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"We regard Singapore as the first choice for overseas training of leading cadres because Singapore's development experience has special reference significance for China."
Li, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Central Organization Department, once explained: "The problems, contradictions and solutions encountered in the development of Singapore are exactly the contradictions we have encountered or will encounter now. We need to use or explore the methods we will use now. "
It is reasonable to trace the original intention of cadres to Singapore for training. How do the students feel and behave?
reference pattern
Nanyang Technological University (hereinafter referred to as "Nantah"), the earliest training course in Singapore for China officials, started from 1992 and lasted for one week to three months. This course is taught in Chinese, including economic management, enterprise management and public management. Up to now, more than 8,000 people have been trained, from all provinces, central authorities and central enterprises.
Facing the increasing demand from China, Nantah started to offer a one-year master's course in management economics from 1998. In 2005, Nantah cooperated with the Central Organization Department and the organization departments of various provinces and cities to set up a master's degree in public administration, which is commonly known as the "mayor's class" today.
The main contents of the mayor's class are the theory of public management in the East and the West, the experience of East Asian countries, and the mode and operation of public management in Singapore. The main contents of the project include speeches by retired officials of the Singapore government and a visit to the company headquarters in Singapore. The course fee for one year is S $20,000, equivalent to RMB100,000. Up to now, more than 300 bureau-level cadres have participated in China.
"Why is the China government so interested in Singapore?" Zhang Zhibin, deputy director and assistant professor of the mayor's classroom project, explained to Time Weekly, "Because in their imagination, Singapore, like China, is a stable ruling party, and Singapore's economy is prosperous and society is stable, which is exactly what the China government has always dreamed of."
Zhang Zhibin, who was born in China, said, "Of course, there must be a gap between facts and imagination."
One of the most striking differences is that there is not much comparability between small islands and big countries. Khai Leong Ho, who is in charge of teaching the introductory course of public management for the mayor's class project, also confirmed to Time Weekly that "students can realize that many systems in Singapore cannot be applied to all of China."
After inspecting Singapore's central public fund, housing development bureau, corruption investigation bureau and other institutions, many China officials told Khai Leong Ho that the policies that Singapore can implement are impossible to implement in towns and cities in China because of history, power and vested interests. "
Khai Leong Ho said that so far, no official has successfully implemented the Singapore-style management system in China after returning from training. "The so-called" Singapore model "can only be used as a reference for China officials."
Study hard and be a good student.
Although it is impossible to copy the Singaporean model, China officials are still very active students in the classroom of Nantah.
"If the class starts at 9: 00 am, they will arrive at 8: 50 am," said Khai Leong Ho, who has been teaching the mayor's class for five years. "They are very serious, actively participate in class discussions, and have high requirements for professors. When giving them lectures, I can feel their desire for success. "
Members of the mayor's class are selected by the Central Organization Department, the Ministry of Education and the provincial governments every year. On this year's student list, Fan Ruiping, secretary of Ezhou Municipal Committee of Hubei Province, has the highest level. Fan also served as the monitor of the mayor's class.
When Dr. He first gave a lecture to the mayor's class, he was surprised to find that officials from the mainland actually accumulated a lot. "Many public management concepts from the West have long been heard in China and have even been implemented."
However, students from China's understanding of international management theory is not completely consistent with what they want to teach. "The problem is that they only have a general understanding of these concepts and technologies, but they don't understand their deeper and more complicated real meanings."
Khai Leong Ho believes that the limitation of this ideology depends on the cultural and historical differences between China and the West. "They are familiar with China's system, that is, the state, the government and the party are integrated. So it is difficult for them to see the importance of decentralization. When it comes to civil society, non-governmental organizations and other related concepts, I can't find an example of China to explain them. "
A local student in Singapore who participated in this project had a similar experience. She told Time Weekly: "China officials have different understandings of many concepts from me. For example, their understanding of NGOs is: institutions that are not directly under the government, but still have government officials. I asked them: with government officials and direct government intervention, can't they be called' ‘NGO''? But they think this is ok because they think that government representatives are still needed in the organization. "
Form a circle
Zhang Zhibin, deputy director of the project, also knows the existence of this teaching difficulty. However, he believes that China officials' one-year education in Singapore is not limited to classroom training. "In the course, we really pay more attention to the technical content. Because the China municipal government sent officials in the hope that they could learn some technical measures to solve some specific problems in China, such as urban planning and environmental management. "
"But behind the technology, there are always institutional and cultural factors." From the independence of Singapore from 65438 to 0965, Lee Kuan Yew's Action Party was in power. But constitutionally and legally, it has a complete democratic framework. Zhang believes that this will inevitably inspire China officials to think.
"What they have learned imperceptibly in the year of studying and living in Singapore will prompt them to break through the technical level and think about deeper problems. For example, how to establish a democratic framework in a country ruled by law? What should it look like at the cultural level and institutional level? "
"In this way, we not only met the expectations of the central government of China, but also surpassed it, inspiring officials to think about the role of the system and the role of culture."
This may be the ideal of Zhang Zhibin, who grew up in Chinese mainland, for the mayor class and China's reform and development. However, in Khai Leong Ho, a native of Singapore, it is found that the extracurricular communication between the students in the mayor's class and the locals is very limited. "I have always encouraged them to go out and communicate with Singaporeans more, and don't let the life circle be so closed. But they just like to form a circle. "
He told reporters that 20 students from a certain class went to the bank to open an account. The bank can't receive them at once, so it opened a service window for them. "As a result, they got angry and said, Why is our service different? I often advise them to split up more. If two or three people go out to play, it will be easy for them to get to know Singaporeans and be accepted by them. If you go out with 20 people, you will scare others away. "
Lay the foundation for the future
Zhang Zhibin is optimistic about the future of China and the contribution of the mayor class. "The effect of training can't be seen in a day or two. It is a good foundation for the next ten or even twenty years. " Zhang believes that "every official who lives in Singapore for one year will change."
"Some graduation officials told me that they felt very painful after returning to China. Because they opened their eyes and found that many things around them were at a certain distance from their ideals. But they can't change these things by themselves. This kind of pain itself is a huge gain. "
Dr. zhang's exchange with Singaporean officials is even more hopeful. "China culture is very particular about classmates. Several mayor classes now have QQ groups. They told me that the first thing I do when I go to work every day is to open this QQ group and see what students from all over the world are doing recently, whether they have been promoted or not. "
"I hope they can help each other in the future. If they really grow up and become governors or ministers, they can support other students of Nantah Group. Of course, I'm not asking them to do anything bad, but because they are close in concept and can reach an agreement with each other. Maybe they can reflect what they have learned imperceptibly in Singapore on their policies. " Zhang Zhibin said with a smile. (Time Weekly)