The opening ceremony for the Seventh International Conference on ‘Public Management in the 21st Century: Opportunities and Challenges’ was held today (27 October) at Mr and Mrs Lau Chor Tak Lecture Theatre, Anthony Lau Building, University of Macau (UM).

Keynote speakers at the conference included Prof Susan T Gooden, president of the American National Academy of Public Administration; Prof Jan Chung-Yuang, from the Department of Public Administration, Chengchi University, Taiwan; Prof Zang Xiaowei, from the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong; and Prof Lin Zhimin, from the Department of Government and Public Administration, UM. The speeches covered the latest developments in theories and practices in global public governance.

The keynote session, which was moderated by Prof Yu Jianxin, dean of the School of Public Management at Zhejiang University, was followed by a special forum titled ‘Macao Forum’, chaired by Prof Lin Zhimin from the Department of Government and Public Administration, UM. Guest speakers at the forum included Prof Andrew Podger, former chair of the Institute of Public Administration Australia; Prof Hon S Chan, assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong; Prof Niu Junyu from Fudan University; and Prof Chen Tianxiang from Sun Yat-sen University. The speakers had an in-depth discussion on the topic of ‘Reform and Development of the Civil Service System’ and exchanged ideas with experts, scholars, and civil servants from the Macao SAR government.

The 1.5-day conference was divided into three plenary sessions, with 14 separate panel discussions. Nearly 90 experts and scholars from 13 countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, India, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan presented their papers at the conference.

The theme of the conference was, ‘Enhancement of Public Governance: Challenges and Responses’. Important topics discussed at the conference included: Improving Public Administration: Challenges and Approaches; Civil Service Reform and Development; Government Reform and Governance; Challenges of Social Welfare in The Economic Recession Era; Governance Capability Building of Government; Social Policy and Government Function Tranformation; The Mechanism and Effect of Transformation for Public Administration; The New Technology and Governance; Public Service delivery; Reform and Innovation of Local Government; Social Risks and Crisis Management; The Reform and Prospect of Public Administration; Human Resource Development and management of Public Sector; Fiscal Sustainability; and Administrative Accountability and Anti-Corruption; and Performance Evaluation of the Public Sector.

The conference aimed to offer participants a broader perspective, to encourage more researchers to address major public management issues, and to promote academic exchange and cooperation between scholars from China and overseas.

The opening ceremony was attended by Chan Hoi Fan, secretary for administration and justice of the Macao SAR; Kou Peng Kuan, director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau; Wei Zhao, rector of UM; Dr Wu Zhiliang, president of the Board of Directors of the Macao Foundation; and Prof Xiao Bin, dean of the School of Politics and Public Affairs of Sun Yat-sen University.

The biennial conference was co-organised by the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau of the Macao SAR, the Sun Yat-sen University Center for Chinese Public Administration Research, UM, and the Macao Foundation, with assistance from the Macao Inter-regional Public Administration Study Association, and Macau Public Administration Association.


Source: Faculty of Social Sciences 

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