On March 29, a delegation of Department of Civil Servant Development (DCSD), Taipei City Government, which consisted of 6 representatives, paid an official visit to Shanghai Administration Institute. The executive vice president of SAI, Mr. Wang Guoping, hosted the talk.

    Wang extended his warm welcome to the Taipei delegation. Then he gave a detailed introduction about the history, the organizational framework, and the general outline of Shanghai Party Institute of CPC and Shanghai Administration Institute. When talking about the group school-running system as 1+5, Wang said that the main campus and the five branches should function as “a combined fleet” to promote the integrated level. Wang then detailed the four major functions of Shanghai Party Institute of CPC and Shanghai Administration Institute as training, scientific research, think tank and postgraduate education. Wang categorized the training of SPI and SAI into comprehensive training, special topic training, qualification training, knowledge-upgrading training and overseas training, and individualized cultivation in addition. He put special emphasis on the featured programs of “2+X special topic training”. “2” stands for the Organization Department of Shanghai Committee of CPC (which is in charge of deciding special topics and selecting trainees) and Shanghai Party Institute of CPC (which is in charge of training them), and “X” stands for the organs of Shanghai Party Committee and Shanghai Government. This kind of training program combines seminars with government decision-making, putting training as a work platform, to promote the key concerns of the government. Now the model has won remarkable success. 8 special topic training programs related to the frontline work and major reform tasks of Shanghai have been run, including special topics as “the Reform of Synthesized Market Regulation Mechanism” and “the Experience of Shanghai Free Trade Zone Pilot”. Vice Mayors of Shanghai, who are in charge of the corresponding fields respectively, designed and participated in these training programs in person for many times.

    Talking about the school’s function as research institution and think tank, Wang pointed out that research work was the pillar of teaching and government consultation. He regarded the construction of “the integration of teaching, research and consultation” as the key competition of the Party School and Administration Institute. Taking the year 2015 for example, SPI and SAI has successfully undertaken 15 major national research projects and the research results have got many times’ written positive comments by both national leaders and Shanghai government leaders. Besides, SPI and SAI also offered postgraduate education, both academically and professionally, such as MPA. Finally, Wang was proud of SAI’s increasing openness to the world. SAI has signed cooperation agreements with 34 partners globally, including foreign government organs, administration institutes, colleges and universities, and research institutions. Meanwhile, SAI enjoys membership of three international organizations. The strong and stable cooperation network all over the world laid a solid foundation for the future development of SPI and SAI.

    Qu Zhaoxiang, the Commissioner of Department of Civil Servant Development, Taipei City Government, delivered his thanks and reviewed the cooperative history of the two parties. He said that SAI sent a visiting delegation to Taipei in December right after the two parties signed MOU in August, 2015. In order to have a thorough understanding of Shanghai Administration Institute, he and his colleagues paid this return visit to SAI and its branches. He was much impressed by SAI’s “1+5 school-running system” and “integration of teaching, research and consultation”. He pointed put that Department of Civil Servant Development was also a training department for civil servants in Taipei, and he himself was also the chairperson of Research, Development & Evaluation Commission of Taipei City Government, which would be the main training agency for both civil servants and social professionals in the near future. The two parties could have more and more commons in training areas, so communication and exchange between each other was a necessity for both parties. He hoped to make contributions to the friendly cross-Strait academic exchange and cooperation in this way.

    The delegation also visited the No. 1 Branch Institute and No. 4 Branch Institute of SAI. President Li Ning of No. 1 Branch and President Wang Qun of No. 4 Branch held meetings respectively with the delegation and showed them around the school campus and teaching facilities.