Entrusted by the Office of National Leading Group of S&T System Reform and Innovation System Building, the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) assessed, as a third-party, the progress of the current technical and professional ranks and titles reform from December 2015 to June 2016. Leveraging the 504 stations of the CAST Network of S&T Worker’s Survey across the country, the research team collected a total of 17,898 valid questionnaires and, at the same time, solicited S&T worker’s opinions regarding the reform in their sectors or regions and relevant suggestions. In addition, CAST joined hands with the China Association of Science of Science and Science and Technology Policy Research, the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society and Peking Union Medical College in holding discussions respectively with different groups of people, such as universities teachers, S&T researchers, technicians and engineers and health and medical professionals. Interviews were also conducted in selected universities, research institutes and high-tech firms. The findings show that governmental departments and local governments have actively rolled out policies according to the talent development plan of the central authorities and achieved progress in such aspects as standardizing vocational admission qualifications, improving the assessment of vocational level of technicians and professionals, and upgrading the methods for qualification evaluation of technical and professional posts. However, prominent problems still remain including insufficient autonomy of employing units regarding technical and professional ranks and titles of their employees, rigidly uniform evaluation criteria, separation between qualification assessment and employment, an immature system of the third-party evaluation, and failing to adopt international evaluation standards. Therefore further reform is needed.
I.Major Progress
The Opinions about Deepening the System and Mechanism Reform of Talent Development announced by the central authorities in March 2015 lays out the fundamental thinking and requirements for reform of the technical and professional ranks and titles system. The document emphasizes the leading role of employing units in the assessment of such ranks and titles, stating that the power in this regard should be reasonably defined and transferred from the government to employing units so as to encourage universities, research institutions and state-owned enterprises to do the assessment independently.Tests of English and computer skills will not be a compulsory requirement for the application of such ranks and titles. A fast-track promotion system should be explored in order to attract high-caliber and urgently needed personnel. The vocations requiring job-access qualifications should be reviewed，reduced in number and put under strict management in an effort to facilitate the market-based skill qualification conducted by professional associations. The criteria of job-access vocational qualifications for urgently needed professionals should be relaxed.
1. Clear Reform Directions
(1) Substantially reducing vocations requiring job-admission qualifications through streamlining administration and delegating government powers
From July 2014 to June 2016, the State Council abolished, in six batches, a total of 310 such qualifications set by governmental departments, accounting for 52% of the total. At the same time, all the items set by local governments in this regard were also abolished. In 2015, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) terminated 90 job-admission vocation qualifications by annulling the Regulations with Regard to Employment in Technical Posts promulgated by the former Ministry of Labor.
(2) Enhancing the professionalization of vocational level assessment of technical and professional personnel
A system of technical and professional qualification certificates was introduced in 1994 with a view to encourage the involvement of professional organizations in this task. In January 2016, the MHRSS issued Implementation Methods for Trade Organizations to Undertake the Skill Assessment of Technicians and Professionals in an Orderly Way, which encourages social organizations such as learned societies and associations to conduct accreditation of professional skills.
(3) Improving the evaluation and appointment system of technical and professional ranks and posts in different categories
The MHRSS has joined hands with other governmental departments in issuing documents promoting technical and professional ranks and posts system reforms. In September 2015, the MHRSS and the Ministry of Education jointly promulgated Opinions about Deepening Reforms of Professional Ranks and Titles System in Primary and Middle Schools. In November 2015, the MHRSS and the National Health and Family Planning Commission jointly issued the Guidelines for Further Reform of the System of Technical and Professional Ranks and Titles in Grass-root Medical Institutions. These efforts were aimed at developing an evaluation system that puts a premium on capability and performance and is based on professional organizations so as to introduce a system adapted to the needs of employment positions in public institutions.
2. Widely Practiced System of Faculty Appointments in Universities
(1) Faculty appointment is pursued independently in all universities directly under jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education
Since 1986, universities directly under the Ministry of Education have gradually received the permission to assess and appoint professors and associate professors independently by setting up a position responsibility system featuring the creation of positions according to needs, open recruitment, appointment through competitive selection, strict assessment, and contract management. In some universities seeking introduction of a Western mode of employment, the power is further delegated to colleges (schools) of universities, in an effort to explore an “up or out” system and facilitate personnel mobility in an orderly way.
