Recently, the Political Bureau of CPC held the 29th plenary study sessions for the development of strategic and emerging industries.

 

Professor Xue Lan, the Dean of the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University, and Feng Fei, Director of Department of Industries of the development research center of the State Council made presentations on this issue in great detail.

 

 

Xue Lan and Feng Fei began by illustrating the trend of the development of the new industries worldwide and the governments’ measures for promoting the new industries and the lessons in the industrial development process that China could learn from; explained the significance nowadays of China’s development of the strategic new industries and China's existing infrastructure and capability, and made suggestions on developing the strategic new industries.

 

The members of the Political Bureau of CPC attentively listened to the presentations and had a heated discussion on issues of promoting self-reliant innovation and the development of new energy. General Secretary Hu Jintao delivered an important speech on accelerating the development of the new industries. 

 

After being entrusted with the task of making presentations for the PB plenary study sessions. Dean Xue and the SPPM teachers and graduate students concerned began to prepare for it in an orderly and efficient way, based on the existing research findings.

 

"On the one hand, we have to organize the updated, reliable and comprehensive materials in time. On the other hand, we have to make our presentations clear-cut, easy to understand, substantiated and with supporting evidence and in a not-too-long document.

 

This politburo plenary study session was organized by the National Development and Reform Commission. Our team conducted a lot of  research and discussions, besides that, the departments of NDRC provided  plenty of materials and guidances for our preparation. We held several discussions with officials and experts concerned," Xue Lan recalls.

 

This was the second time Xue Lan stepped into the CPB collective learning classroom as a speaker and teacher. In 2003, Xue Lan, Researcher Wang Enge, the Director of the Institute of the Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Researcher Zeng Guang, the China CDC chief expert lectured for the CPB 4th collective learning about the contemporary trends of science and technology development, the development of the science and technology in China, and how to use technological means to overcome the problem of SARS.

 

"As the central leaders, they can insist on the collective learning mechanism and form a kind of system. In the study, they listened and noted carefully, and also had heated discussions on various complex problems. All these impressed me deeply," Xue said.

 

 

 

In addition to Xue Lan, Academician Fan Weicheng, the Director of the Public Safety Research Center, Tsinghua University, Professor He Jiankun, the Director of the Low-Carbon Energy Lab, and Professor Xiong Chengyu, the Director of the Cultural Industry Research Center of Tsinghua University, all lectured for the collective learning of the politburo.

 

In his speech celebrating the 100th anniversary of Tsinghua University, General Secretary Hu Jintao pointed out that the policy research should be carried out, and that think tanks also should play an active role and make positive contributions for the party, the national science policy-making, and democratic decision-making.

 

Many Tsinghua University experts in different disciplines lectured for the CPB collective learning successively. Tsinghua University has played an important role as a comprehensive higher institution of the think-tank for promoting national and social development.

 

 

 

After listening to the General Secretary’s speech in the Great Hall of the People, Xue Lan was very encouraged, “The main research direction of SPPM is public policy and public management. The first-class school of public management is supposed to be the first-class think-tank. General Secretary mentioned that the explicit requirements of the School’s think-tank role. We feel the great, also very glorious responsibility.”

 

 

Xue Lan introduced that SPPM of Tsinghua University had been making efforts these ten years. Many research centers and institutions of SPPM, such as the National Conditions Research Center, Science and Technology Policy Research Center, and Development and Planning Research Center are involved in many of the country's important decisions and strategic planning, many of which have become very influential policy research organization at home and abroad. In the recent ten years, SPPM has attracted numerous international first-class specialists and young scholars returned from overseas, and injected the powerful vitality into the think-tank.

 

At the same time, SPPM has built platforms for cooperation and communication among scholars , public policy makers and executives. e.g. established joint research center with Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology and so on. All these have made the SPPM teachers and students understand decision-making and play the role of the think-tank better. It was particularly worth mentioning that, as a think tank in academic research institutions, SPPM had already created a culture of independent thinking and objective analysis, and the policy research and suggestions we made are all based on the objective and rational analysis, not necessarily fully consistent with the current points of view of the government. This is exactly the reason why independent think tanks need to exist.

 

"Whether this involves global climate change, housing, or macroeconomics, a policy formulation contains a variety of complex issues, and may be involved in the natural sciences and sociology, economics, political sciences, social sciences. It’s a multi-disciplinary knowledge complex intersection," Xue Lan said. He continued, ”There are intensive intelligence and complete subjects in the universities, and this is incomparable to any other institution. Universities should play the role of the think-tank better, make contributions for scientific decision and democratic decision-making, and form a kind of mechanism. In this mechanism, the experts of various areas could conduct collisions of ideas for the policy formulation. At the same time, universities should often exchange and engage in feedback with the actual policymakers, so as to improve the quality of the policy suggestions."

Prof. Xue Lan, the Dean of SPPM speaks on the IMPA2010 Program Graduation Ceremony, on Friday, 15th July, 2011