The decoupling reform allows industry associations to fade from the "official color" and effectively solve the problems of insufficient funds and lack of talents

After the science and technology community took off the "red hat"

　　Due to historical reasons, many scientific and technological societies are part of the national ministries and commissions, and undertake the responsibilities of scientific and technological development and exchanges in different fields. However, due to their secondary and subordinate position in the ministries and commissions, many scientific and technological societies have long faced insufficient funding, lack of talent, and Issues such as irregular management and weak service capabilities

　　After the technology community is decoupled, it will face the loss of human, financial and resources. If you do not take the initiative, these problems will become more serious.

However, although decoupling will make the science and technology community suffer the short-term "throttles" of losing administrative attachment and resource dependence, it can better promote its own development in the long run.

　　Improve system construction through legislation to clarify the boundaries between the government and industry associations. Whatever should be handed over to the market will be handed over to the market, and what should be handed over to the community will be handed over to the community, so that industry associations can rely on service and innovation to base themselves on the market and the industry.

　　□ Our reporter Wen Yuanhao

　　Among the many academic groups in our country, the China Computer Society appears to be very different-this is inseparable from Du Zide.

　　The Chinese Computer Society was first affiliated with the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Institute of Computing Technology). Like other scientific and technological societies, it sends notices and collects membership dues. It will hold an annual meeting and a general meeting in a few years. Most of the staff are Officials who are about to retire or family members of affiliated employees.

In September 1996, Du Zide, who was engaged in scientific research at the Institute of Computing Technology, was sent to work at the China Computer Society because he was "very capable of telling things."

Ten years later, Du Zide, who has become the secretary-general of the society, promoted the society to become the first society in my country's science and technology society to complete the decoupling reform.

　　In recent years, with the launch of the decoupling reform of industry associations and chambers of commerce, the decoupling reform of scientific and technological societies is also slowly advancing. A few societies and associations such as China Highway Society, China Navigation Society, and China Industrial Design Association have successively completed decoupling.

In February of this year, the China Association for Science and Technology announced that six associations including the China Standardization Association, China Fire Protection Association, and China Mental Health Association have completed the work of decoupling reforms and are no longer in charge of the China Association for Science and Technology.

　　An expert interviewed by a reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" pointed out that for historical reasons, many scientific and technological societies are part of the national ministries and commissions, which undertake the responsibilities of scientific and technological development and exchanges in different fields. However, due to their secondary and subordinate position in the ministries and commissions, they have long been Many science and technology associations face problems such as insufficient funds, lack of talents, irregular management, and weak service capabilities.

　　The interviewed experts believe that, like other industry associations, after the decoupling of science and technology associations, they will also face the loss of human, financial and resources. If they do not take the initiative, these problems will be more serious, various activities will be difficult to carry out, and they will eventually become "zombies." learn".

However, although decoupling will make the scientific and technological community suffer the short-term "pain" of losing administrative attachment and resource dependence, it can better promote its own development in the long run.

Learn to actively ask for decoupling

Realize socialization and professionalization

　　"I am a transitional figure from the old system to the new system." After retiring from the post of secretary-general on March 1 this year, Du Zide said frankly in an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily, "Traditionally speaking, the society has Affiliated units can get some support, and we learned to take the initiative to request separation. This was an unprecedented thing more than 10 years ago, but it is this move that greatly increased the vitality of the society and achieved socialization and professionalization."

　　"In the past, the society didn't take members seriously, not even individual members." Du Zide, for example, said, "In 1998, ACM (International Computer Society) visited China and asked how many members we have, we replied 6 Ten thousand, the other party expressed surprise and thought that the number was great. But in fact, this is just a rough estimate based on our 2,000 members in each province. As long as it is the governing unit of our society, we will default to the professionals of the unit They are all our members, which is ridiculous!"

　　When he arrived at the China Computer Society, Du Zide was only 41 years old, at the age of Fenghua Zhengmao's career.

