(II) The diversity of the learning needs of older adults as seen from the degree level
The OUJ trains four categories of people. The first is regular undergraduate graduates, who receive 4-10 years of open and distance education and receive a corresponding undergraduate degree or bachelor’s degree upon graduation. The second is one-year or one-semester non-degree junior college students, which includes those studying at the Faculty of Liberal Arts or the School of Graduate Studies. The third is master’s degree graduates. After studying for 2-5 years in specific professional areas, master’s degree graduates receive a corresponding graduate or master’s degree. The fourth is PhD graduates. Such are the choices for older adults when they have access to education.
(III) The adaptability of older adults as seen from the OUJ’s majors
In line with the requirements for majors in universities of Japan, the Faculty of Liberal Arts of the OUJ offers six areas of undergraduate study (OUJ, 2019B): Living and Welfare, Psychology and Education, Society and Industry, Humanities and Culture, Informatics, and Nature and Environment. There are seven areas of study under the master’s programmes (the OUJ, 2019C): are Human Life and Health Sciences, Sciences of Human Development and Education, Clinical Psychology, Social Governance, Arts and Humanities, In-formatics, and Natural and Environmental Sciences. Finally, there are five areas of study under the PhD programme (OUJ, 2019D): Human Life and Health Sciences, Human Sciences, Social Governance, Arts and Humanities, Informatics, and Natural Sciences. All of the majors are closely related to daily life and of interest to older adults.
The undergraduate informatics major can be taken as an example to illustrate training objectives. The description states that it enables students to learn and master the concept and knowledge of the existence of information and information technology that are essentials for people living in a highly information-oriented society (OUJ, 2019E). Such training objectives are appropriate for on-the-job staff and also extremely suitable for older adults.
(IV) Teaching process makes learning convenient for older adults
1. Learning resources
The OUJ’s learning resources include written materials and radio and TV courses, all matched with the courses on offer.
Each course is generally paired with around 200 pages (A5) of written material and 15 45-minute radio and TV course lectures. The lectures are transmitted to learners via satellite or cable TV, as well as through the internet.
2. Teaching implementation and evaluation
The OUJ’s teaching implementation includes self-learning, face-to-face tutorials or online tutorials, mid-term tutorials, and assignments, as well as final-term examinations.
The students mainly learn independently. Generally speaking, they listen to or watch the courses via radio or TV and study the written materials by themselves. Each chapter of the written materials includes questions, exercises, and extended learning to help the students to learn by themselves.
Face-to-face tutorials or online tutorials are of great importance to regular undergraduate students. On the one hand, by attending face-to-face tutorials, students can get direct instruction from the teachers and understand and learn from their peers. On the other hand, face-to-face tutorials and online tutorials do carry credits. The students have to attend 20 credits-worth of face-to-face tutorials or online tutorials before they can complete their schooling and obtain their graduation certificate. The students receive one credit for each course, and they need to complete eight face-to-face tutorials, including seven 90-minute tutorials and one 45-minute tutorial (OUJ, 2019F).
Mid-term correspondence tutorials are also important. In order to understand the students’ learning situation, a correspondence tutorial is given to all the students, and they are required to complete any relevant assignments in the middle of the term. Each OUJ student has a corresponding tutor, either a full-time tutor from the headquarters or a visiting tutor (OUJ, 2019G).
Finally, there are unified national examinations at the end of the term. In general, final-term examinations take place in the study centre. If the students pass the examination, they receive the corresponding credits.
3. Learning support
The OUJ uses online platforms, email, telephone, and face-to-face communication at the study centres to understand students’ need and provide them with effective learning support. In addition to social and psychological support, some students receive financial support, which includes admission fee discounts for students in groups and one-time incentive payments for a certain number of regular students aged 65 or above (Xu, 2016).
It can be seen that the OUJ’s well-developed learning resources, well-designed learning process, and learning support are especially convenient for older adults.
Although the OUJ doesn’t offer majors especially for older adults and does not have an affiliate open university for older adults, this doesn’t prevent it from providing education services to older adults, including undergraduate, master’s, and PhD programmes and one-year and one-semester non-degree programmes. As such, the OUJ’s practice of degree education for older adults sets a good example for open universities for older adults in China.
III. The status quo of older adults learning in the OUC system and analysis of its driving factors
2019 marked the fortieth anniversary of radio and TV universities in China. Like the OUJ, open universities in China (aka radio and TV universities) do provide degree education to all, including older adults, but few older adults actually study in open universities.
