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China Sends Administrative Officials to Study Abroad
It has become a trend across China for local governments to send civil servants posted to study abroad so as to acquaint them with "international play rules".
From Beijing to coastal provinces and municipalities like Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai to inland Henan and Sichuan provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local governments have highlighted the programs as "a training of administrative officials for the 21st century".
Officials, who qualify for training overseas, which usually last for one year, must be under the age of 45 with a Bachelor's degree or higher educational background, and must have served sufficient years in governments.
Officials selected via examination for overseas study can choose from training courses provided in universities in North America and Europe. Courses can range from macro-economy, public and business administration to administration of science, education and cultural sectors. Some universities offer Chinese trainees internships in government departments or big enterprises after their study.
"An accelerated pace of economic globalization and China's anticipated accession into the World Trade Organization require that administrative officials with the ability to deal with frequent international exchanges and a broad sight, are of key importance to improving the comprehensive competitiveness of an economy," said Li Changchun, the provincial party chief of Guangdong.
To this end, Guangdong initiated a training program last year by sending 60 officials to universities in the US and Canada. In the next five years, another 300 officials from the provincial and municipal governments in Guangdong will benefit from the program.
"The government needs modern administrative officials with a vision of the world," said Wen Guohui, director of the industrial policy department with the Guangdong Provincial Economic and Trade Commission.
Wen was among the first group of 60 officials that have just returned from overseas training funded by the Guangdong provincial government. After getting all "A"s in his courses at the University of California, Wen traveled many US states to witness American presidential election campaigns as an internship study, which gave him an intensive view of the American electoral system.
Wen's colleague Chen Hang went to study in Canada and received a four-month internship working for the government of British Columbia Province.
Chen said the experience of the BC provincial government in administration is valuable for Guangdong to learn.
Since China's reform and opening up in 1978, China has sent a large quantity of students and scholars abroad or invited foreign experts to work in China. The training of administrative officials, however, has been based within the country.
Facing intensive competition from the outside world, China has striven to improve the administrative standard of both economic and various social sectors, which has been emphasized in the country's Tenth Five-Year Plan (2001-2005).
"The high-level international personnel training strategy has been a solution to new challenges, as Shanghai plans to depend mainly on technology to boost its per-capita GDP from 4,000 US dollars to 8,000 dollars in the next five years," said Sun Luyi, a senior personnel official of Shanghai.
The arrangement of overseas training programs have proved effective, with a professional course plan offered by foreign universities, which gives scores evaluating the performance of Chinese civil servants. The quality of the training has inspired the enthusiasm of many local Chinese governments for such programs.
Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, started sending 22 officials for overseas training this year. The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has set the quota of officials to be sent overseas at 55 annually, even with its stringent financial situation.
Observers here see the trend as an elevated level of China's opening-up, guaranteeing its promise to the world as a rising economic power.
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