Tang Tao, vice-minister of Human Resources and Social Security, introduced the State Council’s further effort to reduce professional qualification licenses, and answered questions from the media at a policy briefing on Nov 25.

He elaborated on China’s continuing efforts in administrative streamlining and slashing vocational qualifications.

The State Council executive meeting on Nov 23 decided to eliminate 114 more professional qualifications, for the seventh time since 2014. So far, 433 licenses have been eliminated, accounting for over 70 percent of the total, meeting the target set at the beginning of this year.

Since being established in 1994, the system of professional qualification licensing has played an important role in talent training. However, the excessive number of licenses has caused inconvenience for both market players and regulators, which may have created opportunities for abuse of power.

Leaders of the State Council have stressed on many occasions that reducing the number of professional qualifications is an important part of the reform on streamlining administration, delegating power and optimizing services. Eliminating unnecessary professional qualification and certification items is an important measure to reduce institutional costs and promote supply-side structural reform, which will also create favorable conditions for employment and entrepreneurship.

He also gave responses to five issues concerning the cancellation of vocational qualifications.

1.

Measures will be taken to ensure that the quality of job skills will not be compromised after a large number of vocational certificates are eliminated.

First, enhance on-duty training for skilled workers.

Second, further reduce the burden on talent, which is usually caused by recruiting companies strictly following the government’s policy and rules. Red tape should be cut to allow the certificates to play a positive role in improving workers’ skills.

Much work has been done to improve the quality of workers, including the establishment of a lifelong vocational training system, reform of talent appraisal system as well as efforts to hold more competitions in vocational skills to stimulate vitality among the talent.

The government holds a nationwide contest every two years to attract people to compete in vocational skills and grants the honorary title of “national skill master-hand” to the top 30 contestants.

2.

In addition, a message will be sent to the whole society that recognition of vocational qualifications has been weakened.

Inspections on the cancellation of redundant vocational qualifications will also be enhanced. The government has carried out inspection twice, in 2015 and 2016, and scheduled another one for 2017.

3.

The vocational qualification reform team, headed by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, is establishing a long-term mechanism for vocational qualification management and setting up a list of national occupational qualifications.

The qualification list will be divided into two categories: admission qualifications, which concerns security such as public security, national security, and personal security, and capability assessment qualifications, which are widely applied, technically demanding and highly professional.

No more than 30 percent of the 618 vocational qualifications will be included in the list, while related departments are prohibited from conducting qualification identifications on items that are not on the list.

4.

As a talent assessment method, vocational qualifications build a channel for talent development and professional technical and skilled personnel cultivation. To offset the cuts in vocational qualifications, efforts should be made to improve the cultivation, training, recruitment, motivation and assessment of skilled personnel. It should center on evaluations from enterprises, and organizations in the industry play a role as well.

Reducing vocational qualifications is not the same as canceling work posts or vocational standards. On the contrary, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security will strengthen vocational standards and evaluation criteria.

The recently launched “vocational training package” system is enhancing the skill of workers, which include vocational standards and evaluation criteria. A policy for identifying vocational skill level will also be rolled out.

Skilled workers were evaluated by their vocational qualifications in the past, but now they’ll be evaluated by their skill levels.

5.

If the vocational qualifications for a certification test were slashed and applicants have already paid the testing fees, they can continue or get a refund on the test fees.

People who pass the tests will still get their vocational certificates.

Students in vocational colleges who were expecting two certificates after graduation, graduation certificate and qualification certificate, will still get the two certificates.

The certificates for vocational qualifications that have been cancelled, including the 114 eliminated by the State Council executive meeting, can still be used to show vocational skills.