Government and Policy

Overseas program benefits officials

By Jiang Xueqing, Hu Haiyan and Eric Jou in Beijing (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-13 07:19

Expert exchanges

The tradition of sending Chinese cadres overseas for work experience can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Toward the end of 1905, the ruling Guangxu Emperor sent five high-ranking officials to Japan, the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and other countries.

After witnessing the success of Japan's constitutional monarchy, the emperor was desperate to learn from other political and economic systems to help with his own reforms. His plan achieved disappointing results and, within a few years, his dynasty had fallen apart.

Since the founding of New China in 1949, the destination for officials has gradually shifted from the former Soviet Union to the US and Singapore.

To gain experience in economic development, Chinese originally shadowed Soviet officials to learn about science and technology.

About 10,000 people received education or training in then-Soviet Russia and other eastern European countries between 1950 and 1963, including former vice-premiers Zou Jiahua and Qian Qichen.

However, expert exchanges with the Soviet Union were halted when relations between the two states soured in 1965.

It was another 13 years before China sent its first batch of 52 officials to study in the US, shortly before the two established diplomatic relations. Since then, increasing numbers have been trained in the West.

Cheng Siwei, the former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, was one of the first persons from the Chinese mainland to obtain an MBA degree at the University of California in the early 1980s.

One of the biggest major training bases for Chinese civil servants is Harvard University. In 2002, the State Council's Development Research Center jointly launched a training program with the prestigious Ivy League college and Tsinghua University's school of public policy and management.

Funded by Amway, the world's largest direct selling company, the nine-week program aims to prepare Chinese officials to manage unprecedented economic growth by combining unique expertise with instruction on best practices in public policy. Following three weeks at Tsinghua University with professors from Harvard's John F. Kennedy school of government, participants go to the US for study tours and classroom instruction.

By the end of 2007, 300 high-ranking public servants from central and local authorities had benefited from the program. Organizers previously set a target of training 55 students every year from 2008 to 2012.

Governments in Sichuan, Jiangsu and other provinces have also sent workers to developed countries for experience.

To explore the scientific theories behind the development of Silicon Valley, since 2009 Jiangyin, a city in Jiangsu with a population of 1.2 million, has enrolled 60 promising young officials on three-month programs at Stanford University in California.

Singapore is another major destination for Chinese officials thanks to its fast economic development and social stability under the ruling People's Action Party.

During a tour of South China in 1992, former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping suggested officials should learn from Singapore.

That year, the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore started offering special training programs, lasting from one week to three months.

In 2005, the university also launched an MPA program with the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for provincial leaders above the levels of mayor and department director. Most courses are designed in accordance with the situation in China, with recent topics including industry upgrades and transformation.

Today, more than 30 countries and regions offer overseas training to Chinese civil servants, according to the latest available data from the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs.