Shanghai Media Group app adds new adult courses

A hundred courses on subjects ranging from literature, history and art to computer science, health management and family education, have been made available on Ajmide, a mobile audio social application provided by Shanghai Media Group.

The courses are provided by Shanghai Open University, which is famed for its adult education, and are now available for free on the app’s radio service, called “Kaidayouke." The addition comes amidst an increased demand for life-long learning in China.

Gao Yunfei, president of Shanghai Media Group, said the company has a long history with education. Shanghai TV Station was established in 1958 and Shanghai Open University, formerly known as Shanghai TV University, was set up two years later.

“With the technology of TV broadcasting, the university met the demand for knowledge from young people at that time,” he said. “In the current times featuring multi-media communications, the cooperation between Shanghai Media Group and Shanghai Open University will better connect education and the power of Internet to make access to knowledge wider.”

Statistics show that by June there were 23.2 million online learners in China, accounting for 75 percent of the adult education market.

“Adult learners have clear goals and enthusiasm, but we need to have a bigger platform to meet the high demand,” said Yuan Wen, president of Shanghai Open University. “Our university now has more than 80,000 students seeking academic degrees and provides non-academic training for 500,000 people every year. But this is far behind the whole scale of adult learners.”

Yuan added: “Nowadays, people are used to fragmented and mobile learning. We need to embrace new technologies to make our massive resources available to the public.”

More courses will be developed for the application in the future.