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The China
Agricultural Broadcast and Television School (CABTS) was set up in 1980.
CABTS's work in agricultural distance education is strongly supported by
governments from national to local levels, and is enthusiastically received
by farmers and local leaders. CABTS operates in a cost-effective manner,
reaching large numbers of students across vast geographic areas in rural
China. The School is dedicated to serving rural areas, agriculture and
farmers. CABTS provides education and training services to diverse
audiences, including youth, grassroots leaders, agricultural technicians,
women, ethnic minority group members, and farmers, whose education
levels range from those who cannot read or write to those working toward
university degrees.
CABTS functions
through a five-level administrative system having one Central School, 39
Provincial Schools, 330 Prefecture Schools, 2,408 County Schools, and 23,000
Township Teaching Stations. CABTS employs a total of 46,000 full and
part-time staff. CABTS is now the largest agricultural distance education
system in the world, with annual enrolments of over one million students.
CABTS
offers five major types of education and training: short courses in
applicable agricultural technology (112 million registrants to date), Green
Certificate training (4.06 million registrants to date), secondary diploma
education (3.14 million graduates to date), professional certificate
training (43,000 graduates to date), and college degree education (280,000
graduates to date).
At present,
CABTS offers 46 areas of specialization, covering most areas of agriculture
such as crop cultivation, livestock, economics and
management, aquaculture, forestry, computer applications, rural home
economics, people and family planning, as well as
agricultural engineering. CABTS teaches its students both through distance
education media and face-to-face. |
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 The China National Farmers
Science and Technology Training Center and the China Central
Agriculture Broadcasting and TV School of the Ministry of Agriculture
are strategic partners of AgrifoodAsia working together to foster food
and agriculture development and modernization in China, particularly
in the area of education and training. |
Distance teaching is conducted through a
range of media, including radio, television, audio and videotapes, video
compact discs (VCD), and print materials. The teaching programs of the CABTS
are broadcast regularly by three national television networks (CCRS, CCTV
and CETV) with a total broadcasting time of 40 hours per week. Face-to-face
teaching at the local level supplements distance teaching provided by higher
levels in the CABTS system.
Since December 1999, CABTS has
been mandated to run the "National Farmers' Education and Training Center"
for the Ministry of Agriculture. This has further strengthened the role of CABTS
in farmer education.
In June 2000, the China
Distance Education Network was officially launched (www.crdenet.net.cn).
This internet-based information network will become an important tool in the CABTS distance education delivery system. Learners can
nominate time and
have on-line learning. Up to 2001, a total of 52 satellite stations have
been set up
throughout the whole country. Teachers deliver the training live
at the studio in Beijing and learners participate in training via satellite
transmission. The use of modern information technology will
infuse new vigour to traditional methods of agricultural distance education.
NFSTTC/CABTS - AgrifoodAsia MOU
NFSTTC/CABTS Website |