"At the time, I was unwilling to leave my youth in this place, but in the end I chose to learn to work. Previously, although the administrative headquarters of this organization was located in the computing office, it did not help my professional development at all. If I Coming to operate, can this society change and bring value to others? This is the simple idea that I agreed to work for the China Computer Society.” Du Zide recalled.

　　"Before the decoupling, the affiliated unit would provide various support such as salary, office space, etc., totaling more than 200,000 yuan. However, the society also paid a great price: the chairman or the executive vice chairman and the secretary general From affiliated units, full-time personnel cannot be recruited; due to the limitation of establishment and space, many businesses cannot be expanded... How can we develop in this way?” Du Zide made no secret of this, “We think that this is a model under the fence. It is abnormal, and the meeting should be held democratically. After the change of the board of directors in 2004, Chairman Li Guojie and I were very eager to decouple."

　　In September 2006, they finally waited for such an opportunity.

At the same time, Shen Aimin, then head of the Academic Department of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, put forward: "Whoever wants to leave the affiliation can be a pilot."

Therefore, with this shareholder spirit, the Chinese Computer Society and the Chinese Nutrition Society successfully completed the decoupling.

　　After 17 years of reform, the China Computer Society has become quite different from the previous year. The number of paying members has grown from 0 to 83,000, the full-time staff of the Secretariat has grown from 4 to 43, and the annual income has increased from 2 million to 2 million. More than 90 million yuan.

Adhering to the concept of "member structure, member governance, and service to members", the society has established a comprehensive governance structure such as member priority, differential election, compliance with regulations, and supervision in place, and has a certain international reputation. The academic community of the company has close exchanges and in-depth cooperation with international academic organizations such as ACM and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).

　　"Academic communities need to use associations as the organizational carrier. Without associations, it is difficult to form an academic community. We especially hope that more societies can carry out reforms like us, thus forming a benign development environment." Du Zide said.

Decoupling reform came into being

De-administration has a long way to go

　　Six years ago, a reform aimed at letting trade associations and chambers of commerce lose their “official status” came into being. The China Highway Society stood at a fork in the road of development. This experience made Liu Wenjie, the secretary-general of the society, still fresh in his memory.

　　Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have made specific arrangements for the reform of trade associations and chambers of commerce, demanding to speed up the formation of a modern social organization system that separates the government from the public, clearly defined powers and responsibilities, and governs by law.

In July 2015, the "Overall Plan for the Decoupling of Industrial Associations and Chambers of Commerce from Administrative Authorities" issued by the Central Office and the State Council was announced.

　　This long-awaited reform officially kicked off in November 2015, and the China Highway Society became the first science and technology society to complete the decoupling in this reform.

It is understood that in 1978, under the joint initiative and support of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Transport, the China Highway Society was formally established. Its supervisor is the Chinese Association for Science and Technology. It accepts business guidance from the Ministry of Transport and is affiliated with the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Transport. .

　　"Since the 1990s, with the continuous deepening of reforms, the Society has gradually decoupled from the Ministry of Transport in terms of staffing, fund allocation, office space, etc., especially since 2004 has begun professional reforms." Liu Wenjie Told the reporter of "Rules of Law Daily" that fortunately, the Society has already achieved professionalism and autonomy in employee recruitment, asset management, office space, etc. Therefore, the formal decoupling from the Ministry of Transport in November 2015 did not cause much to the normal work of the Society. pressure.

　　"After decoupling, I learned to change the original administrative thinking, focus on enterprises and scientific and technological workers, and strive to improve service awareness." Liu Wenjie said, through continuous strengthening of governance structure and governance reforms, innovation of service methods, expansion of service areas, To improve service quality, the China Highway Society has explored a unique development path for the society under the decoupling mode. It is formed under the leadership of the society’s party committee and the society’s council, and is managed by the society’s secretariat as a whole. It is managed by business departments, functional departments, and directly affiliated branches. The secretariat office and work organization constituted by a large system have achieved business integration and unified allocation of resources, effectively improving work efficiency and operating efficiency, and further promoting the professionalization of the staff of the institute’s office.

