Civil servant examination system： 20 years on the cusp

　　Since the pilot project was launched in 1989, it has been 20 years since the public examination and strict inspection were adopted to select civil servants. It can be said that since the pilot, the civil service examination system has been exploring the forefront of public opinion. Going through the motions, cheating, social discrimination, admission corruption … While the number of applicants for the civil service examination has reached record highs, it has always been impossible to avoid the sharp doubts of the society, and it has always been fighting these unhealthy phenomena through institutionalized construction.

　　After 20 years of exploration, I finally implemented one

　　"Anyone who enters must take the exam"

　　In 1987, the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China focused on the establishment of a national civil service system, emphasizing that "anyone who enters the professional civil service should pass the statutory examination and compete openly".

　　At the beginning of 1988, the Central Organization Department and the former Ministry of Labor and Personnel began to try out the examination method in the recruitment of cadres. All provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government held a large-scale examination for recruiting cadres in 1988. One million people applied for the exam and 80,000 people were admitted, which created a new situation in the recruitment of cadres.

　　In 1989, the Ministry of Personnel, the National Audit Office and other six departments jointly organized the pilot work of civil servants’ recruitment by examination, and the Ministry of Personnel, together with the Central Organization Department, issued the Notice on Implementing the Examination Method for Supplementary Staff of State Administrative Organs, which promoted the examination method in the recruitment of cadres in the central and provincial people’s governments, emphasizing that all those who entered the state administrative organs were required to take the examination, marking the initial establishment of the civil servants’ recruitment system in China.

　　After 1990, the pilot of the civil service examination system was expanded from the central government to the local government. In August 1993, the Provisional Regulations on State Civil Servants was promulgated and implemented. Article 13 of the Regulations stipulates: "The state administrative organs shall employ state civil servants who hold non-leadership positions below the chief clerk, and adopt the methods of public examination and strict assessment, and select the best according to the standards of having both ability and political integrity." It marks that the civil service examination and employment system has been officially opened within the scope of administrative organs at all levels. In 1994, the first civil service recruitment examination of the central authorities caused a sensation and was called "ten thousand people rushed to take the civil service examination" by the media.

　　In 1994, Liaoning province took the lead in carrying out the recruitment examination for civil servants in provincial organs. In 1995, county-level organs in Jilin Province recruited civil servants, and it was clearly stipulated that farmers could apply for the exam. Firstly, the identity restriction was broken.

　　In 1997, the Organization Department of the Central Committee issued the Opinions on Relevant Issues Concerning the Examination and Employment of Staff of Party and Mass Organs, People’s Congress and CPPCC Organs, pointing out: "Since 1997, the central and provincial party organs, people’s congress organs, CPPCC organs, workers, young women and other social organizations have employed staff below the department level, and staff and clerks of organs below the prefecture level, as well as institutions approved to be included in the reference management scope have employed staff of corresponding ranks. In accordance with the principles of having both ability and political integrity, openness, equality, competition and merit selection, the method of combining open recruitment with strict assessment should be implemented, and the organization departments of provincial (autonomous regions and municipalities) party committees should make overall arrangements for the examination and employment of organs below the prefecture (city) level and gradually push them away. " Since 2003, the people’s courts and people’s procuratorates have also adopted the examination and employment system.

　　Article 21 of the Civil Service Law promulgated in April, 2005 stipulates that "public examination, strict inspection, equal competition and merit-based admission shall be adopted to recruit civil servants who hold non-leadership positions below the chief clerk and other equivalent positions". At this point, the central authorities and all parts of the country have fully implemented the "entrance examination", marking the formal establishment of the examination and employment system.

