The document discusses the trends and developments of open distance education in China, highlighting its rapid growth and the dual-track higher education system. It outlines the expansion of open universities, web-based education, and MOOCs, as well as the challenges faced in infrastructure, quality assurance, and student engagement. Future trends indicate a focus on expanding access, improving quality, and addressing the digital divide in higher education.

1. Open Distance Education in China:
Trends and Developments
Haixia Xu, Ph.D.
National Center for Education Development
Research
Chinese Ministry of Education
International Seminar on “Opening Higher Education:
What the Future Might Bring”
8-9 December, 2016
Berlin, Germany

2. Background for Open Distance Education in
China
Developments of Open Distance Education
Trends of Open Distance Education in China
Overview

3. Background for Open Distance Education in
China
 The largest higher education system in the world
Total enrollment: 40.8 million
 A dual-track higher education landscape
Regular higher education: 28.16 million, 69%
Versus
Adult higher education: 12.64 million, 31%
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Regular HEIs Adult HEIs
Higher Education Enrollments in 2015
(Unit: Million)
Series1 Series2

4. Background for Open Distance Education in
China
 A dual-track adult higher education sector
• Enrollments in adult HEIs (6.34million)
• 3.5 million in open universities
• Enrollments in regular HEIs (6.28 million)
• All in schools of web-based education
• The latter grows faster than the former: brand effect?
Enrollments in Adult HEIs
In Adult HEIs Within Regular HEIs

5. Background for Open Distance Education in
China
 An rapidly expanding open distance education sector
• A total enrollment of 9.8 million
• 77% of the adult HE enrollments
• 24% of the entire higher education sector
Chart Title
Open DE Overall HE
Chart Title
Open DE Adult HE

6. Background for Open Distance Education in
China
 Adult higher education as a supplement to regular higher
education
--Directly influenced by demand for higher education
--Separate admission standards
--Less resources, i.e., lower per student appropriations
--A tradition of teaching working adults at a distance, primarily using hybrid
teaching methods
--Aspiration for degree-granting status
 Types of open distance education
--1978: Broadcasting and Television University (renamed as Open University in
2012)
--1981: Self-taught higher education examinations
--1999: Schools of web-based education
--2012: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

7. Developments of Open Distance Education:
Open University of China
 An ambitious origin: the Central Broadcasting and Television
University
• Established in 1978
• Modeled after the UK Open University
• To widen access to higher education
 A complicated system
• The central university as the governing body and degree-
granting authority
• 44 provincial-level broadcasting and television universities
• Local broadcasting and television universities
• Learning centers
• Controversies regarding revenue-sharing, degree-granting,
and governance

8. Developments of Open Distance Education:
Open University of China
 An amazingly expanding system
• Enrollments: from 166 thousand in 2000 to 3.5 million in
2015, up 21 times in 15 years
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0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
New Enrollments in 2010-2015 (Unit: Million)

9. Developments of Open Distance Education:
Open University of China
 A system keeping up with the times…technologically
• Broadcasting and videoconference-based courses
• 1996: Internet-based “open education” pilot
• 2002: Web-based education institute
• 2012: Open University initiative
• Six individual open universities
 Long-term challenges remain…
• Insufficient Infrastructure
• Less well prepared or motivated students
• Relatively weak faculty
• Lack of learning support

10. Developments of Open Distance Education:
Open University of China
 The Open University Initiative as a Milestone
• Goals: A new university taking full use of ICT
• No more monopoly: six Open Universities enjoys
degree-granting authority
• Exploring open education as a mode of learning
• More focus on quality than quantity
 Challenges
• How to make the transformation from technology-
centered to learner-centered?

11. Developments of Open Distance Education:
Self-taught Higher Education Examinations
 Established in 1981 as an innovative way of granting degrees
 A combination of self-study, institutional tutoring, and national
testing
 Relatively rigorous
 Declining participation: “bad money drives out good”
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2
4
6
8
10
12
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Participants in 2010-2015 (Unit: Million)

12. Developments of Open Distance Education:
Web-based Education Institutes within Regular
Universities
 A way of exploring a new mode of education
• in 1998: Four piloting universities : Tsinghua, Zhejiang,
Hunan, and Beijing Communications
• in 2002: Sixty-eight universities approved to establish schools
of web-based education
 Unprecedented institutional autonomy
• Who to admit?
• What programs to offer?
• What degrees to grant?
 Issues
• Legitimacy
• Separate criteria for admissions, teaching, graduation
• Huge enrollments
• Predominantly face-to-face classes
• Misuse of funding

13. Developments of Open Distance Education:
Web-based Education Institutes within Regular
Universities
 Increasing new enrollments
• In 2015, the new enrollments averaged 20，000 per
university
• More popular than OU or Self-taught Exams
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
New Enrollments in 2010-2015 (Unit: Million)

14. Developments of Open Distance Education:
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
 MOOCs as the catchword in China
• Qinghua and PKU joined edX in 2013
• Shanghai Jiaotong and Fudan joined Coursera
• Tsinghua launched its MOOCs platform
• Icourse.com
 Platforms: Over 100 MOOCs platforms in place
• Who built it? HEIs, enterprises, HEI-enterprises
• Who is served? General public, students, specific lines of
work
• High homogeneity
• Lack of S-S/S-I interaction
• Lack of a sound business mode
• Lack of quality mechanism

15. Developments of Open Distance Education:
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
 Learners
• 20-24: 40%
• 25-29: 23%
• 15-29: 16%
• Students: over 50%
• Working adults: over 40%
• With baccalaureate degree: 60%
• With master degree: 20%
• High enthusiasm, low participation
• More interest in overseas MOOCs (84% versus 11%)
• Unsatisfactory online interaction

16. Developments of Open Distance Education:
Observations
 National perspective
• Regular higher education seems to become more open
• Schools of web-based education
• MOOCs offerings
• A fast growing sector of distance open distance education
• Open universities
• Schools of web-based education
 Institutional perspective
• Web-based education emerging as a new mode of learning
• More than education Informationalization
 Student perspective
• Limited changes

17. Developments of Open Distance Education:
Trends
 Expanding Access
 Make higher education open to all learners
 Targeted gross higher education enrollment rate by 2030: 65%
 Ensuring Equality
 Digital divide (urban-rural, inter-region, inter-groups)
 “Offering fuel in snowy weather” instead of “icing on the cake”
 Calls for powerful public service platforms

18. Developments of Open Distance Education:
Trends
 Enhancing Quality
 Improve quality assurance
 Innovate the mode of learning
 Fusing education and technology
 Online interaction
 Learning support
 Set up a learning outcome recognition, accumulation and transfer
system
 A system that is open, not closed
 More choices for students

19. Two Dilemmas
 Policy Dilemma
 How Open is Open Enough?
 Institutional Dilemma
 How to develop students’ practical skills in a online
environment?

20. 谢谢
haixia@moe.edu.c
n