People wait to take a college entrance exam for adults in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. [Photo/IC]

The Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education recently issued a guideline on improving its higher continuing education.

The guideline outlines six major tasks that local governments will implement. They include offering a range of high-quality majors, designing a series of advanced and innovative courses, improving the faculty's teaching abilities, and developing digital resources.

The guideline also mentions the following goals – building 60 model institutes and offering 100 high-quality majors and 500 premium courses by 2025.

Jiangsu's universities will also provide thousands of free online courses for various groups, including farmers and elderly people, according to the guideline.

Yang Shubing, deputy director of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, said at a press conference on Dec 1 that there are currently 129 universities in Jiangsu offering higher continuing education. Four million people attend non-degree continuing education programs every year, while 1.28 million are pursuing a degree on campus, said Yang.