"I used to draw up cultural policies by mainly following
guidelines from above, but today I tend to consider more about how
a new policy will affect the people and the industry."
Liu Yuzhu, director of Culture Market Department of Ministry of
Culture, attributed the change of his policy-making philosophy to
his two months' intensive training in the Harvard University's
Kennedy School of Government.
Five years ago, the then 44-year-old Liu was selected as one of
the first group of central government officials sent to study
public management in Harvard University.
"The aim of the training program is to broaden the horizon of
Chinese officials and enable them to learn advanced working mode
and enhance their analyzing, decision-making and ruling
capabilities," he said.
In the past several years, local government also followed the
suit of the central government to have their local civil servants
educated by institutes of higher learning in developed
counties.
There have been no national data on how many officials have been
trained in development countries, however, incomplete figures from
local media may reveal the tip of the iceberg:
-- From 1999 to 2002, over 400 middle level officials from
Beijing received overseas training;
-- From 1999 to 2003, 300 officials from Guangdong Province
studied in United States and Canada;
-- Since 2001, 55 officials from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous
Region have been sent to receive a fifteen month study in developed
countries every year.
These training programs have helped Chinese officials to
"combine the advanced concept of public management with China's
reality and transform them to public polices adaptable to China's
national condition," said Ye Duchu, professor of Party School of
Central Committee of CPC, in an interview.
"In fact, many officials have a new understanding towards the
government's social responsibility after the training," he said.
"They are becoming more open-minded and far-sighted, which are very
important to China's development."
Since 2002, the training program in Harvard has been held once
every year and about 60 government officials were selected to join
in the program every year. All the officials must be at least
mid-level officials under 45 years old. They also must have at
least bachelor's degree and have good command of English.
Edward Cunning, official with KSG of Harvard University said
this is the largest training program for officials of a country in
the history of Harvard.
The mission of the China Public Policy Program is to support the
training of Chinese officials in an effort to enhance their
capacity to manage policy in rapidly changing domestic
international public environments, Cunning said.
"We think, in a large country like China, the quality and
ability of government officials play a vital role in the changing
process from planned economy to market economy," Cunning said.
Sun Zhen, an office director from economy and trade department
of National Development and Reform Commission, have studied in Duck
Sanford Institute of Public Policy in 2006.
"Our training covers a wide range of areas besides public
policy, we have other courses on security, public health, education
and land management," he said.
As long as Sun had time during his study in Duke, he visited
U.S. companies and government. Sun, responsible for regional
economic development, has learned lots about regional economic
development during his stay in the United States.
"I find the United States also faces unbalanced development of
regional economy and we can learn from U.S. experience to promote
development of regional economy," he said.
Yu Xinwen, Sun's classmate in Duke said "to learn the experience
of developed countries does not mean we must follow them one
hundred percent."
Yu, an office director of the Planning and Financing Department
of China Meteorological Administration said "the U.S. government is
very careful and prudent in making and implementing government plan
and polices, but the United States also has some institutional
defects."
Yu cited the devastating Hurricane Katrina as an example, saying
the weak points of U.S. federal system in emergency response were
exposed during the hurricane,"
More Should Be Sent
Ye Duchu, the Central Party School professor, said "though the
overseas training for the officials are only short term, many have
realized problems of their own and started strategic thinking of
similar problems after the training."
"They also think about issues significant to social harmony such
as the distribution of wealth and environmental protection," he
said, stressing "this need their own observation and experience and
cannot be got through books."
"The government should organize more officials to study in
developed countries and enable them to learn, to observe and to
experience," he said, stressing "this is conducive to promoting
China's integration with the world," he said.
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(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2007)