Bureau level The National Open University is an institution of higher learning directly under the Ministry of Education, with a bureau-level organizational system, and the party secretary and president are bureau-level cadres, so the party secretary of the National Open University is a bureau-level cadre. The National Open University, referred to as "China Open University" or "OUC" for short, is a unit directly under the Ministry of Education of People's Republic of China (PRC), an institution of higher learning with adult education qualification approved by the Ministry of Education, and a new type of institution of higher learning that conducts open education for China.