　　"The development of industry associations in our country is very uneven, and some even have administrative levels, government funding and certain administrative approval powers. They have the positioning of'two governments' and have long been in a non-competitive pattern of'one industry, one meeting'. "Liu Wenjie called for the improvement of the system through legislation to clarify the boundaries between the government and industry associations. Whatever should be handed over to the market will be handed over to the market, and what should be handed over to the community will be handed over to the community, so that the industry community can rely on service and innovation to establish a foothold in the market and gain a foothold. In the industry.

At the same time, further improve the rules and regulations for government procurement of services, strengthen the transfer of government functions, and encourage associations and organizations such as the society to play the role of bridges and bonds.

Continuously improve service capabilities

Improve the comprehensive supervision system

　　At present, there are 210 societies, associations, and research associations nationwide under the China Association for Science and Technology.

Among them, 46 are science, 78 are engineering, 16 are agriculture, 28 are medical, and 42 are interdisciplinary.

　　In March 2016, the "Implementation Plan for Deepening the Reform of the Association for Science and Technology System" issued by the Central Office stated that the deepening of the reform of the Association for Science and Technology system must firmly grasp the horns of the affiliated society, highlight the key points of the society’s governance structure and governance reforms, and promote members in an all-round way. Reform of structure, offices, personnel appointments, governance structure, and management methods, improve service capabilities, fundamentally solve outstanding problems such as insufficient cohesion, weak vitality, and loose organization, and truly make the society stronger and stronger.

　　At the same time, the implementation plan clearly requires to promote the substantive construction of the society’s secretariat, establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism for the affiliated units of the office, clarify the power and responsibility relationship between the affiliated units and the society, expand the pilot scope of the non-affiliated and non-business supervisory units, and strive to create efficient operation. , Standard and orderly entity offices.

　　In this regard, Du Zide concluded: “There are four key elements in the reform of the society. The first is to complete decoupling and achieve no affiliation; the second is to expand the scale of membership, and some societies have almost no individual members; the third is to open elections to achieve membership. Governance; the fourth is to promote the professionalization of the Secretary-General and establish a team of full-time staff with strong professional capabilities. These contents are actually interlinked. If there are no members, how to conduct elections and how to achieve effective governance, which will affect the industry and the society. Make a contribution?"

　　"After decoupling, industry associations have been placed outside the government and in the market, and need to complement the government and the market with their needs and resources." Meng Fanrong, a professor at the School of Public Policy and Management of Xi'an Jiaotong University, believes that the current development of science and technology associations needs to be solved urgently. The question is how to strengthen service capabilities through self-enhancement to gain more stakeholder support and participation.

　　Fanrong Meng said that from the perspective of the development of the association itself, internally, through standardizing the agenda of the association, improving the democratic governance mechanism, and improving the incentive and supervision mechanism, the internal governance capabilities of the association are improved. Externally, through optimizing the allocation of functions, establishing strategic alliances, and focusing on branding. Operation and other means to improve the ability of resource mobilization and integration are all important means to enhance one's own competitiveness, expand external capital, and self-enhance.

　　In Liu Wenjie's view, the current supervision of related aspects is relatively lagging. On the one hand, the existing information disclosure system and information release platform are lacking, and it is impossible to ensure that the behavior of science and technology associations is open and transparent to accept supervision from the public, members and the government; on the other hand, , The formalization of the internal supervision system and internal governance structure of science and technology associations has led to the lack of fairness, democracy and impartiality in internal governance.

“Some societies have the problem of insufficient industry representation. In addition to the imperfect information disclosure system, industry monopolies are likely to occur. If the social supervision force does not keep up, it may also lead to the power rent-seeking of the society when engaging in public services, resulting in new corruption."

　　Liu Wenjie suggested that an access and exit mechanism should be established, a comprehensive supervision system should be improved, power boundaries should be clarified, and power and responsibilities should be unified, and service supervision should be equally emphasized.

In accordance with the requirements of the non-profit principle, standardize the service behaviors of science and technology associations, play the role of guiding the behavior of members, restricting the rules and safeguarding rights and interests, so that after decoupling, they will truly become legally established, self-hosted, service-oriented, standardized governance, and behavioral self-discipline. Social organization.