Network (modern distance) education is a new form of education developed with the help of modern information technology such as computer network technology and multimedia technology. It has incomparable advantages over traditional education methods and distinctive characteristics of the times: it enables higher education to transcend time and space restrictions and cultivate professionals needed by society to the greatest extent; At the same time, it greatly facilitates learners and enables people to learn the latest knowledge without leaving home; The lifelong learning system is also constructed, which provides effective ways and conditions for members of society to realize personalized lifelong learning in 2 1 century. The advantages of network-based (modern distance) education have been widely adopted by many developed countries. Sun Yat-sen University's network (modern distance education) relies on the high-speed and convenient Chinese education and scientific research computer network and China public computer internet to create a good network teaching environment; Actively integrate various resources inside and outside the school to build high-quality online teaching resources, and nearly 100 online courses have been put into operation; Efforts should be made to explore the management mechanism suitable for network teaching. By providing rich higher education services, more members of society have the opportunity to receive higher education, cultivate more high-quality professionals for the society, form their own network (modern distance) education characteristics, and make contributions to the construction of a lifelong learning system for the whole society and the reform and development of higher education.

In order to promote the development of modern distance education in China, further expand the scale and improve the quality of higher education, the Ministry of Education put forward the implementation of modern distance education project in the "2 1 Century Education Revitalization Plan" and approved 68 universities to carry out modern distance education pilot projects.