The year 2024 marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the Open University of China (OUC). Over the past 45 years, the university has consistently upheld the fundamental principle of strengthening the Party's overall leadership.
It has adhered to the key orientation of serving the nation's strategic needs and embraced the essential task of fostering virtue through education. By positioning itself to serve the vast majority of the people in education, leveraging its integrated national operation advantage, and using reform and innovation as the driving force, the university has embarked on a path to develop a new type of university. This path is deeply rooted in the vast land of China and tailored to China's unique conditions, embodying Chinese characteristics.
In this new historical phase, we must accurately understand the evolving contexts and objectives of open education, aligning them with the overarching goals of advancing Chinese modernisation and establishing a learning society and a leading country in education. By clarifying our goals and identifying pivot points, we can make new contributions.
Wang Qiming, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of the OUC
The forty-five years mark not just the passage of time, but the inheritance of wisdom. Throughout the long river of history, the OUC, with its unique educational philosophy and operational model, has served as a beacon of wisdom for countless seekers of knowledge, illuminating the vast sea of learning. Today, we engage in a dialogue with Wang Qiming, secretary of the Party Committee and president of the OUC. As we stand at this significant milestone — the university's 45th anniversary — we will reflect on the past and look forward to the future together, listening to his heartfelt reflections on the university's proud journey and his profound thoughts on its future mission.
In his nearly one year at the helm of the OUC, what insights and experiences has Secretary Wang Qiming? Facing both challenges and opportunities in this new era, what are his plans and strategies to ensure the university continues its steady progress on the path of transformation and development? Let's delve into Secretary Wang Qiming's perspective to explore the OUC and experience the pulse of this university.
Based on the Overall Situation: Building on Achievements to Usher in a New Chapter of Transformation
E-Learning: The year 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a critical juncture for achieving the goals of the 14th Five-Year Plan, and a significant moment for the 45th anniversary of the OUC. Having served in your new role for nearly a year, what profound insights and experiences have you gained regarding the development of the Open University?
Wang Qiming: I have been serving at the OUC for nearly a year, and I am deeply aware of the honour and significance of this responsibility. The Leading Party Group of the Ministry of Education (MOE) places great emphasis on open education and highly commends the achievements of the Open University, issuing the explicit directive to "make new contributions in serving a leading country in education." The recognition and expectations from the MOE's Leading Party Group are both inspiring and motivating. I can summarise my deepest insights and experiences in three aspects as follows.
First, the sense of honour at the Open University has been greatly enhanced by its 45-year history of significant contributions to higher education in China. As a landmark initiative, the Open University has been instrumental not only in developing a lifelong education system and a learning society, but also in nurturing talented individuals who have contributed to the development of socialism and advanced the socialist cause. Over the past 45 years, the Open University has overcome challenges and persevered through adversity, carving out a path of open education that suits China's unique conditions and reflects Chinese characteristics. By steadfastly upholding the fundamental principle of strengthening the Party’s comprehensive leadership and embracing the core task of cultivating virtue through education, the university has educated and delivered 20.31 million outstanding individuals to society. It has remained dedicated to serving the vast majority of the people, focusing on promoting social equity and providing strong support for building a learning society and a lifelong learning system. The university has continually embraced reform and innovation as its driving force, stayed current with the times, pioneered new approaches, and led the reform of educational models with modern educational concepts, making substantial contributions to human resource development and the establishment of a learning society.
Second, our sense of responsibility and mission has been further strengthened for the effective development of open education. At this new historical stage, we must accurately understand the new situations and challenges of open education in the context of advancing Chinese modernisation and establishing a leading country in education, as well as a learning society and a nation committed to education. We need to define our objectives in serving Chinese modernisation, maintain a demand-driven approach, and proactively align with the national needs for industrial restructuring and transformational upgrading. We must pinpoint the critical imperatives of becoming a leading country in education, strengthen our institutional positioning, clarify our target objectives, innovate in talent development models and methods, and optimise the structure of disciplines and majors. Additionally, we must achieve new successes in building a society and country devoted to learning, take up our mission and responsibilities, and expand lifelong education resources through digital empowerment, thereby playing a more significant role as a primary force in supporting lifelong learning for everyone.
