The "Occupational Skill Training Program for Health Talents", initiated by the Open University of China (OUC) and the Health Human Resources Development Center, National Health Commission of People’s Republic of China (HHRDC), was launched in Beijing on January 6, 2022. With the vision of achieving a win-win, the two sides aim to carry out all-round, deep-level and large-scale cooperation, leverage respective advantages and integrate resources, to improve occupational skills of health talents, advance the reform on the mode, curriculum system and contents of health talent training, make health talents better serve public health, and keep pushing forward the building of a beautiful and healthy China. Among more than 30 attendees were heads of eight departments and offices of OUC and the HHRDC, as well as staff of the project office. Hu Yang, Director of the Department of Social Education, OUC, hosted the launch ceremony.

Ju Chuanjin, Member of the Party Committee and Vice President of OUC, introduced OUC's history, orientation and institutional advantage. He noted that policies and talents are essential to building a road to health. OUC has always valued health talent training by offering 8 undergraduate health programs and recruiting a total of over 650,000 students. OUC and the HHRDC will focus closely on national strategies, implement the Healthy China 2030 Initiative launched by the CPC Central Committee, and achieve brilliant results in promoting the building of a healthy China. He offered opinions in four aspects: first, we should build consensus and integrate each other to build a community of cooperation; second, we should standardize and strengthen the development of a training organization and implementation system and the promotion of training programs; third, we should make good use of credit banks, set sound certificate standards, and advance the reform on the mode, curriculum system and contents of health talent training in OUC; fourth, we should strengthen the process and quality supervision of program implementation.

Fang Jianning, Member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of the HHRDC, introduced the center. The center, responsible for developing, managing and serving domestic health human resources, targets health institutions and talents at all levels in the country, and serves over 4 million talents annually. He stressed that talent work is decisive to the success or failure of China's health cause as an important basis of the cause. We should establish a health skill talent system to meet the people's ever-growing demand for diversified and individualized health services. The cooperation with OUC features an innovative mode of skill talent training: "education + health". Under the principle of "quality first", we should improve training quality, conduct effective supervision and management, expand market influence, build an industrial brand, and contribute to improving the people's overall health level and building a healthy China.

At the ceremony, Ju and Fang signed a cooperative agreement, marking the official launch of the Occupational Skill Training Program for Health Talents.