KEYWORDS: emergency management major, higher education, curriculum design .... and offer a bachelor's degree, master's degree, and doctorate.
Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Manuscript 1896
Higher Education of Emergency Management in China Yi Lixin, Nankai University Peng Li, Nankai University Junxue Zhou, Nankai University Ge Lingling, Nankai University
©2011 Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved.
Higher Education of Emergency Management in China Yi Lixin, Peng Li, Junxue Zhou, and Ge Lingling
Abstract In order to understand the situation of higher education of emergency management major in China, the relevant information was gathered, the general situation of emergency management higher education of China was introduced and the major problems of the higher education of emergency management faced were identified. Finally, the study put forward some suggestions about the development direction, curriculum design, teacher team training and textbook publication of emergency management higher education in China. KEYWORDS: emergency management major, higher education, curriculum design Author Notes: We are deeply grateful to Prof. Robert McCreight for the review of the earlier version of the manuscript and his helpful suggestions and valuable comments that improved and clarified the manuscript.
Lixin et al.: Higher Education of EM in China
1
In China, natural disasters, public health incidents, and other emergencies have been recurrent phenomena. Two hundred thousand people die from these events each year (National Disaster Mitigation Center 2010). During the past twenty years, China has experienced many disasters, including flooding in 1998; an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, which was a serious public health event; snowstorms and the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008; and the Yushu earthquake in Qinghai province in 2010. Because these disasters not only caused casualties and property losses but also had a profound impact on the economy, politics, and other aspects of Chinese society, they highlighted the importance of emergency management. Emergency management plays an important role in preventing major accidents, ensuring public safety and health, and improving the level of national disaster response in China. Before a disaster occurs, emergency management can provide monitoring and prevention; when a disaster occurs, emergency management conducts rescue and relief work; and after the disaster, emergency management contributes to recovery and reconstruction. However, emergency management is regarded as a new discipline in China, having emerged with the development and progress of industrial production technology, and a sound higher education system for emergency management has not yet been established. Because the emergency management discipline is usually part of and is approached through studies in safety technology and engineering, there is a lack of expertise in this area. This paper reviews the history of emergency management in higher education in China; analyzes the current status of the discipline; and points out the problems existing in faculty recruitment, curriculum design, and training mode. By providing suggestions for improvement in China’s approach to emergency management higher education, it seeks to ensure that emergency managers will be trained to meet the needs for economic and social development and for disaster prevention and mitigation that are unique to the country. A BRIEF SUMMARY OF CHINESE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HIGHER EDUCATION In the Chinese higher education system, if any college wants to establish a new major, the action must be approved by the Ministry of Education, and the name of the new major should be listed in the Catalog of Doctor, Master and Bachelor Majors issued by the Committee of Degree Management in the State Council. The People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, and the first majors related to
Published by Berkeley Electronic Press, 2011
2
JHSEM:
emergency management were in the fields of industrial security technology and industrial sanitation technology, offered at the Capital University of Economics and Business; after 1958, many universities and institutions were offering majors related to emergency management. In 1998, all related majors were given the same name: safety engineering. This major covers many fields, such as military industry, aviation industry, and chemical industry (Tian and Ma 2006). By 2010, about 7,000 students a year in 127 universities and institutions in China were majoring in safety engineering. In 2003, SARS spread widely throughout China, posing a great challenge to Chinese government (Zhu and Han 2009). In response, the Ministry of Education approved an emergency management major. This meant that the Chinese had put professional emergency management into the higher education plan. Currently, only four universities offer this major. A doctorate in safety technology and engineering was first offered in 1986. Emergency management is one of its research specializations (Liu, Sun, and Liu 2007). As of 2010, more than fifty universities have the right to confer a master’s degree in safety technology and engineering, and about 1,000 students earn this degree every year; more than twenty universities have the right to confer a doctorate in this subject, and about 280 students earn this degree every year. A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHINA Those who pursue a career in emergency management are mainly the graduates in safety engineering. The core curriculum of these students in each college are industry specific. Possible areas of specialization are mining safety, fire and explosion control, city public safety, petrochemicals, transportation safety, and natural disasters (Yuan and Xie 2006). Mining Safety Mining safety was the first area of specialization offered in the emergency management field. Mining safety deals with such issues as gas and coal dust explosions, coal and gas outbursts, and mine fires. The main courses are gas leak prevention, fire prevention, safety observation and monitoring, ventilation and safety, enterprise safety management, emergency rescue technology, and accident investigation (Wang 2003). Both China University of Mining and Technology and Central South University have the right to confer a doctorate in this field.
