The four city universities which have been allowed to enroll students for the Master of Public Admini-stration courses starting in February, are now turning their attention to working out tailor-made cur-riculums and attracting experienced teaching staff.

The Ministry of Education in March gave the go-ahead for 24 national universities, including the four in Shanghai - Fudan, Jiao Tong, Tongji and East China Normal - to launch MPA courses. Each has been allocated 100 seats.

"This is for the first time that such a practical course has been launched in China to cultivate administrative people to work for government departments, public service institutes and non-governmental organizations," said Zheng Huiqiang, a Tongji official.

Like the Master of Business Administration course, Zheng said MPA curriculum will emphasize case studies and group discussions. As such experienced professors, who can apply theoretical principles to the real administrative world, are in great demand.

The degree is extremely popular in the United States where more than 30,000 are studying the course.

Following the establishment of MPA departments, the teaching staff from various other departments like politics, law, sociology, and business administration were transferred.

"Though they are experienced at theoretical studies, many professors lack working experience," said Gu Jianguang, dean of the MPA department at Jiao Tong University.

In addition, Jiao Tong also plans to attract overseas academics and high-level Chinese government officials to be guest lecturers.

Two Chinese specialists working at Japanese universities have already agreed to return to Jiao Tong.

Wang Yu, in her 30s and who has worked at the United Nations on urban planning and development, will probably return from Kyoto University, according to Gu. "Her experience of working on real cases with the U.N. will be of great help to our MPA program," Gu admitted.

Qu Bosheng, a professor at Fudan's MPA department, also emphasized the role of case studies.

"We are fully engaged in compiling case studies, which can be adapted to the situation in China," Qu said.

With entrance exams due in November, applicants are busy attending preparatory courses.

However, statistics show that nearly 200 to 300 students are attending each of these courses, leading many to believe competition will be very tough in the first year.

(Eastday.com.cn 06/14/2001)