About Us

College of Continuing Education, Xiamen University

The College of Continuing Education of Xiamen University is the dedicated unit responsible for organizing and delivering adult education and training at the university. Upholding law-based operation and a balanced development of quality, structure, brand and efficiency, the College leverages Xiamen University's strong faculty, teaching capacity, preeminent disciplines and research achievements to provide high-level, high-quality, multi-disciplinary and diversified non-degree education and lifelong learning services. Continuously enhancing its social service capacity, it has become an important window through which Xiamen University serves society.

Xiamen University's continuing education traces its origins to the Xiamen University School for the Common People, founded in 1926. Over a century of development, XMU's continuing educators have carried a sincere commitment to "teaching without discrimination" and "educating all people." They successively established the Attached Workers' Spare-time School, Workers' Spare-time University, Evening College, School of Adult Education, School of Vocational Technology and School of Online Education, offering multi-level, multi-type programs including correspondence, self-study examination, evening college, cadre special training, full-time adult education, professional certificates, vocational education and online education. Since the reinstatement of the Evening College in 1981, the School has trained 209,954 graduates for society (as of December 31, 2024).

In recent years, the College has embraced its founding aspiration of "providing lifelong education for lifelong learners," returning to the essence of nurturing people. Guided by the philosophy of "problem-oriented planning, goal-oriented innovation and systematic enhancement," and drawing on the university's strong disciplines and distinctive campus culture, it integrates high-quality educational resources from inside and outside the university, strictly safeguarding "quality and service," and continuously builds a high-level training system of "renowned teachers" and "renowned courses." It has now established nearly 30 distinctive, high-quality course modules with flexible teaching models, and adopts a "region + industry" service model to provide high-end, customized non-degree education for talent from government departments, public institutions, the education sector, enterprises and the digital economy. Since 2005, the College has trained nearly 100,000 participants from across the country.

To further meet the nation's and society's demand for high-skilled and professional technical talent, since 2020 the College has gradually explored and implemented a knowledge-update program for professional technical personnel. In August 2020, it was approved as a National Continuing Education Base for Professional Technical Personnel by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. In March 2022, the College was selected among the first batch of training institutions for the Digital Technology Engineer Cultivation Project; the College now offers training for occupations such as Big Data Engineering Technician, Blockchain Engineering Technician and Artificial Intelligence Engineering Technician, and was approved as one of Fujian Province's first pilot institutions for vocational skill level certification.

The College began enrolling online degree-education students in January 2001 and ceased admissions in the fall of 2022. It offered three academic levels and, drawing on the university's advantageous disciplines and social needs, set up 28 programs across five discipline categories including law, economics, management, science and engineering, with 79 off-campus learning centers established across 12 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Currently, the College is advancing the phased wind-down of online education.

In 2023, the College successfully completed its strategic transformation from a degree-education-centered institution to one comprehensively innovating and developing non-degree continuing education, together with an institutional and personnel reform. Highlighting systematic integration and collaborative efficiency, this reform adopts a flatter management model, a scientific "region + industry" academic layout, and precise services with relatively independent business development and logistical support, to continuously empower the high-quality development of continuing education.

Embarking on a new journey, the College—ready to set sail—will always uphold Party building as the guide, strive to build a distinctive quality brand serving "nationwide knowledge renewal, all-age development, full-industry coverage, all-round skill enhancement and whole-process educational service," and forge ahead in the era's clarion call to "build a learning society and a learning nation of lifelong learning for all."