Business and Public Administration Studies (E-Journal, Washington Institute of China Studies - WICS)
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Program Performance Evaluation: Judgment Versus Measurement
Get PDFWhen attempting to evaluate the performance of public programs, there is a big difference between what can be measured and what needs to be known. To begin with, measurement cannot deal with the external forces that managers and executives must deal with, and they do so by using their own judgment and experience. In addition, some of the most important considerations that drove program design and policy are sufficiently complex and sophisticated that they defy measurement. Measurement seeks to be rational in an often irrational world. Those who advocate performance measurement can rightly claim that they aid in the formulation of judgment, but they can’t claim that measurement is a substitute for judgment. This is especially true in public programs which must function within a political system. The realities of government budgeting and political decision-making may totally refute the “facts” arising out of even the most disciplined performance measurement
Investment Tips
Get PDFWe have certainly been in a difficult stock market. Even so, "hanging in there" has been the right course over the last three months. In my opinion, this will be the correct play for the balance of 2008
Challenges to China’s Education and Training System and the New Global Context
Get PDFTo put the need for developing a system of lifelong learning for China in context, this chapter begins by summarizing some of the daunting challenges China is facing in education and training. It summarizes some of the key elements of what could be called a knowledge revolution that are making education and training critical elements of competitiveness. It then summarizes some of the key global trends in education and training. It concludes with a section of why investments in education and training are important in this new global context of rapid change and constant restructuring
Vocational Education in China
Get PDFModern vocational education in China Can be traced back to 1860s. It is believed that the Fujian Shipment School, which was built in 1867 in Mawei, Fujian Province, is the first ever vocational school in China. In late Qing Dynasty, vocational schools were the places where practical skills and occidental technologies were taught. The Renyin Schooling System published in 1902 established a system for industry training (vocational education). In 1917, the Zhonghua Vocation Education Society was founded, which was the first vocational education organization jointly run by the education sector and industries. However, in old China, the vocational education developed very slowly due to poor economy and underdeveloped industry and agriculture. In 1949, there were only 1,174 secondary vocational schools (including 610 secondary teacher schools) in China with 231,500 students enrolled (including 151.7 thousands secondary teacher school students)
China’s Stimulus Package: What are the Effects?
Get PDFMany questions surround the stimulus package that was passed in early November 2008 by the Chinese government and the value of this stimulus package is worth four trillion yuan ($586 billion) over two years. This stimulus package is equivalent to about 16% of China\u27s annual GDP and this stimulus package is new spending, which was not part of its economic plan. The intention of this stimulus package is to fund an array of infrastructure projects such as railways, highways, urban transit systems and other infrastructure projects. However, many economists have claimed that the stimulus package is not as significant as it seems and some of the funds from this stimulus package has already been implemented before the announcement of this stimulus package. According to Sherman Chan, a Sydney-based economist with Moody\u27s, the real size of the package may not be as large as the government has described
Narrating China, Ordering East Asia: The Discourse on Nation and Ethnicity in Imperial Japan
Get PDF Geography, like the nation, is very much a state of mind. Concepts of place and spatial relationships involve a web of imaginative acts and projections of interests and desires by those who are empowered with the representation of space. Cultural and geographical imaginations draw from and act on both the hard limits imposed by the presence of physical terrain and the past of earlier representations that we often call “tradition.” And yet, the power of geographical mapping lies not only in specific natural features, but also in the cultural and political resources of strategic representations. As such, the imaginative construction and reconstruction of nations and regions are historical projects. They draw from the events of their time, as well as the constantly changing discursive frameworks that are available to them, in order to present the image of a necessary relationship among contiguous political bodies. What makes the process especially complicated and fascinating is that often regional mapping, such as the Japanese construction of a modern East Asia in the 20th century, is simultaneously imposed on national mapping, and changing concepts of the region are often interwoven with, and interdependent on, changing definitions of the nation.
China and the Global Financial Crisis
Get PDFDespite China\u27s strong current financial and economic position, a focus on China can help highlight how this current global crisis is just another step in the evolution and improvement of the world’s governance systems.China cannot make the mistake of viewing this crisis as a sign of weakness in the political and economic systems that have emerged over centuries in the world’s most scientifically and commercially advanced nations. Those systems are still works in progress, and China needs urgently to learn as much as it can from them—including the lessons they are gleaning or hopefully will glean from this current financial and economic crisis