Assessing the State of Public Administration Research in Mainland China: Prospects and Challenges

The rapid modernization and globalization of mainland China has resulted in impressive new practices and expectations for public administration (PA), including public administration research and education. Chinese universities have created new master in public administration (MPA) degree programs that already rival U.S. MPA programs in enrollment, with about 15,000 to 20,000 students annually. In 1999, PhD programs in public administration were first established at Fudan University, Renmin University, and Sun Yat-Sen University. Since then, Chinese ministries and universities have ratcheted up quality expectations for university-based public administration research. At the top universities, faculty are increasingly expected to publish in journals that are part of the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) to keeping pace with similar expectations for quality in neighboring Asian countries and, indeed, around the world. Beyond this, public administration researchers are also expected to contribute to empowering a new generation of public managers and guiding modernization efforts in Chinese public service . There are high expectations for sure.