Lixin et al.: Higher Education of EM in China
3
Fire and Explosion Safety This field mainly deals with the issues of fire and explosion disasters. The University of Science and Technology of China and Beijing Institute of Technology are the leading universities that offer the bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctorate in this area. State Key Laboratory of Fire Science is at the University of Science and Technology of China. Its research areas are fire dynamics theory, visual simulation and virtual reality techniques, security risk evaluation and performance design, fire control optimization, fire detection and technology, intelligence safety engineering, and new flame retardants (Fan and Liu 2006). State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science and Technology is at Beijing Institute of Technology. Its research areas are natural burning and explosion mechanisms and prevention, military explosion mechanisms and protection, safety detection and confirmation of dangerous substances, and system safety evaluation. City Public Safety This major focuses on city public emergency management. The leading universities in this area, Tsinghua University and Naikai University, offer the master’s degree and doctorate. Their research courses cover theories and methodologies of disaster prevention, and key technologies of emergency management (Niu and Zhu 2003). Their areas of specialization are safety science theory and methodology, city safety, production safety, environmental safety, fire and heat safety, nuclear and radiation safety, electrical safety, public safety assessment and public safety policy. Petrochemicals The leading university in this field, China University of Petroleum, can award the master’s degree and the doctorate. Its research areas are safety engineering and technology of chemistry and petrochemicals, safety engineering information technology, and industrial disaster prevention and control (Liu, Sun, and Liu 2007). Transportation Safety All the transportation universities have a transportation safety engineering major and offer a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctorate. Their research areas
Published by Berkeley Electronic Press, 2011
4
JHSEM:
in transportation safety are management, behavior, engineering and technology, control systems, and information and control techniques (Qian, Zhou, and Guang 2007). Natural Disasters This field of emergency management is led by the Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management at Beijing Normal University. Its students should have a background in geography. Its research areas are the laws and mechanisms of natural disasters, and heavy disaster emergency management (Ye, Guo, and Shi 2005). Management The only universities that offer an emergency management major are Jinan University and Henan Polytechnic University. The teachers mainly have a background in management knowledge (Zhu and Han 2009). Their research direction is still under exploration. To deal with various kinds of major emergencies, each university has established different safety engineering majors with different requirements. The characteristics of each major determine the training goals, teaching plans, and outlines. The universities have established the curriculum and course content in accordance with the specific requirements of each field. As a result, the safety engineering staffs in China are competent to deal with industry emergencies and local disaster events, but they are weak in dealing with larger natural disasters because of their knowledge limitations. Therefore, they are professionals in their own fields but cannot be emergency managers for the government. MAJOR ISSUES IN EDUCATION IN CHINA
EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT
HIGHER
On March 11, 2011, an earthquake registering 9 on the Richter scale gave the world's emergency management personnel a vivid lesson. The Chinese government had been waiting for the next earthquake whose impact would be as strong as that of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The 2011 quake showed that after years of development and despite some achievements, emergency management higher education in China still has many problems (Liu 2009). The severe situation required emergency management staff to grasp the essential theories of emergency management and have the comprehensive ability to
Lixin et al.: Higher Education of EM in China
5
response to major disasters. The primary problems for emergency management higher education in China are as follows. 1. Limited Opportunities to Major in Emergency Management So far, only four colleges and universities in China offer an emergency management major. After 2008, the central and provincial governments established an emergency management office. One of the urgent tasks is to train emergency management personnel for this newly established office, but it is difficult to find capable trainers in this field. It is reported that government officials often go abroad for emergency management training because no domestic units can provide qualified training courses. To improve the comprehensive quality of emergency management personnel and response to major accidents and disasters, more colleges and universities should be prepared to offer an emergency management major. 2. Lack of a Comprehensive Emergency Management Curriculum At present, each college and university lays out its own educational program, with a curriculum designed around a specific aspect of emergency management. As a result, graduates have in-depth knowledge of only that area of specialization but are not equipped to deal comprehensively with disasters. To reduce the loss from disasters, China is badly in need of emergency managers who can deal with all kinds of disasters. It needs to establish a credible, comprehensive, and challenging course of emergency management in higher education, but neither the China Department of Education nor the universities have agreed upon and articulated a common standard for collegiate education in the relevant fields. The training objectives are not only specific disaster preparedness and prevention but also skills in addressing the “all-hazards” spectrum of emergencies. The initial task, therefore, is to build a curriculum that will best meet these objectives. 3. The Need for Specialized Textbooks To meet the need for teaching materials, various colleges and universities have hastily published a batch of textbooks, most of which compile teaching materials from foreign universities and training institutions. As a result, these textbooks rarely address the actual situation in China. Since there is a close relationship
