Welcome Speech Deming Zhang Director
Shanghai Distance Education Group
Good morning!
Our respected leaders and experts, ladies and gentlemen,
First, please allow me to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to UNESCO, and to Chinese National Commission for UNESCO for their great trust in giving Shanghai Distance Education Group the important task of running this training workshop for policy-makers in distance education and open learning and our great gratitude to all the leaders and experts who have come all the way to Shanghai to participate this workshop. I feel greatly honored to welcome you here in Shanghai and have this chance to make friends with. Now, please allow me, on behalf of Shanghai Distance Education Group, to give our warmest welcome and pay our reverence to every one present here in this workshop. Welcome, Welcome to Shanghai!
Over 100 years, distance education, virtually a revolution in a sense, has been practicing and offering life-long education for people. Its openness, flexibility, pertinence and the achievements made have proved its feasibility in terms of life-long learning in the 21st Century. All these determines that it will be the ideal choice for the governments to conduct life-long education for their people, while its complexity and promising perspective also put forward new requirements and new challenges for the governments to confront with.
This training workshop in distance education and open learning provides a good opportunity for the policy-makers in the developing countries in Asia to learn, study and discuss the main issues of policy making in the field of open and distance learning, the trend in its development and the challenges facing in the new century. In the course of the workshop, the 2003 World Summit of Mega-universities, hosted by Shanghai Distance Education Group, will be held here in Shanghai too. I am inviting all of you, to be present at the meeting, at which, the presidents of the world mega-universities will show us their achievements and fruits through their experiences, providing an even larger stage for us to exchange ideas. I believe that the summit will be high lightened owe to your presence. As one of the main forces in pioneering and developing distance education in China, Shanghai Distance Education Group will be very glad to communicate and cooperate with all the governments extendedly to make progress for our promising future.
“Isn’t it a great pleasure to meet friends coming from afar?” Our ancestor Confucius once said so. Ever since then we Chinese use this quotation of his to express the happiness we feel when meeting with friends. Following our national tradition of hospitality with the Shanghai spirit of openness and commitment to excellence, Shanghai Distance Education Group will make utmost effort to offer high quality service in the hope that our honored guests could have a good time to eat well, live well, learn well and play well. May this golden harvesting season and our active city be always with you in your memory.
To finish my speech, please allow me to say for a second time, Welcome to Shanghai, our respected leaders and experts. Wish this training workshop for policy-makers in distance education and open learning a great success.
Thank you.
2003年11月3日上午8点30分用
