College of Continuing Education

Correspondence education for higher education started in 1955 in South China Normal University (SCNU). The department of correspondence was set up in 1958. The college of Adult Education was set up in September ,1987, one of the earliest colleges in SCNU. It was renamed College of Continuing Education in January ,1999, comprising of college office, the enrollment office, office of degree education, office of continuing education, administration  office, and the research center for continuing education. In addition, the office of self-taught exam was set up in May, 1997. The Open College was founded in June, 1999 and started to enroll students in the next year. The College of Continuing Education and the Open College are combined together.
The College of Continuing Education offer different kinds of training and courses at different levels, such as degree programs including diploma programs , undergraduate programs and master’s programs, open college courses, training courses for the self-taught exam candidates, and other kinds of training.
At present, the adult degree education consists of 50 undergraduate programs, 39 diploma programs. In May, 2008, the number of students on campus is 22,438. Master’s Programs of Andragogy has enrolled 24 students. In self-taught exam education, there are 16 undergraduate programs, 13 diploma programs,  totaling about 5,488 students. The Open College comprises of 6 undergraduate programs, 11 diploma programs, with 3,450 students. The number of people for training is on the increase year by year.
Until May, 2008, 59,205 have graduated from this college, among which 28,164 are undergraduates and 31,041 got diploma . In self-taught exam education , 79，570 have successfully passed the exams. Since 1988, 6,556 graduates have obtained the bachelor degree (including the self-study students). Many of our graduates are the backbones in the work units. For the exchange of information , the college published the periodical Continuing Education in SCNU and set up a website.
In 2003, the College of Continuing education, jointly with the College of Education Science applied for the master program of Andragogy and got the right to enroll students for the master programs in 2004. Main courses: Principles of adult education; Adult education management; Adult psychology; Teacher professionalization; Curriculum and instruction of adult; Theory of lifelong education; Sociology of education in adult; Scientific research method in education; Comparative research in adult education; Researches of regulation and policy in adult and professional education.
The College of Continuing education attaches great importance to the quality of education and won a good reputation in the society. It won a title Advanced unit in correspondence education in higher education in Guangdong province ; in 2007, it was awarded a title Typical help organization in the national self-taught exam in higher education, initiated by the office of self-taught exam in higher education in Ministry of Education, and Advanced unit in adult education which was issued by the Adult Education Association in Guangdong province. To meet the needs of a learning society, the college will continue its efforts to provide quality education and different kind of training at different levels and contribute itself to the social progress.