Policy Learning in Public Management by Dr Richard Common
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On 17th April, 2013, Manchester Business school held a spotlight session at American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, the theme is “From London to Beijing: Training and Development as an Agent of Policy Learning in Public Management”. Dr. Richard Common from Manchester Business School gave a speech on public policy learning and training development for civil servant.Around 20 executives attended the event.
A former civil servant, Richard's academic career began as a researcher at the London Business School in 1988. Since then, he has lectured and researched at various UK universities plus the City University of Hong Kong. Richard joined MBS in June 2007 from the Business School at the University of Hull. He has written articles recently published in Public Management Review, International Review of Administrative Sciences and Public Administration and Development. He is also the author of Public Management and Policy Transfer in South East Asia.
The education and training of international public managers is a powerful mechanism for policy learning and transfer. A number of countries are investing in overseas training programs for their public servants to bring back international “know how” and good practice. Although this practice has been coterminous with the expansion of relatively easier and affordable international travel, policy learning activity in the area of administrative reform appears to have intensified.
Though largely undocumented, the UK has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of cohorts of Chinese civil servants arriving to enroll in short courses. Many of these courses areconducted outside the University system and are arranged and hosted by independent organizations.
Despite this being a growth industry, the impacts are unclear and raise a number of questions, such as, what is being learned about UK public administration and how much of it is being transferred back to China? What is it about UK public administration that has particular appeal to China? Although training and development may have a multiple agenda, the assumption is that its primary purpose is to facilitate knowledge transfer.
During the spotlight session, Dr. Common helped the audience to understand whether this recent trend constitutes an agent of international policy transfer between Britain and China. Dr. Common analysed the nature of policy learning fromthe UK within a cohort of senior Chinese public servants.
After the speech, Dr. Richard Common took questions from the floor and also commented on each case and gave suggestions.
Marketing team of Manchester Business School China Centre also attended this event and made introduction to the audience about China Centre and Global MBA program.
Manchester business school is one of the first business schools in the UK and becomes a global leading business education provider after nearly 50 years development. MBS China centre which was launched in 2008 is committed to provide world-class business education opportunities to the Chinese people, continuously making contribution to the society and development of regional education.
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