A review of police education and training in China

Introduction to police education and training in China This chapter will examine police education and training in China, from its initial creation to current developments. Through 60 years of trials and hardships Chinese police education and training (for brevity’s sake referred to as police education in most instances) continues to grow and develop. Since the reform and ‘opening up’ policy, approved at the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee in 1978, police education has made significant leaps in the past 30 years and boasts some important achievements.1 Chinese police education has its modern origins in the communist system of Mao Zedong where the police were seen as primarily serving the state and ruling party machinery, which was largely reflected in police training. After decades of reform, a relatively mature system of training and education has been established. Pioneering and typical examples of training practices will be presented to illustrate this process. Despite some important obstacles, China initiated a new round of police education reform in 2008, based on its historical experience and awareness of the inadequacies in existing practice (Wang 2010). The current reform attaches greater importance to occupation-related skills training and recruitment system improvement (see Peeters’ chapter), which is underpinned by an official commitment to meritocratic practices and professionalism (Wong 2011: 18). This is also an important measure of the new general orientation of the police and public services to adapt to new national priorities. Police education in China, as elsewhere, reflects important aspects of the national education system (Zhou 2005), as well as the police organizations’ own practices. In the broad sense, police education refers to the activities that can help police or students improve their overall policing abilities including increasing their knowledge and skills by means of education and training (Stanislas, Chapter 1). China’s police education, in essence, is vocational, including general academic police education and in-service training. General academic police or undergraduate education places emphasis on the student’s overall qualities (Stanislas ibid.), which include scientific and cultural qualities, such as being versed in the liberal arts, as well as career skills, and an appropriate academic degree or certificate is granted upon graduation and completion of studies. In-service police training mainly refers to basic skills training. Police education refers primarily to education and training that take place in police colleges (schools) or universities, as well as in some police internship bases. Chinese higher police education and training institutions are an integral part of public security agencies or organs, and their main task is to produce qualified police professionals for public security agencies. In this regard the Chinese higher education systems shares similarities to the Hungarian system. In the 60 years of police education and training in China gradually developed into a relatively mature and comprehensive system, while retaining very important Chinese characteristics. The present system has historically passed through what can be viewed broadly as the initial foundation period and the new development period.