China has adopted new measures to select management of public institutions, such as allowing headhunters to participate in the process.

Reforms of the personnel system are key to reforming non-profit non-governmental organizations, a process that has been under way for years, said Prof. Wang Yukai of the Chinese Academy of Governance.

Wang has been studying public institution reforms for years and is a government consultant on public administration.

According to a regulation issued Tuesday by the general office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, a more competitive selection process will be introduced, including entrusting "relevant agencies" to select leaders. According to Wang, such agencies may include headhunters.

The regulation will help implement reforms of public institutions and make them provide better service to the public, Wang said.

China has more than one million public institutions founded using state assets. They mainly engage in education, technological, cultural, and health services.

However, their close relations with government have hindered their development and burdened public finance. Authorities have said that they will not approve new public institutions.

Reforms of public institutions are expected to make their management more like that of for-profit companies in order to adapt to market competition.

Wang said an appointment system for public institution management teams should be promoted, as stipulated by the regulation, in order to rid them of reliance on "iron rice bowl" positions -- secure and lifelong jobs that have been highly sought after.

The regulation also ordered implementation of a tenure system for members of management teams, stating that a person may not hold a post for more than ten years in a public institution.

The regulation stresses that candidates must have both integrity and ability to act as part of the management team, and they should possess both political integrity and professional competence.

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