Third, the urgency has intensified in promoting innovative development in open education under new circumstances. Currently, we are facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges. Wang Guangyan, deputy minister of education, has outlined earnest expectations for the reform and development of the Open University across six aspects: fully implementing the Party's educational policies and executing the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education; continuing reforms and innovation to enhance the capability and level of talent development in open education; accelerating digital empowerment and showcasing a leading role in the national educational digitalisation strategy; strengthening integrated operations to solidify the open university community with a shared future; serving the proactive strategy for an ageing population and expanding the seniors' university; enhancing the internationalisation of open education and creating new pathways for educational openness. These expectations are not only critical for the transformation and development of the Open University but also urgent tasks for advancing innovative development in open education under new circumstances.
E-Learning: Given the new tasks and requirements of the modern era, what are your visions and plans for the transformative path of the OUC to achieve the core objectives of establishing a world-class open university with Chinese characteristics?
Wang Qiming: In the current context, driven by new technologies, we must focus on three key words.
The first theme is "innovative development". The rapid advancement of new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, not only broadens future prospects for education but also brings disruptive impacts, compelling us to deepen comprehensive reforms in the education sector. In response to new changes and demands, we must continuously enhance mechanisms for open education that align with digital education. We should promote reforms in talent development models, fully leverage digitalisation to empower student learning, teacher instruction, and education governance, and better meet the new challenges and requirements for open education posed by changes in both internal and external environments.
The second theme is "high quality". The effectiveness of open education in fostering a learning society and establishing a leading country in education hinges on our ability to continually enhance our educational capabilities and standards. We must effectively mobilise various forces, strengthen our foundational capabilities, become a driving force in building a learning society, lead the charge in addressing the needs of an ageing population, forge new dynamics in the digitalisation of education, create new advantages in opening up education, and achieve a significant leap forward in open education by optimising its scale, accentuating its distinctiveness, and ensuring its quality.
The third theme is "integrated collaboration". Open Universities in China operate as a unified entity, and integrated operation is the distinctive advantage and competitive edge developed over our 45 years of educational practice. It is through this system that the Open University can undertake significant national strategic tasks and serve as a key pilot for educational reforms at various historical stages. This foundation allows us to contribute to building a learning society and country and showcase new achievements in becoming a leading nation in education. We must fully demonstrate the advantages of integrated education in reform and innovation, coordinate efforts nationwide under a unified strategy, strengthen cohesion, and further solidify the core competitiveness of our system.
Led by Wisdom: Decoding Challenges and Making Layouts in Advance
E-Learning: Over 45 years, the educational practices and achievements of the OUC have demonstrated its robust vitality. In your opinion, what are the key challenges that open education still faces in promoting transformational development? Additionally, what new opportunities are worth seizing?
Wang Qiming: In response to new demands in economic and social development, and changes in educational structures, and following the requirements for building a learning society and a leading country in education, open education still faces numerous challenges and opportunities.
Firstly, global higher education is undergoing a dual transformation driven by innovation and digital empowerment, bringing new insights to open education. The innovative concept "Beyond Limits: New Ways to Reinvent Higher Education," emphasised at the 3rd World Higher Education Conference, aims to break traditional educational boundaries and explore new development paradigms. Meanwhile, a survey by the World Innovation Summit for Education revealed seven characteristics of innovative schools, such as heightened emphasis on individual capabilities and challenges to traditional diplomas by vocational certifications, providing profound inspiration. Simultaneously, iterative advancements in digital technology are restructuring educational supply systems. Notably, landmark technologies like artificial intelligence offer greater possibilities for massive personalised learning. Several European and American countries are proposing digitalisation strategies for education, and open course models, such as MOOCs, have triggered a craze worldwide. The emergence of technologies like ChatGPT further accelerates the revolutionary reshaping of education. In response to these trends, we should take the lead in digital education practices, reinforce the inherent genetic advantages of digital education, and seize opportunities in the new round of innovative development and digital transformation of global higher education, promoting high-quality innovative development in open education through digital empowerment.
Secondly, significant changes in China's population and higher education landscape present new challenges for open education. On one hand, China's demographic structure is undergoing major shifts, characterised by declining birth rates, an ageing population, and regional disparities in population growth and decline. In the coming years, the demographic of university-aged individuals will substantially decline from peak levels, while the proportion of the elderly population will rise sharply. This makes education for the elderly increasingly crucial for building a learning society and represents a new growth area for open universities. On the other hand, the supply side of China's higher education is set to undergo significant changes. The level of higher education popularisation continues to rise steadily, with the gross enrolment ratio steadily increasing. Concurrently, the scale of enrollment for adult junior college and undergraduate programmes is continuously expanding, reflecting the growing societal demand for lifelong learning. These developments pose both challenges and opportunities, necessitating proactive planning and strategic layouts in advance in open education. By transforming crises into opportunities, we can maintain the sound fundamentals of development, while striving to explore new areas and create new opportunities for growth.