(2) Faculty appointment system is pursued independently in some local universities
On an experimental basis, some local governments have put in place a policy that allows local universities to independently pursue their evaluation of faculty ranks and appointments under the management and supervision of administration. In these places the government will no longer organize the assessment of qualifications regarding ranks and titles in universities or issue relevant certificates. Instead, the universities will have the power to assess and appoint their faculties independently.
(3) Different criteria according to various features of research and teaching positions
The classification of management and evaluation are found in many universities. In some universities, positions are differentiated into three categories: teaching & research, fulltime teaching and fulltime research. Different evaluation criteria are applied to different positions. In other universities, positions are classified into four groups: research primary, teaching primary, teaching and research equal, and social service and knowledge dissemination. Faculty members in the teaching primary positions will be subject to the criteria assessing the teaching level and talent training achievements while those in the positions focusing on social service will be assessed in accordance with their achievements.
3. Accelerated Adoption of International Evaluation Practice in Research Institutions
(1) A system of post appointment
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) took the lead in conducting personnel reform among S&T research institutions across the country. Since 1998 when the pilot project of the knowledge innovation program was launched, CAS has suspended the annual qualification assessment of technical and professional posts and introduced an appointment system featuring the creation of positions according to need, open recruitment, appointment through competition, the signing of contracts and dynamic management. The reform has done away with the practice of placing greater importance on the evaluation of qualifications than position appointment, and the emphasis on seniority and guaranteed job security.
(2) A dynamic mobility system in the making
By introducing a tenure system, the CAS Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology has put in place a reasonable term structure for employees and a strict annual evaluation system. An effective human resource system was formed in the organization so as to encourage a reasonable flow of personnel and to ensure the overall level of its S&T teams.
(3) Establishing an international peer review system
The National Institute of Biological Sciences (NIBS) in Beijing has adopted a directors-responsibility system and pursued global recruitment of its leaders and principal investigators. Appointments are made based on the capabilities and levels of the candidates through international peer review. By the end of a five-year term, they must be subjected to an anonymous review by international peers. Anyone whose performance is judged unsatisfactory, under the threshold for promotion, is required to leave.
4. Higher Level of Socialization of Technician and Engineer Assessment in Business Sector
(1) Improving professional system of evaluation step by step
Efforts have been made in different regions to explore a professional talent evaluation system that brings learned societies and associations into full play under the approval of governmental departments. In 2014, for instance, the Shenzhen government delegated its function of organizing professional technical and professional ranks and titles assessment to trade organizations. So far, a total of 30 such organizations have formed 45 evaluation committees. At the same time, the trade organizations are encouraged to set up a system of engineers in line with international practice.
(2) A system featuring setting up positions according to needs and making appointments independently have been practiced in almost all enterprises
Governmental departments have delegated their power in this regard to enterprises and will not set up quotas for technical and professional posts. Private firms could make independent decisions regarding posts, recruitment, and talent evaluation based on performance and merit. In discussions of the survey, people from some state-owned enterprises revealed that most of their firms have adopted independent evaluation and appointment systems of technicians and professionals in which qualifications serve only as a reference.
(3) Evaluation criteria are made to meet market needs
Different evaluation criteria and forms are used by different companies or social organizations in line with different requirements for employees. The survey shows that the promotion of employees in non-state-owned enterprises mainly depends on performance (52.9%), practical capacities (49.2%), annual evaluation results (43.1%) and capacity to transfer S&T results (42.7%).
5. Return to Clinical Practice in Talent Evaluation in Health and Medical Institutions
(1) Putting a premium on practice and service in talent evaluation
Since 2010, to strengthen the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of medical workers in terms of service capacity and clinical work, according to the requirement of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, all applicants for professional ranks and titles in clinics, orthodontics and traditional Chinese medicine have been required to present five copies of their original medical records as a reference. Consideration has been given to a system of evaluation criteria stressing clinics, service and medical ethics, placing a premium on the evaluation of performance and capacities. In 2014, for instance, a structural quantitative evaluation was adopted in a region that places 10％, 5％, 5％, 25％, 25％, and 30％weight, respectively, on political ideas, academic degrees, work experience, knowledge level, work capacity and performance..
(2)Reforms of personnel establishment in some public hospitals so as to enhance the autonomy in personnel management
In 2015, Beijing government put in place a scheme for comprehensive reform in urban public hospitals that gives public hospitals more say in personnel management.
