On the afternoon of November 24th, 2021, the General Meeting of the SAEA (Shanghai Adult Education Association) Educational Academy Special Committee (also the Credit Bank Working Meeting) were successfully held on the Xuhui campus of Shanghai Business School (SBS). Due to the needs of COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, this Meeting was conducted both online and offline. Those attended the Meeting include Mr. Chen Jianfeng (Vice President of SBS), Ms. Xu Lu (Deputy Director, General of the Higher Continuing Education Division, Department of Vocational and Adult Education, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China), Mr. Yan Pengtao (Director, General of the Lifelong Education Division, Shanghai Municipal Education Commission), Mr. Chen Haijian (Director of Shanghai Lifelong Education Credit Bank Management Center), Mr. Zou Yi (Vice President of Shanghai Adult Education Association), and the heads of more than 50 units in Shanghai [incl. the continuing education departments of regular higher learning institutions (such as Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Tongji University, East China Normal University and others) and independent adult colleges]. The Meeting was presided over by Mr. Chen Wei (Director of the SAEA Educational Academy Special Committee and Executive Vice Dean of the College of International Education of SBS).
At the Meeting, Vice President Chen Jianfeng first delivered a welcome speech on behalf of SBS. In recent years, SBS has attached great importance to the development of continuing education for academic qualifications, and has actively promoted and achieved remarkable results in the integration of production and education as well as the integration of vocational and continuing education. In the critical period for the transformation and development of continuing education, SBS will further deepen the connotation of continuing education and enhance the development ability with higher standards.
Entrusted by Zhang Lei (Director, General of the Higher Continuing Education Division, Department of Vocational and Adult Education, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China), Deputy Director General Xu Lu gave a keynote speech on the recent key work and next orientations of the Ministry in continuing education. She pointed out that as an important element of the national education system, higher continuing education importantly supports the construction of a lifelong education system, and has made many achievements and contributions to the development of the country, but has faced a series of practical problems. In the next step, the Ministry will continue to improve and lead the development of continuing education from the three aspects – “systematic design & overall reform”, “problem-oriented development & establishment of rules and systems”, and “image reshaping & healthy development”. Shanghai has always been at the development forefront of the continuing education. It is further hoped that from a new starting point, the joint efforts with the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, SAEA and the colleges and universities will be made to upgrade continuing education to a new level.
On behalf of SAEA, Secretary General Su Shaohua made a report on the 2021 work. SAEA organized the theme activities for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, further learned the spirit of the National Education Conference, and actively fulfilled the responsibility of continuing educators. Besides, SAEA organized education annual reports and research projects according to the decision-making and work research needs of Shanghai’s education administrative departments. SAEA will closely unite with its member units, actively follow the dynamics of continuing education, and make more attempts and explorations for Shanghai’s continuing education development.
Director Chen Wei introduced the basic situation of the credit authentication and conversion work for higher continuing education in 2020, and arranged and mobilized relevant work in 2021, hoping that the academic institutions can lay full emphasis on the work, and accurately completed 2021 credit bank statistics on schedule according to the requirements.
Director Chen Haijian reported the credit bank work in Shanghai. As an institutional innovation of Shanghai’s lifelong education system, the credit bank has established 4.35 million citizen learning files and stored nearly 90 million entries of learning results since its establishment, playing a significant role in building a learning city. He expressed the hope that all colleges and universities can actively participate in and support the credit bank work as always.
On behalf of SAEA, Vice President Zou Yi announced the commendation decisions for the Top Ten Deans/Presidents, Outstanding Students, Model Students, etc. It is hoped that different award and honor competition activates will set learning examples for continuing educators and learners. At the Meeting, a voting event went for the addition of Mr. Wang Fusheng (Dean of the Continuing Education College, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University) as the deputy director of the Special Committee.
Finally, Director General Yan Pengtao made an important speech. He said that during the development of the 14th Five-Year Plan, Shanghai Municipal Education Commission will explore and construct a “dual system” model for employees’ continuing education with Shanghai characteristics, promote the quality and academic ability of employees, take digital transformation as an opportunity to focus on production-education integration, and therefore make fresh progresses in constructing a learning society. It is hoped that all colleges and universities will actively participate in the construction of a lifelong learning service system, contribute to constructing Shanghai into a learning city, and provide a Shanghai model for the development of national continuing education.
Written by: Shi Xiaomei
Photogrophed by: Shi Xiaomei
Reviewed by: Chen Wei