Thirdly, the high-quality development of the economy and society sets new demands for talent development in open education. With the transition of China's economy from high-speed growth to high-quality development, new industries, new business forms, new models, and new technologies continue to evolve and upgrade. This industrial transformation and upgrading create new demands for talent development in open education. It is increasingly important to shift from the demand for skilled talent to the demand for applied, interdisciplinary, and innovative talent. Currently, there are varying degrees of mismatches between the types, structures, and quality of talent developed in open education and the diverse needs of societal development. The integration and consolidation of teaching staff within the open university system are insufficient, and there are persistent shortcomings in practical teaching segments while the level of teaching research urgently needs improvement. We must adhere to the orientation of meeting economic and social development needs, cater to vocational demands and learners’ needs for lifelong growth, follow the principles of open education, and focus on enhancing the alignment and match between supply and demand, continuously improving the quality and level of open education.
Fourthly, building a learning society creates new demands on the integrated operational capabilities of open universities. Currently, our system still faces numerous challenges, including inadequate integration of educational forces, incomplete mechanisms for collaboration and sharing, and inefficient redundant development. Educational institutions in communities lack the strong foundational capabilities necessary to support local efforts in building a learning society, and they lack distinctive features. To address these issues, we need to strengthen the foundational capacity of our educational system, promote integrated and coordinated development within the open education system, construct a robust framework through integrated innovation, and employ a combination of measures to enhance cohesion. Only by doing so can we highlight the advantages of the OUC as a group and system in the construction of a learning society.
Joint Response to the Same Challenges: Exploring the Creation of a Digital University
E-Learning: In the context of building a great country and a learning society, how will the OUC uniquely contribute? What specific strategies and actions will the university undertake to respond to these propositions?
Wang Qiming: In alignment with top-level design initiatives, The Open University of China (OUC) is effectively implementing the OUC Comprehensive Reform Plan, the OUC 14th Five-Year Plan for Development, and the Preparation Work Plan for the Establishment of the Seniors University of China (SUC). These efforts are in response to the pivotal propositions of our times: "Building a Great Country, the OUC’s Role" and "Building a Leading Country in Education, the OUC’s Role". With the approval of the Ministry of Education (MOE) leadership, the university has issued key documents including the 2024 Key Tasks of the OUC (SUC) and the Action Plan for the Construction Project of the SUC (2023-2025). Additionally, the university has drafted, after discussion, The Implementation Opinions on Integrated Collaborative Advancement of the Comprehensive Reform in Education and Teaching at the Open Universities Through Digital Intelligence Empowerment (Draft for Soliciting Comments) and The OUC Plan for Learning Resources Development (Draft for Soliciting Comments).
Based on this foundation, the university has proposed implementing the "1234" strategy. "1" stands for "One Main Line," which focuses on leveraging digitally empowered lifelong learning to support the development of a learning society and country; "2" represents "Dual-wheel Drive," giving equal priority to both degree and non-degree education; "3" signifies "Three Calling Cards," aiming to enhance excellence and quality in open education, improve education for the elderly, and explore the creation of a digital university; "4" stands for "Four Platforms," striving to establish a primary platform for lifelong education in China, a major platform for online education, a flexible education platform, and a platform for external cooperation. The strategy aims to accelerate the development of a world-class open university with Chinese characteristics.
In terms of detailed implementation, the university will do key jobs in seven areas.
First, we will enhance systemic coordination to establish a new integrated educational model for open education. Our objectives include accelerating the improvement of the open university's educational system, building a community with a shared future at the open university, and showcasing systemic synergy. Our focus will be on the following four main aspects:
1. Effective advancement of the OUC Comprehensive Reform Plan.
2. Promotion of system coordination for joint contribution, sharing, and common development.
3. Enhancement of operation guided by standards.
4. Intensified efforts to develop regional characteristics.
Second, we will deepen education and teaching reforms to fully leverage the potential of open universities. The primary aim of this new round of reforms is to advance comprehensive improvements in open education and teaching, enhancing the quality of talent development across the board. This initiative is oriented towards supporting economic and social development, focuses on the need to cultivate applied talent, and emphasises digital and intelligent empowerment as well as substantive growth. Our main efforts will focus on four key areas:
1. Strengthening the development of applied talent as a distinctive feature.
2. Establishing new models for ubiquitous, accessible, and massively personalised learning.
3. Building a stronger, high-caliber teaching team with "dual qualifications."
4. Improving the data-driven quality assurance system.
Third, we will accelerate digital empowerment to enhance the development of the open university. To refresh educational concepts and transform educational paradigms driven by digitalisation and intelligence, our efforts will focus on three key areas:
1. Innovating the building of a digital university. We plan to establish a foundation for digital education supported by artificial intelligence and big data technologies. This initiative aims to leverage system synergies to develop and utilize the smart OUC integrated platform and lifelong education platform, providing autonomous, secure, controllable, and sustainable digital service guarantees.
