also enabling direct contact.
"In the future, the OUC will upgrade its use of information technology, promote the innovative development of Internet + education, and provide more opportunities and better learning resources and teaching to larger groups of farmers, helping implement the rural-revitalisation strategy, and making education both better and more accessible, " says Jing Degang, Party secretary and president of the OUC.
Reprinted by OUC News Network from China Education News Network (www.jyb.cn)