(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-01-21 07:32

The profit chain linked to different types of occupational certificates should be broken, says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

The State Council recently issued a directive calling for an end to the chaotic situation surrounding occupational certificates. Similar calls have been issued in the past, and so it is baffling that occupational certificates are once again a problem. The perennial resurrection of these certificates is worth considering.

It is clear that there are too many certification tests out there. According to a survey, dozens of occupational certificates exist for a single field of computer skills, and they are separately issued by different entities including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Ministry of Personnel, as well as other associations and commercial organizations. Test fees range from several hundred yuan to several thousand.

It would seem that behind each of these certificates is a collection of interests, each linked inextricably to a multi-factor profit chain. Before one can obtain a certificate, he or she must take a test; before a test, one usually needs some pre-test training, which involves the purchase of textbooks. Every step of this cycle requires money.

To solve the problem of overlapping and redundant certifications, it will be necessary to wipe the slate clean. What we need is to pull the problem up by its roots. The government should drop the administrative right to approve the certificates and let the market do it instead. It also should ban the charging of fees for every link of the profit chain behind the certification process.

(China Daily 01/21/2008 page4)