On November 4, the 3rd Universities Excellent Alliance (E9) Masters in Public Administration (MPA) Forum and MPA Teaching Seminar was held at Tianjin University. Experts and scholars from the nine universities and other universities participated in the forum and discussed the development of MPA education in China.

In the forum, participants not only discussed the improvement in the quality of MPA education, but also talent cultivation and practical applications. The unique characteristics of each university’s MPA education program and their future cooperation were discussed in the forum.

At the opening ceremony, Lei Ming, Deputy Party Secretary of Tianjin University indicated that Tianjin University attaches great importance to the development of public management education.

Professor Ma Shoufeng, Executive Deputy Director of CoME outlined the “three-in-one” disciplinary integration of Management Science, Business Administration and Public Administration in CoME, and said that Tianjin University is willing to work with the E9 members to further develop public administration disciplines. Later, Professor Feng Nan, Deputy Director of CoME inaugurated the first MPA E9 teaching staff team and read out the names of the first batch of teaching staff members.

The forum was divided into two parts. The theme of the first part was, “Exchanging MPA Teaching Experience”. Chen Shuang, Deputy Director of the MPA Education Center of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Dalian University of Technology (DUT), reported on the experience of DUT and explained innovative measures to improve the quality of MPA dissertations. Professor Wang Zhiqiang, Dean of the School of Public Administration of the South China University of Technology, shared their experience in shaping students’ global perspective. Professor Ding Yunlong from the School of Management at Harbin Institute of Technology discussed the development of MPA education in universities which emphasized Science and Engineering in a rapid-changing world. Mr. Zhou Anyuan of the MPA Education Center of the School of Economics and Management at Tongji University explored resource integration of different disciplines in facilitating MPA education with a case study from Tongji University. Wu Liangfu, a distinguished foreign CoME Professor, compared and contrasted MPA education in China and the United States and gave his opinion on what the two sides can learn from each other in MPA education.

The second part was a salon, in which many distinguished teaching staff exchanged their experiences. Associate Professor Kou Xiaodong from the School of Humanities, Economics and Law of the Northwestern Polytechnical University described how teaching staff helped achieve uniformity of teaching scale, quality and efficiency in developing “Specialized Liberal Art Disciplines”. Professor Chen Yongjin from the School of Public Affairs at Chongqing University demonstrated how teaching staff can help students find their training directions based on a comprehensive understanding of each student. Professor Wen Hong from the School of Public Administration at the South China University of Technology shared a case study on MPA education and illustrated the research process which he believed would support its theoretical development. Associate Professor Associate Professor Liu Dayong of CoME shared the experience of helping students develop interest in theoretical learning and the application of theories. Others exchanged their own experience.

Later, members of the E9 MPA Alliance reached an agreement and developed a memorandum.

The handover ceremony was held after the forum, where it was decided that Dalian University of Technology will be the sponsor of the fourth forum in 2019.