President Zhang Yingchun led a delegation to the 24th China Distance Education Conference held in Beijing on November 26–27, 2025. Organized by the China Distance Education magazine under the guidance of institutions including the Open University of China, the event brought together government officials, scholars, and industry representatives to discuss digital-era education innovation.
At the Open Universities Serving Learning Society Development symposium, President Zhang outlined Jiangsu Open University's comprehensive strategy in serving a learning society, emphasizing its parallel development of four educational models. As the institution designated by the provincial government to lead social education, the university has built a vertically integrated, five-tier community education network. It focuses on training three key groups—community educators, administrators, and volunteers—through sustained programs that develop backbone talent for communities across the province. Horizontally, the university responds to diverse learning needs by partnering with government and industry to establish integrated care-education bases, themed learning routes like Studying Tours in Jiangsu, and other community-based projects. Digitally, it drives innovation through platforms such as Jiangsu Learning Online, Jiangsu Elderly Education Network, and “Dianshi Network” which offer structured courses to users of all ages. Furthermore, the Jiangsu Lifelong Education Credit Bank, integrated with provincial government services and serving millions of users, enables recognition and transfer of learning achievements across formal and non-formal education.
Regarding digital transformation, Zhang shared the university's progress toward becoming a Digital-Intelligent Innovative University. This includes a five-in-one digital architecture with upgraded cloud-network infrastructure, a one-stop online service portal, and a data middle platform developed with tech partners to enable a closed-loop of collection-analysis-decision-intervention. The university also enhances faculty digital literacy through training and is upgrading its lifelong learning resource bank with AI and knowledge graphs, shifting from learners searching for resources to resources reaching learners for a smarter educational process.
Experts praised JSOU’s regionally grounded, nationally aligned initiatives. The conference fostered inter-university and university-industry partnerships, furthering JSOU’s commitment to advancing accessible lifelong education systems.