Published by Berkeley Electronic Press, 2011
6
JHSEM:
between emergency management and the country's political framework, the specialized textbooks should deal directly with the situation of China and summarize the successes and failures of China's emergency management efforts. Thus, the colleges and universities should compile a set of specialized emergency management textbooks that is relevant to the actual situation of China. 4. Lack of a Sufficient Number of Qualified Teachers According to the surveys and statistics, China’s colleges and universities have an insufficient supply of emergency management teachers; most of the ones they have come from other specialties and lack not only knowledge of the essential theory of emergency management but also professional experience. With very limited opportunities for interaction with experts and practice in the real world, emergency management majors cannot develop rapidly. Therefore, China needs to provide more comprehensive training opportunities for teachers. 5. Limited Scientific Fund Support There is no agency like FEMA that provides emergency management training and scientific research in China. Currently, universities can receive scientific research funding mainly through two departments of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The first is the regional environmental quality and safety field of the Department of Earth Sciences, whose research direction is natural disaster risk assessment and public safety. The other is the macro management and policy areas of the Department of Management Sciences, whose research direction is public safety and crisis management. Without industry support, the emergency management major has limited funds with which to conduct scientific research. THE CURRICULUM DESIGN CONCEPTION OF MANAGEMENT HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHINA
EMERGENCY
Emergency management personnel are active during the full life cycle of any disaster: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. It is therefore essential that they know how to rapidly access and use central government and provincial resources to reduce losses from disaster. Only then can they improve the government’s credibility and demonstrate its effective use of emergency resources during times of disaster. They should also be able to build support for various disasters mitigation measures and better evacuation procedures.
Lixin et al.: Higher Education of EM in China
7
For students to have these capabilities, the emergency management curriculum in Chinese higher education should cover the full range of issues, including the fundamentals of emergency management; a history of emergency management; an overview of China’s hazards; assessment models of hazards and vulnerability; cost-benefit analysis; all-hazards preparedness and prevention; strategies for infrastructure protection and preparedness; preparedness for and prevention of terrorist attack; duties of emergency managers; exercises in emergency management; exercise design and coordination principles; a comparative study of disaster management in other countries; the legal basis for emergency management; emergency resource management; the psychological dimensions of disaster; communication of hazards in emergency management; and the use of computers in emergency management. Of course, this is only a preliminary idea of the course of study that an emergency management major in colleges and universities should pursue (McCreight 2009). However, it illustrates the nature of coursework that can meet the social requirements for emergency management personnel. Courses in various areas of specialization could be included as well (Thomas and Mileti 2003; Qin 2005). An additional concern is the quality of teachers and their professional experience. The central issue is finding teachers with knowledge of the essential theory of emergency management and the professional experience to render the highest-quality educational programs for aspiring students. We have learned many theories from developed countries, but these theories do not relate to the situation in China and so are not useful in the educational process. Moreover, we lack consensus on which courses to require, we have no emergency management textbooks that address the actual situation in China, and we have no reliable standards by which to compile such textbooks. These issues should be addressed systematically during the next few years to promote some degree of consistency in the various academic programs. Meanwhile, the universities that offer higher education in emergency management should provide students with opportunities to take internships in the government, business, and industry so that they can experience the actual operational flow of emergency management. Combining textbook knowledge with practice not only enables students to master emergency management theory but also familiarizes them with the techniques for preparedness, disaster relief, and post-disaster recovery and reconstruction. And when students can participate in this kind of training, government and other enterprises will be able to see what the problems are in college and university training programs and be better able to improve the standards of emergency management in higher education.
