Incorporating emergency management into public administration education: The case of China

ABSTRACT

As the scale and frequency of disasters continues to intensify, public administration programs in both China and the United States are increasingly acknowledging the importance of integrating emergency management into public administration education. After briefly reviewing and comparing their respective emergency management systems, this study describes the development of emergency management in the field of public administration in both countries. Using data collected from multiple sources, this study provides a synopsis of emergency management education within public administration programs in China and compares its progress, development, and challenges with the American emergency management programs. While the development of emergency management education is driven by practical needs and national initiatives, in China it remains in its development stage.

KEYWORDS:

• Emergency management
• public administration
• education
• China

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Myung H. Jin for organizing a special symposium on “Public Administration Education in Asia.” We would also thank the editors of JPAE and anonymous reviews for their constructive comments and feedback. We are grateful for Dr. Claire Knox and Dr. Naim Kapucu for taking time to provide useful feedback on the manuscript. Lastly, we would like to recognize Rui Gao, a doctoral student at Nanjing University in China, for his hard work in data collection.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. In this study, for the sake of simplicity, I use ‘public administration’ as an encompassing term to include public management, public administration, public affairs, and public policy.

2. In this study, by programs, we either referred to master programs of emergency management or master programs of public administration. We did not include undergraduate programs, graduate certificate, major, or minor programs.

3. Despite their distinct names and different disciplinary origins, these courses may cover overlapping topics and concepts.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Qian Hu

Qian Hu, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Central Florida. Her current research interests include emergency management networks, collaborative governance, organizational network research, and scholarship of teaching and learning. Her work has been published in academic journals such as Public Administration Review, the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, American Review of Public Administration, Public Management Review, Administration & Society, and the Journal of Public Affairs Education.

Haibo Zhang

Haibo Zhang (corresponding author), Ph.D., is a professor and director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Risk, Disaster and Crisis Management, School of Government, Nanjing University, China. His current research interests include emergency management networks, social media in disaster response and crisis communication, organizational and policy learning after disasters, and social risk governance in China. His work has been published in academic journals such as and Safety Science. Social Sciences in China, Chinese Public Administration, Chinese Journal of Public Management, CASS Journal of Political Science, Sociological Studies, and the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis.