University graduates line up for government posts


Updated: 2006-10-29 11:01

Consequently, powerful institutions are the most popular with examinees. For the five positions in the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), more than 5,000 people registered. In contrast, government recruiters in areas like meteorology, seismology and cartography have failed to attract enough candidates. Some posts in grass-roots units or departments in remote areas like western Gansu Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region received scant attention from applicants.

"Everyone has the right to pursue benefits, but it is sad to see so many young talents acting cynically in a demanding job market, flocking to government offices to escape the insecurities of life," said Liu Xirui,professor at the National School of Administration.

"What is even more worrying is that these potential future decision makers can scarcely be said to have a clear concept of public service or healthy motives for civil servant positions," he said.

He noted that the responsibility of government officials is to serve the people instead of being served by the people. The government should be organized for the people and government officials should exercise power on behalf of the people.

"A high quality civil servant must have a broad vision, a good understanding of state policies, and a desire to serve the people, especially disadvantaged groups," Prof. Liu said. "The greater the power, the greater the responsibility."

Prof. Yu An from the School of Public Administration of Tsinghua University believes that students' ideas about civil servants reflect their experience.

"Within the government, there is a gap between the power officials have and the responsibilities they have to shoulder," he said, adding that there is a lack of effective supervision of the power wielded by officials.

An annual report by the National Audit Office shows that government departments lost 2.2 billion yuan in 2005 due to corruption, inefficient taxation collection and bad land management. About 685 million yuan was lost to embezzlers who fabricated expenditure or concealed and absconded with revenues. Lax tax collection, a euphemism for turning a blind eye to taxes owed in return for under-the-table favors, cost the government another 830 million yuan.
 1234  

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

 
 

Related Stories