On November 25, six African experts and scholars on Distance Education from South Africa, Swaziland, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria came to Shanghai Open University for research and exchanges. The exchange activity is a follow- up to the 2013 focal point meeting of UNESCO-China-African Tripartite Initiative on University Cooperation which President of Shanghai Open University Professor Jiang Hong attended and part of the International Staff Exchange Fellowship Program of SOU in year 2013.

Professor Gu Xiaomin, the Vice President of SOU, attended the welcome ceremony, and made a speech. During her speech, she wished to enhance the mutual understanding of distance education between African countries and Shanghai Open University, as to lay a good foundation for jointly exploring a new mode of distance education, strengthening the monitoring and quality assurance, and promoting the inter-university exchanges and cooperation on distance education between China and African countries.

During the following two weeks of research and studies, meetings will be arranged between the six visiting scholars and related academic departments, administrative departments, as well as staff from branch schools and information technology center, in order to have a deep understanding of the education concept and characteristics of Shanghai Open University. In addition, the visiting scholars will also make presentations on the practice, experience and development trends of distance education in their home countries through panel discussions and symposia.