Page 93 - Open and Distance Education In Asia : Good Practice From AAOU Members

Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) 73

“

In 2017, the OUC was honored with the Institutional
Prize of Excellence by the International Council for
Open and Distance Education (ICDE). As of the end of

2021, all the 44 provincial RTVUs changed their names
to open universities.

In the 20 century, correspondence-based in China was still in its infancy and preparation
th
distance education began to be more stage in the first half of the 20 century (Ding
th
widespread. In March 1915, Shanghai Xingfu, 2001).
Commercial Press officially founded the first
Chinese-run correspondence school, which PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT IN
was the prelude to distance education in CHINA
contemporary China. By 1917, there were
over 50 correspondence schools founded Development History of ODE in China
by publishing houses in China. According Since the founding the People’s Republic of
to statistics from 1915 to1946, students China (PRC) in 1949, ODE in China has taken
admitted by three major correspondence on a new look and embarked on a road to
schools owned by China Commercial Press, development. For more than 70 years, it
Zhonghua Book Company, and Kaiming Book has been in step with and interacted with
Company, came from 22 provinces and five the development of the PRC, with a number
municipalities. As many as 60,000 foreign of clearly delineated stages. The 70-year
language professionals (Ding, 2015) were development history of open and distance
cultivated for industrial, business, academic, education in China can be divided into four
and political circles in the Republic of China. A stages.
new off-campus way of learning was opened
up for people from lower level of society to • Initial stage of ODE in China (1949-1977).
receive systematic education and to get new In face of a situation of extreme shortage
skills, which fostered a host of talents for of talented professionals just after the
China’s economic and social development founding of the PRC, in 1951, the Ministry
during this period. Generally speaking, the of Education (MoE) issued a regulation
development of open and distance education which stated that “correspondence

The Open University of China (OUC)