　　Scientific level of civil service examination

　　Continuously improve

　　As far as the civil service examination itself is concerned, the exploration in the past 20 years has also accumulated many valuable experiences:

　　"Combining knowledge and specialty, promoting specialty with knowledge", knowledge test turns to ability test, and the test content is more scientific. The civil servant recruitment examination belongs to the professional qualification examination, which not only tests all kinds of knowledge related to the proposed position, but also tests the candidate’s ability to analyze and solve problems. In recent years, the civil service recruitment examination has continuously strengthened the ability test. For example, in the written test, the public basic knowledge is cancelled, the designated books for the test are cancelled, and the content of rote learning is reduced, and the administrative professional ability test is basically formed, and the application test is becoming more and more mature.

　　The supervision mechanism for examination and employment has been gradually improved, and the openness and transparency of examinations have been gradually enhanced. Openness, justice and fairness are the vitality of examination employment. The central and local employment authorities at all levels have widely implemented the system of supervision and inspection of examination employment and the system of publicity. Interview is generally considered to have a large "operation" space, and the civil service examination authorities have taken many measures to ensure its fairness, such as adopting "double lottery" between examiners and candidates, "gymnastics scoring method", showing scores on the spot after the examination, on-site video recording, allowing social personnel to attend and allowing media interviews.

　　The role of the network has been fully exerted. At present, the recruitment of civil servants by examination has realized that the recruitment announcement, candidates’ registration, qualification examination, written test results inquiry and publicity are all carried out through the Internet, which provides convenience for candidates, improves work efficiency, increases work transparency and is convenient for accepting social supervision.

　　After 20 years of examination, the quality of civil servants has been improved and the structure of civil servants has been optimized. Among the newly recruited personnel, the identity restrictions and geographical boundaries have been gradually broken, making the composition of the civil service diversified and the structure increasingly reasonable. According to statistics, civil servants with college degree or above accounted for 35% of the total number of civil servants in China in 1993 and reached 76% in 2003. As of 2003, civil servants under the age of 40 accounted for about 60% of the total number of civil servants. Civil servants employed after 2003 should have a college degree or above.

　　At present, the policy orientation of the civil service recruitment examination also reflects the characteristics of "two orientations". In the recruitment examination of the central authorities and their directly affiliated institutions in 2009, at least 50% of the positions were for people who have been in grassroots work experience for two years, and at the same time, preferential policies were adopted to encourage civil servants in hard and remote areas to apply.

　　Rigid rules and job competition are

　　secular trend

　　As far as employment rules are concerned, "rigid" rules may become a trend. At present, the employment rules of many provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities are "rigid" rules. The written test scores and interview scores are directly accumulated, or according to the principle of 50% written test and interview scores, the ranking is determined according to the calculation results, and the medical examination and investigation list are entered in equal proportions according to the ratio of 1:1. As far as the current situation is concerned, the adoption of "rigid" rules can obviously reduce the "operation" space of human relations and better ensure fairness and transparency.

　　As far as the examination form is concerned, "post competition examination" is still the trend. At present, there are many controversies about whether the civil servant recruitment examination should adopt the "post competition examination" or the unified "qualification examination". Those who hold the view of "qualification examination" believe that "China has not established a unified civil service examination and employment system, the examination time of the central and state organs is not uniform with that of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the examination results cannot be mutually recognized. Many candidates are constantly running around and spending a lot of money and energy, which makes the recruitment cost of civil service examination very high, which is extremely unfavorable for selecting outstanding talents". However, according to the regulations of the competent authorities, at present, it is still insisted that there must be vacancies in the recruitment of civil servants by examination, and according to the specific requirements of vacant positions, all job competition examinations will be carried out for the society. From the national conditions, China’s regional economic and educational development is uneven, and the integrity mechanism is not yet mature. The "post competition examination" is conducive to reflecting regional differences, facilitating the actual operation of civil servants’ recruitment, and ensuring the implementation of the "open, equal, competitive and merit-based" recruitment mechanism. Therefore, for a considerable period of time, the "post competition examination" should still be used as the form of recruitment examination. (-Wang Fuyin)

Editor: Wang Jiaolong