Public policy and administration is a subject which studies management activities carried out by public organizations, especially government organizations, and related laws. In the past over ten years, the public policy and administration discipline in XJTU has made brilliant achievements in the fields of analysis of public policy, public governance and performance innovation, as well as the institutional innovation for livelihood improvement, etc., preliminarily realized the goal of “publishing papers in world top journals, making voice on significant international academic forums, playing an important role in international core institutes, developing stable partnerships in global academic cooperation, and making outstanding contributions to Chinese society”. Based on the strong practical property of public policy and administration, the prospect of this discipline should be focused on the development and evolution of public organizations, especially of the government, and on the update of research theory, methods and paradigm in this discipline. New directions for the development of the discipline of public policy and administration should be realized to promote the development of this discipline.
First, look for “new” hot issues.With the accelerating process of informatization, globalization and democratization, as well as the appearance of civil autonomy and civil society, public finance, governance efficacy, and trust have become major crises of government. Nowadays, public administration faces many new challenges, including social order maintenance, government and market balance, response to globalization, new technology reform, restoration of public trust in government, improvement of governance ability and reestablishment of public morality, which all become current research focuses. The gradual maturity and adding influence of new technologies like big data and artificial intelligence (AI) will certainly have new impacts on and bring new challenges to human society in the future, not only changing the form of current problems, but also raising new research questions. The following three topics might induce hot discussion in the future studies of public policy and administration: first, new form of public organization (especially government) in the context of big data and AI development; second, public resource allocation in the context of big data and AI development; third, “personalized/designed” public policy in the context of big data and AI development.
Second, focus on “new” theory and new method.The most prominent feature of public policy and administration is, and will be for a long time, inter-discipline as well as indistinction of disciplinary boundary. As new technologies like big data and social computing exert influence on public administration, corresponding research methods begin to be attached with greater importance. The study of public policy and administration has been move forward from mental analysis to empirical and interdisciplinary study. Although limited government is one of the goals of new public administration, the fact is that government plays a more and more important role in national affairs which have been increasing along with the development of society. As a consequence, the boundary of public administration becomes increasingly blurred. What’s more, the interdisciplinary process objectively promotes the indistinction of the boundary. Certainly, inter-discipline and open boundary help give birth to new discipline, bringing vitality to the study of public policy and administration. Public policy and administration in school is characterized by inter-discipline. To highlight this characteristic, following work may help: first, the transformation of brand new theory and method in the field of natural science according to the study of public policy and administration; second, the scientific explanation of classic theory in public policy and administration; third, the study on the mixed system and method of real society and virtual society; forth, the insertion of public policy and administration in natural science.
Third, emphasize on “of China’s own” problems and theoretical characteristics.In terms of the discipline of public policy and administration, current theories and methods are generally learned from western countries. As this discipline is a summary of western government administration practice, “Chinization” would become a significant problem worth considering. However, both unique administration system and formed experience and laws of China call for new explanation frame, research mode and knowledge system. Since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, from building a well-off society in an all-round way to basically realizing modernization, and then to establishing a socialist modernization power in an all-round way, the strategic arrangement for the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era is witnessed. Significant progress has been made in the modernization of the country's governance system and capacity, with the further promotion of balanced economic, political, cultural, social and ecological progress, and the coordinated implementation of the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy. And a series of new concepts, ideas and strategies of governing the country formed by the CPC Central Committee have provided scientific theoretical guidance and action guidelines for the localization of major public policy and management issues in China. Only when we have an insight into China's real social situation can the development of China's public management discipline realize an innovative change from "Chinization" to "Of China's Own", and find a solution to the practical problems in China's development, so as to contribute to the human knowledge base and realize the embodiment of theoretical confidence and cultural confidence. To highlight the "Of China's Own" problems and theoretical features, following factors deserve attention: firstly, the construction of basic theory system of public management in China; secondly, the summary and reflection of historical public (government) management experience in China; thirdly, China's social problems (such as provision for the aged, public services, etc.) and social policies; fourthly, the CPC's ruling experience, which will continue to be summed up and innovated.
In order to follow the trend of future discipline development and meet possible challenges, universities and all schools should be prepared at least in terms of "talents" and "policies".
First, cultivate and find suitable "talents".The relationship between rank and scale have been raised up by the university for believing that scale development is more important than that of rank at this stage, which conforms to the basic law of discipline development. Besides, many indicators of discipline evaluation focus on the total amount while examining the average value; small scale leads to the weakening of team effect and lacking in direction support; it is hard to establish academic diversity, which becomes a barrier to innovation. All in all, the key to the development of the discipline is to improve the scale of teachers and undergraduates as soon as possible and to train or find suitable talents to promote the development of the discipline.
Second, innovative "policies".Discipline development is a systematic project, which requires the support of policy and institutional environment. While perfecting the institutional support system, it is necessary to take the different characteristics of various disciplines and classification management and optimization of related policies into account and really pay attention to the disciplinary differences between science and technology and humanities.
The university has made plans for the development of each discipline, especially with the continuous progress of the "Innovation Harbor" and the "Double First-class" construction, providing a great opportunity to promote the prosperity and development of disciplines including the public policy and administration. The school of Public Policy and Administration will grasp its disciplinary characteristics and development needs more deeply, mobilize all forces, and strive to make new contributions to the construction of the discipline that has left its historical mark through more effective reform.
Author Introduction:
Du Haifeng, professor, executive dean of the School of Public Policy and Administration.
E-mail: haifengdu@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
Introduction to the School:
The School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA), founded in 2004, is one of the earliest 24 pilot schools in MPA education adhering to the principle of “Focusing on China’s Issues, Having a Global Vision and Serving the Society". The school was approved with the earliest authorization to grant master's degree of first-level discipline in western China. In 2010, it has been authorized to offer doctoral programs in first-level discipline. Professor Jiang Zhenghua, well-known population economist in China and vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Ninth and Tenth National People's Congress, is appointed as the dean of the school. The School has established substantive cooperation with Harvard University, Stanford University and Yale University. By integrating the resources of the main second-level disciplines such as administration, social security, social medicine and health management, and land resource management, three dominant disciplines of public policy analysis, public governance and performance innovation and system innovation for people's livelihood improvement in the social transformation period have been established. At present, the School has 46 full-time faculty, including 38 professors or associate professors. Among them, there are 1 Distinguished Professor of Changjiang Scholars, 2 Leading Talents of Philosophy and Social Sciences, 1 Leading Talent of National Ten-Thousand Talents Program, 5 recipients of New Century Excellent University Talents Award, Ministry of Education (MOE), 2 Distinguished Professors of XJTU Development Scholar Program and one team selected for Changjiang Development Program of Scholars and Innovation Teams. In recent years, the School has undertaken more than 80 national projects, including 7 major projects supported by the National Social Science Fund, 2 major projects of philosophy and social science of the Chinese Ministry of Education, and 9 key projects supported by the National Social Science Fund. SPPA aims to build a top internationalized and research-oriented school, cultivating high-level talents in public administration and policy research and contributing to discipline development and practice of public administration in China.