(I) The proportion of older adults among active students in the OUC system
The Education Statistics Yearbook of Radio & TV Universities in China and the Education Statistics Yearbook of Open Universities in China only publish data about four age groups — 20 and under, 21-25, 26-30, and 30 or above — so it is difficult to obtain the real number of older adults registered to learn at open universities. However, the authors still managed to obtain admissions data for older adults aged 60 or above in 2018 and 2019, as shown in Table 4. It can be seen that the number of older people registered for degree education at open universities is quite limited. It can be said that the OUC’s degree education offerings have not yet been recognised by most older adults.
(II) Why has the OUC’s degree education not been recognised by older adults
It can be seen that there are a number of reasons why OUC degree education has not been recognised by older adults, including inappropriate major design, difficulty, and lack of interesting content. To the best of the author’s understanding, the key still lies in the positioning of training objectives. At present, the talent training objectives of the OUC are “practical professionals (CCRTVU, 2011),” and its undergraduate majors accordingly embody this objective. Content targeted at professionals is not applicable to many older adults.
Due to institutional restrictions, it will not be easy for the OUC to change its talent training objectives. As such, the OUC has difficulty offering degree education content suitable for older adults. Therefore, this task is left to the newly-founded open universities for older adults. This also leaves room for the development of open universities for older adults.
IV. The current state of open universities for older adults in China
In recent years, an ever-increasing number of open universities for older adults have been founded on the basis of radio and TV universities or open universities in an attempt to offer older adults more effective degree and non-degree open and distance education. However, their development has varied for a number of reasons.
(I) Introduction to the current state of several open universities for older adults
The main goal of open universities for older adults is to provide distance non-degree education; only a few can provide older adults with degree continuing education diplomas. Below is an introduction to several typical open universities for older adults and the support they offer for degree and non-degree continuing education.
1. The OUC Open University for Older Adults
Since the Open University for Older Adults operated under the leadership of the OUC (hereinafter referred to as the OUC Open University for Older Adults) was established in 2015, it has provided older adults with non-degree education teaching services via distance mobile learning. It also planned and developed the “OUC Lectures for the Elderly” and other education and training programmes to promote study tours for older adults (OUC Open University for Older Adults, 2019).
2. Jiangsu Open University for Older Adults
Jiangsu Open University for Older Adults was developed on the basis of the former Jiangsu College for Senior Citizens. It was founded by Jiangsu Open University (OU) and offers continuing education mainly to men aged 60 or above and women aged 55 or above with the interest and ability to attend learning activities. The university's degree continuing education for older adults is part of the national education series. The undergraduate programme offers the ultural Industry Management (for poetry appreciation and photography) major, and the junior college programme offers the Chinese Language and Culture (for poetry appreciation) and photography majors. At the completion of the course, those with qualifying learning achievements receive a course completion certificate. Those who have specified credits will be awarded graduation certificates by Jiangsu Open University (Ma, 2015).
3. Yunnan Open University for Older Adults
Yunnan Open University for Older Adults was founded under the auspices of Yunnan Open University. It is mainly engaged in non-degree education for older adults all over Yunnan. Since its establishment in May 2019, it has offered six majors: Dancing, Music, Literature, Painting & Calligraphy & Photograph, Life Skills, and Sports & Health It also offers 22 courses including Health and Dancing, Ethnic Dances, Fashion Shows, Vocal Music, Piano, Guzheng (a 21 or 25-stringed plucked Chinese instrument similar to the zither), Calligraphy, Traditional Chinese Painting, and Tai Chi (Yunnan Daily, 2019).
4. Jiangsu Open University for Older Adults
Zhejiang Radio and TV University unveiled Zhejiang Open University for Older Adults in June 2015 and launched the Third Age School online learning platform. Over the past four years, the university has made efforts to build a provincial system of open universities for older adults based on the Third Age School platform. Both real classes and online trainings for older adults have been organised through non-degree education training programmes, and obvious achievements have been made through online and offline interaction (Zhejiang Vocational Adult Network, 2018).
(II) Relevant conclusions
Neither the OUC Open University for Older Adults nor the provincial open universities for older adults have made degree education for older adults their leading pursuit. Of course, there are several reasons why this should be so, but we need to try our best to make a change.