Published by Berkeley Electronic Press, 2011
8
JHSEM:
CONCLUSION The emergency management major in China has developed over many years and made some advancement, but there are still problems to be solved. Emergency management covers mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. It demands knowledge and skills in the natural and physical sciences, the social and behavioral sciences, aspects of engineering, and technology. We must actively identify the core knowledge areas of emergency management at the undergraduate and graduate levels, create the full range of courses appropriate to the discipline and publish relevant textbooks. Emergency managers of the future will require an understanding of a wider variety of hazards, so the training objectives in higher education should include not only preparedness for and prevention of specific disasters but also skills in addressing the all-phases, all-hazards spectrum of emergencies. As with curricular innovations of the past, the pathways will be many and marked with both successes and failures. Finally, emergency management in higher education should be promoted and supported by various governmental agencies, such as the State Administration of Work Safety, the China Earthquake Administration, and the China Meteorological Administration. But the colleges and universities, and those working within all settings of higher learning, must maintain their independence and autonomy. As the emergency management major continues to evolve, emergency management higher education in China must improve so that it can provide better service to the society. REFERENCES Fan, Wei-cheng, and Naian Liu. 2006. “Progress and Prospect of Fundamental Fire Research in China.” Journal of University of Science and Technology of China 36 (1): 1–8. Liu, Zhi-yong. 2009. “The Problems and Countermeasures of Government Emergency Management Faced.” Academic Discussion 3: 226–227. Liu, Hui, Shimei Sun, and Ye Liu. 2007. “Research and Practice on Training Mode of the Safety Engineering Major.” Journal of Architectural Education in Institutions of Higher Learning 16 (2): 27–30. McCreight, Robert. 2009. “Educational Challenges in Homeland Security and Emergency Management.” Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management 6 (1): 16.
Lixin et al.: Higher Education of EM in China
9
National Disaster Mitigation Center, 2010. “The Overview of Natural Disaster in China.” Disaster Reduction in China 1: 8–9. Niu, Xiao-xia, and Tan Zhu. 2003. “Theory and Method of Public Safety Planning in City.” Urban Environment and Urban Ecology 16 (6): 231232. Qian, Yong-sheng, Bo Zhou, and Xiao-ping Guang. 2007. AHP-Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation on Traffic Safety of Highway on the Basis of Reliability.” Construction Management Modernization 2: 58. Qin, Xian-lin. 2005. “The Discipline-Building of Safety Engineering Subject.” Border Economy and Culture 20 (8): 121–123. Thomas Deborah and Mileti Dennis, 2003. “Designing Educational Opportunities for the Hazards Manager of the 21st Century.” Workshop Report October 2224, Denver, Colorado. Tian, Zhen, and Xiao-ming Ma. 2006. “Research on Education of Student with Comprehensive Ability in Safety Engineering.” Journal of Safety and Environment 7 (6): 17–19. Wang, Xin-quan. 2003. “The Brief Introduction of Emergency Management Major in China University of Mining and Technology.” Modern Occupational Safety 5: 48–49. Ye, Tao, Weiping Guo, and Peijun Shi. 2005. “Disaster Reduction and Sustainable Development: Adjustment of Disaster Reduction Strategies of China Based on ‘The 2nd World Conference on Disaster Reduction, 2005.’” Journal of Natural Disasters 14 (3): 17. Yuan, Chang-ming, and Zheng-wen Xie. 2006. “Discussion on Higher Education Mode of Safety Engineering Professional.” Journal of Safety and Environment 7 (6): 35–37. Zhu,Xiaoxia, and Xiaoming Han, 2009. “Systematic Analysis of Emergency Management System of Public Crisis of Our Government.” Academic Exchange 3: 41–44.
Published by Berkeley Electronic Press, 2011
