BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) -- State Councilor Liu Yandong on Tuesday urged open universities to take advantage of modern information technology and provide more flexible, open and diversified higher education services for the public.

At a meeting held to celebrate the establishment of Open Universities of China (OUC), Liu asked authorities to boost the coverage of long-distance education and make education more accessible to the public.

Liu said she believes open universities constitute an important platform to meet the public's diversified demands for learning and will provide the public with more equitable access to education.

The establishment of open universities will help overcome disadvantages in the country's exam-oriented education system and accelerate the creation of an education system in which citizens are committed to lifelong learning, she said.

OUC, formerly the China Central Radio and TV University (CRTVU), carries out long-distance educational activities using an integration of three different networks, according to a brief introduction on its website.

Before it changed its name to OUC, CRTVU had more than 3 million active students. OUC is currently the largest open long-distance education system in the world.