Welcome Speech
By
The Official from the Education Committee of Shanghai Municipal Government
Good morning, our respected officials of UNESCO!
Good morning, all the government officials from 14 countries!
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!
I feel greatly honored to have this opportunity to meet the policy-makers in distance education from countries of Asian and Pacific Region together with officials of UNESCO. On behalf of the Education Committee of Shanghai Municipal Government, I am here to give warmest welcome to every guest as well as to extend thanks to UNESCO, who has chosen Shanghai as the venue to have this international training workshop for policy-makers in distance education and open learning.
Nowadays, with the advancement of IT and the increasing demand for education from the community, distance education is beginning to show its advantages in its openness and flexibility with its educational modes and techniques. It has become an important topic for discussion in governments’ educational policy-making in various countries. No matter whether it is for mass education, for teacher’s training or for higher learning, distance education is drawing great interest at large because of its special advantages and adaptability. To hold an international training workshop for policy-makers in distance education and open learning in such a time is, in my view, a significant event. Not only it enables the government policy-makers to learn the development of theoretical research in open and distance education and the challenges it faces so as to be more scientific and rational in their decision making, but also it offers an opportunity for them to obtain information, to communicate and discuss possible cooperation.
This is also a rare chance for the Education Committee of Shanghai Municipal Government to learn and exchange ideas with our colleagues. For years, to project a life-long learning system and build up a learning-society in Shanghai has been one of our important objectives. In the process of realizing it, distance education will certainly play an important role. In the year 2001, to optimize and integrate all the resources correlative with distance education, media and educational software, we established the Distance Education Group. This was an action to indicate the special interest the government took in distance education, which proved to be in assistance to its development. Now, Shanghai Distance Education Group has become an important force in Shanghai to popularize higher education, improve the qualities of our people, and train the professional skills of our workers, dedicating itself to the construction of a life-long learning system in a learning-society.
We will, as we usually do, enhance our communication and cooperation with other countries. I am fully convinced that our joint efforts will surely bring distance education a brilliant future.
