The proposal to strip professional institutions of administrative "ranks" is laudable.

The idea, mooted as part of the recently unveiled mid- and long-term talent development strategy, is clearly capable of stopping the bureaucracy from encroaching further into the realms of professional institutions.

The move, if carried out systematically, has the potential to instill new life into the many non-administrative professional institutions on government payroll, which include, but are not limited to, research institutions, schools and hospitals.

To treat such professional institutions on the basis of administrative authority is the height of folly. Yet, this has been going on for decades.

When a school or hospital is measured in relation to the administrative rank of its chief, professional competence takes a back seat, as it has turned out to be now.

Despite its administrative advantage, the system has a glaring downside - professional institutions are full of bureaucratic speculators who care little about their undertakings.

The appalling standards of such institutions have hurt professionalism. Many professionals have chosen to give professionalism the go-by in order to curry favor with politically minded superiors whose only way of rewarding professional excellence is by offering an administrative title.

The proposal is bound to evoke strong dissent given the tangible vested interests at play, but that should not become an excuse for any more delay in its implementation.

(China Daily 06/08/2010 page8)