2. Creating a centre for digital resource integration and application. The goal is to develop a top-tier integrated, intelligent, and international course supermarket. This will involve exploring new "AI +" resource development models and establishing a solid base for digital resources.
3. Establishing a centre for digital technology innovation and application. We will delve into the deep integration of digital technologies with education and teaching, strengthen the digital education expert team, and aim to produce a series of research outcomes in digital technology innovation and broaden their application.
Fourth, we will align with the national strategy for proactive responses to an ageing population and explore new pathways for the innovative development of the SUC. In accordance with the overall requirements of "establishing the layout in the inaugural year, taking shape in the second year, and gaining momentum in the third year," the university will fully implement the "Ten Major Action Plans," striving for breakthroughs in three key areas:
1. Establish a "main channel" for elderly education, building a system that serves both urban and rural areas nationwide.
2. Construct a "powerful orientation" for proactive health, guiding the elderly to embrace proactive health concepts.
3. Enhance the "Catalyst" role for the silver economy, exploring the integrated development of "health, wellness, learning, tourism" to inject new vitality into the silver economy.
Fifth, we will enhance practical application to establish a new system where the credit bank supports the lifelong education system. We will build consensus around the system from four perspectives to ensure the effective implementation of the credit bank system:
1. Top-level design will be implemented to facilitate the establishment of national qualification frameworks and the national credit bank.
2. The accreditation system for learning outcomes will be improved.
3. Collaborative innovation in vocational education, higher education, and continuing education will be advanced.
4. The practical application of the credit bank will be expanded.
Sixth, we will deepen international cooperation to create new prospects for the internationalisation of open education. We will further enhance our capability for international education, coordinate efforts in both "bringing in" and "going global," and contribute Chinese wisdom and approaches to global open education.
1. International exchanges and cooperation will be strengthened to increase the international influence and amplify the voice of open universities in China.
2. The capacity for international education and services will be enhanced.
3. The construction of overseas learning centres will be accelerated.
Seventh, we will uphold and strengthen the leadership of the Party to create an open and innovative development ecosystem for open education.
1. The Party’s educational policies are to be fully implemented. We will stay true to the founding mission of cultivating talent for the Party and the country, ensuring that Party leadership is exercised in all areas and stages of fostering virtue through education, and in every aspect and stage of operation and governance endeavors of the university.
2. The guidance of Party building will be strengthened. We will deepen the integration and mutual promotion of Party building and administrative tasks, consolidating and expanding the results of the themed education campaigns.
3. Various risks are to be fended off and defused. We will enhance the management of ideological positions to ensure that the principal responsibilities for ideological work are assumed.
4. Activities will be organised for positive publicity to guide public opinion, to raise the capacity for risk assessment and response, and to safeguard the high-quality development of the university.
E-Learning: As the OUC celebrates its 45th anniversary, what are your expectations for the university’s future development? How can the university continue to innovate and better serve the country and society?
Wang Qiming: Over the past 45 years, we have embraced integrated development, facing challenges together and supporting one another. The OUC has utilised its institutional strengths to focus on the advancement of higher education and to promote the construction of a learning society. We have established the world’s largest open education system, which spans regions and industries, and bridges urban and rural areas nationwide. This includes 44 provincial-level open universities and 2,744 study centres, creating a community with a shared future for open education.
At the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), it was proposed that "We will promote the digitalisation of education and build a society and country where lifelong learning is pursued by all." Today, the Open University of China (OUC) stands at a new historical starting point. Facing new tasks, challenges, and requirements in this new era, we will follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and fully implement the guiding principles from the 20th National Congress of the CPC along with the important discourse of General Secretary Xi Jinping. As we mark the 45th anniversary of our university, we will seize this historical opportunity to contribute to the construction of a leading country in education and promote the high-quality, innovative development of open education in an integrated and coordinated manner. The university is committed to empowering lifelong learning services through digitalisation, contributing to the development of a society and country dedicated to learning. The OUC is ready to make new and greater contributions to building a great country and advancing national rejuvenation.
Source: E-Learning, June 2024 (Issue No. 104)