Shanxi provincial government recently gave official approval for Shanxi Radio and TV University (RTVU) to be renamed Shanxi Open University. At the same time, nine municipal-level RTVUs were also renamed as open universities, including Taiyuan, Linfen, Yuncheng, Datong, Shuozhou, Yangquan, Lvliang, Changzhi, and Jincheng RTVUs.
Shanxi RTVU was founded in 1979, and since its establishment it has cultivated over 350,000 graduates of higher education and has provided non-degree education training to over 1.5 million people. It currently has more than 90,000 registered students. The university has made contributions to providing human resources for the economic and social development of the province, as well as accumulating experience in carrying forward higher education and vocational education with low cost and high efficiency.
After the renaming, the relationship between administrative subordination, the management system, and the existing right to run degree and non-degree education remains unchanged. Furthermore, according to the university’s new educational missions and orientations, open universities at the provincial and municipal levels will establish Open Universities for Older Adults with the management system being included within the open universities.
As a platform for education and external cooperation, Shanxi Open University places equal emphasis on both degree and non-degree education and offers open education that allows students to study in their spare time and an entire credit-based system that gives students more flexibility. The university already provides continuing degree education, including undergraduate, junior college, and secondary education programmes, and will further explore the feasibility of offering graduate education in the future. In terms of non-degree education, substantial efforts have been made to carry out occupational skills training, vocational qualification certificate education, short-term flexible education, community education, and education for older adults. Relevant responsible personnel from Shanxi Open University have noted that the university will take its renaming as a turning point to continue to serve the construction of a learning society and strive to develop into a first-class open university in the central western areas of China.
Written by Li Linxia, Shanxi Daily, reprinted by OUC News Network