I. Features of This Discipline
1) Perfecting the construction of discipline organization, and strengthening the top-level design discipline development.
A series of policies concerning faculty construction, scientific research and talent cultivation are issued for sake of disciplinary development. It has formed two-level management system of four dimensions: university, school, discipline and professors. It highlights the top-level overall design function of the university, develops the school’s initiative in discipline construction and management, and stimulates the incentive of the professors in the discipline. So far, The Discipline of Public Administration has 5 well-developed sub-disciplines: Public Administration, Labor and Social Security, Public Budget and Performance Management, Public Governance and Government Audit, and Government Regulation and Environmental Resource Management.
2) Promoting Multi-disciplinary integration and cultivating high-level interdisciplinary talents.
It focuses on the integration of public administration with applied economics and business administration, and thereupon establishes sub-disciplines with special characteristics, such as Public Budget and Performance Management, and Public Governance and Government Audit. Giving new insights into the government audit system from the perspective of public administration and establishing a new government audit framework on the basis of public administration theory not only poses new challenges on the existing government audit strategies but also provides theoretical support and a new way of thinking in the aspect of government audit reform. It analyzes the substantive characteristics of national finance from the perspective of public accountability, proposes the idea that national finance is public finance which provides public goods and public services for the market and makes up for market failure. This casts a new insight into the perfection of public finance under the modern market economic system. It plays an important supporting role in disciplinary development and talent cultivation of the university in the aspects of educational philosophy, discipline orientation, curriculum and cultivation mode.
3) Supporting the development of local economy, and establishing high-level public administration think tank.
It makes full use of professional characteristics and advantages to support the local social and economic development and provide intellectual support for government policy making. It takes initiative in providing support for audit profession and local economic development and strengthens its connections with audit offices of all levels and local government. It provides human resources, technology and intellectual support for the development of Chinese audit cause and local economy. This discipline team has become the think tank for government audit.
4) Enhancing international cooperation and exchanges, and promoting the level of internationalization of this discipline.
The internationalization of the discipline requires its team to possess the basic qualities of internationalized talents from the aspects of concept, knowledge and capability. The academic cooperation and exchanges with foreign public administration academy has greatly improved the internationalization of public administration researches in our university. School of Public Economics has hosted two international academic conferences: “Public Administration Symposium of Four Regions Across the Strait”, “Sino-US Public Administration International Symposium”. Through the international conferences, the discipline team kept track of the latest trend and the most advanced experience, and started to open the research frontier both in theory and practice. The team also undertook consulting project commissioned by World Bank, which gains the discipline broader influence and higher brand image.
II. Advantages of This Discipline
1) It has a reasonably-structured discipline team. Through absorbing talents from outside and cultivating the existing talents, the discipline team has been optimized. During the construction period, 5 excellent leading researchers and doctors from outside joined this team. 4 associate professors were promoted to be professors, 6 lecturers were promoted to be associate professors, and 6 teachers obtained their doctor’s degree. The team is becoming more reasonably-structured: among 40 members, 9 are professors and 13 are associate professors, and teachers under the age of 40 have all obtained doctor’s degree.
2) It has fruitful scientific research outcome. The team completed with excellence 25 projects at national or provincial level, among which 3 are funded by National Social Science Fund; The scientific research funds amount to 1,276,000 yuan, more specifically, public and government fund 269,500 yuan, commercial research fund 710,000 yuan and school allocation fund 269,500 yuan. During the construction period, the team completed 39 projects at all levels, among which, 1 key project and 2 general projects are funded by National Social Science Fund, and 10 projects are funded at provincial level. The scientific research funds amount to 3,509,000 yuan, more specifically, public and government fund 1,632,000 yuan, commercial research fund 100,000 yuan and school allocation fund 1,777,000 yuan. The team published 138 high-quality academic papers in authoritative journals or core journals nationwide, among which, 56 are included in CSSCI and 10 are included in EI. They published 8 academic monographs.
3) It has cultivated high-quality talents. During the construction period, the discipline completed the MPA cooperation program with Beijing University and China National Audit Office. From 2003 to 2010, a total of 382 graduates have obtained their master’s degree. This has laid a solid foundation for independent master program of Nanjing Audit University. During the construction period, a total of 280 undergraduates graduated with a degree in public administration. The employment rate of graduates remains high and it reached 100% in 2012. The number of research outcomes including academic papers, research programs and research prizes of undergraduates amounts to 22, among which 1 graduation thesis won first-class award of Jiangsu Province Excellent Graduation Thesis. Over 30 undergraduates obtained the chance to further their studies in well-renowned universities in China, such as Beijing University, Qinghua University, Nanjing University, Fudan University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Macau University of science and technology.
4) It provides highly effective social service. In the past years, the discipline team undertook 40 commercial research fund projects, and the research fund amounts to over 3,000,000 yuan. Professor Hu Ningsheng participated in the key research project funded by Jiangsu Government, “Promoting the Construction of Service Oriented Government”, and her research finding “Research on the Performance Management System of Jiangsu Government” was included in “The Construction of Jiangsu Provincial Government Performance Management System” compiled by Luo Zhijun and published by Jiangsu People’s Publishing House. In 2011, Jiangsu provincial government performance management system was carried out in an all-round way. Professor Hou Xiaoxian undertook the consulting project commissioned by World Bank, “Research on the Promotion of Internal Control of Public Projects and Ministry of Communications in Laos”. His research findings were highly acknowledged by World Bank and the government of Laos. Besides these, the discipline team also provides all forms of social service