II.Prominent Problems
1 Lack of Full Autonomy in Employing Units over Personnel Management
(1) Employing units have not been given the full authority to conduct technical and professional ranks and titles assessment, which is felt strongly especially by scientific research and medical institutions. The survey has found that many institutions and enterprises directly under governmental departments and all the universities under provincial governments are still ineligible to carry out senior technical and professional ranks and titles assessment.
(2) Rigid evaluation criteria
Some local universities that are allowed to pursue independent assessment have to adopt a set of rigidly uniform evaluation criteria. For instance, one document issued by a provincial government asks all the applicants for senior technical and professional ranks titles, regardless of their fields or sectors, to provide evidence that they have published as the first author at least 8 academic papers in journals above the provincial level.
(3) Highly restricted position structure in public institutions reduces the power of independent assessment and appointment of technicians and professionals.
Leaders of some key universities have complained that the proportion and structure of technical and professional posts in their universities are decided by governmental departments. Universities do not have the autonomy to change the structure and proportions in line with their own needs. They are calling for real autonomy over staffing management, post structure and payment.
2. Uniform Assessment Criteria
(1) Enterprises refuse to follow government’s evaluation criteria as they cannot meet the needs of the market
Some interviewees said frankly that enterprises do not take government’s evaluation of technical and professional ranks and titles seriously. A senior manager of a large-scale Internet company said the flow of technical personnel is decided by the market. The position and salary of a new employee could be decided by his or her position and achievement in previous companies, and therefore the uniform assessment of technical and professional ranks and titles is useless in enterprises.
(2) Putting a premium on papers rather than capability and performance
About half of the S&T workers in this survey think that the assessment is conducted without considering characteristics of different kinds of work, and 60% of them believe that the current assessment system is forcing them to publish useless papers. Teachers in universities and medical workers complain that more importance is given to the quantity of papers rather than practical capability as shown by the evaluation of teaching and clinical positions. Some returned overseas professionals complain that universities make requirements based only on the number of SCI-cited papers in the few years of the employment contract. Some nurses stated that the assessment of nurse ranks and titles is oriented toward research professionals and that applicants for senior nurse ranks and titles are asked to publish at least 4 papers as the first author.
3. Separation between Qualification Assessment and Position Appointment
(1) Technical and professional titles become a kind of benefit that all are eager to enjoy
As ranks and titles are closely linked with a range of benefits (such as position, salary, prizes, project application and household registration), they become a benchmark for welfare allocation. The welfare function of the ranks and titles also leads to a common practice of “keeping up with Joneses”. Some S&T workers call for setting up full-professor level ranks and titles for experimental and agricultural technicians, just as such ranks and titles have been set up for primary and middle school teachers. Some administrative staff also strives to have technical and professional ranks and titles. In a scientific research institution, for instance, of the 17 people who have full-professor-level titles, 14 are actually administrative staff.
(2) The separation between qualification assessment and post appointment stifles enthusiasm of S&T workers and makes management in S&T institutions more difficult.
One leader of a research institute under a government department said that because the qualification assessment for senior positions are conducted uniformly by the upper level personnel authorities rather than employing units, most of those who pass the evaluation are appointed to senior positions regardless of their achievement, fitness for the positions and capacity for academic leadership. This situation has stifled the enthusiasm of those who take their jobs seriously and work hard every day. In addition, this practice can add to administrative difficulties. A research professor at a research institute under governmental department said that in his unit 25 people have won the full-professor level qualifications, but there are only 13 such positions, which increases administrative pressure and potential for internal conflict.
(3) The separation of titles from positions makes it more difficult to do away with the system of life-long posts
According to the survey, 66.2% of S&T workers think that titles are effective for life, the same as an academic diploma, 47.9% think the posts are life-long, and nearly 80% would not accept being appointed to a post lower than what is indicated by their qualification certificates. A director of the personnel department at a key university said that it is very difficult to ask someone failing the term requirements to leave the organization, due to various reasons such as ideological problems and social security. One expert in a national scientific research institution claims that as long as governmental departments are in charge of the assessment of ranks and titles, institutions are unable to have real autonomy in this regard and therefore the system of appointments does not reflect real terms
4 Immature Professional Assessment System of Ranks and Titles
(1) The excess of vocational qualification certificates leads to an improper profit-making market of training, testing, certificate issuing and verification of qualifications.
In the survey, 41.4% of S&T workers believe that the problem of excessive vocational qualifications is prominent. The study finds that there are many loopholes in the vocational qualification management. Some institutions and people make a fortune out of the certificates. A web search lists about 116,000 items on commercially available national vocational qualification certificates. There are many websites run by fraudulent national institutions such as national vocational qualification commissions.
(2) Widespread borrowing and renting of qualification certificates
The survey shows that the illegal borrowing and renting of certificates is an open secret. One trade association in Beijing said that there is a price for one-stop service for applying for and renting or purchasing a qualification certificate for first-class construction engineer, registered geotechnical engineer or registered electric engineer. An interview conducted by an association for science and technology in one city showed that eight of the 10 companies surveyed are renting certificates in various numbers ranging from two to 10.
(3) Backward management measures for vocational qualifications
The Network of State Vocational Qualifications and the Nationwide Search System of Vocational Qualification Certificates run by governmental departments are not frequently updated with only a very small amount of information, and consequently only a dozen kinds of qualification certificates are available for searching.
(4) The role of social organizations is not brought into full play
Of the organizations eligible for conducting assessments of technical and professional ranks and titles, governmental organizations have greater authority than professional associations. Governmental organizations have competitive advantages over professional organizations because the certificates are invalid unless they have stamps from governmental departments. Of the S&T workers in the survey, 50.6% believe that learned associations have more professional authority in the assessment. Of those surveyed, 62.5% have vocational certificates, of which 79.5% are from governmental departments.
5 Talent Assessment Mechanism Fails to Follow the International Practice
(1) Vocational qualification certificates do not have worldwide recognition, which weakens the ability of Chinese enterprises to undertake international projects.
In the survey, 52.3% of technicians and engineers think the absence of mutually recognized and accepted engineering qualifications between China and other countries is a major problem. Many interviewees think that vocational qualification certificates obtained overseas are more useful for international projects than those issued by the Chinese government.
(2) Mismatch between vocational qualification criteria and the needs of employing units, particularly the needs of those in emerging industries
The top-down establishment of vocational qualification criteria lacks the involvement of industries and enterprises. A senior executive of human resources in a large Internet company said that engineers in high-tech fields are moving globally. International companies will pay more attention to international standards than to vocational qualifications certified by governmental departments.
III. Recommendations
1. Deepen System Reform of Technical and Professional Ranks and Titles and Bring Government’s Role of Macroscopic Management into Play
First, it is important to pursue strict management of vocation-admission qualifications according to the law by setting up a system of ratification and regular review. Those who have obtained the certificates should be subject to regular registration or annual review.
Second, efforts should be made to further personnel system reform in state-owned enterprises or public institutions. The government will not be directly involved in their talent assessment, but will monitor their appointment behavior.
Third, it is important to upgrade the public service of government. A searching and management system for certificate holders and their credit should be set up so as to improve the accountability mechanisms of certificate holders.
2.Actively Develop Socialized Evaluation Practice according to Market Rules, and Set up Multiple Talent Evaluation Systems
First, it is important to enhance the capability of learned societies and associations in talent evaluation, support them in setting up talent evaluation criteria and independently conduct talent evaluation. The government should not directly organize evaluation or endorse the certificates.
Second, it is necessary to bring the role of the learned societies and associations in peer evaluation into full play, so as to conduct talent evaluation in a more scientific and standardized way and upgrade their authority in this regard.
Third, efforts should be made to set up a market-based talent evaluation system. Aimed at recruiting suitable personnel, talent evaluation should be conducted in light of market rules. The market-based qualification authentication companies should be part of the vocational qualification system so as to set up a vocational qualification system following international standards.
3.Give Full HR Management Autonomy to Employing Units
First, it is important to ensure the role of employing units as a main player in talent evaluation, encourage them to create posts according to needs and make appointments in line with posts, and effectively link up the system of title assignment with the system of post appointment.
Second, talent evaluation should be conducted in accordance with the features of different sectors and posts, such as basic research, applied research, technological development, technology transfer and research results commercialization, putting a premium on performance relevant to position responsibilities and conducting annual and term evaluation.
Third, we should encourage employing units to set up and improve internal evaluation and appointment systems, paying attention to both their employment autonomy and democratic management.