The Examination Yuan was formally established by the National Government in Nanking on January 6, 1930, after the unification of the country in 1928. In the following year, on July 15, the Yuan held the first Higher Examination for Civil Servants in Nanking. Various examinations were held subsequently, and in 1948, the year after the ROC Constitution was promulgated by the National Assembly, the Examination Yuan was formally re-established under the Constitutional National Government headed by President Chiang Kai-shek. In 1949, when the central government moved to Taipei, the Yuan continued to fulfill its responsibilities.
The ROC's open and competitive examinations for recruiting civil servants have given special form and content to the government. For example, the process of receiving a post inspires a broad sense of service in civil servants. With an effective, fair, and competitive examination system in place, civil service posts are given not by a single leader or interest group; therefore, government employees are loyal to the government and citizens at large, not to a special person or to narrow group interests. Examination requirements also help prevent the recruitment of government workers based only upon political factors or personal connections.
Civil servants who have been selected by examination are also more intellectually capable of fulfilling their duties. Exams are a form of quality control. With the steady rise of educational standards in Taiwan, the pool of candidates for the civil service has become steadily larger, and personnel can now be recruited from all walks of life. This helps keep government employees free from political partiality. With the steady rise of political pluralism in Taiwan in recent years, this is becoming increasingly evident.
Despite the efforts of the Examination Yuan to recruit officials through examinations, the system is still not utilized to its fullest extent. At the end of 1987, for example, fully 37 percent of the government officials were not employed in their positions through taking the relevant examinations (most of these were conversions from those with military qualifications). That is to say, these persons did not pass through the usual competitive examination process, which in effect means that their appointments are not quite in harmony with the national examination regulations. They are therefore at least technically in violation of the regulations based on the ROC Constitution as well as the Examination Law for Civil Servants.
The main purpose of recruiting civil servants through fair and competitive examinations is to recruit the right personnel for the right posts, and to make the opportunity of holding official posts equally open to all citizens. But given the actual functioning of the system, it is in need of careful review and improvement in several respects.
For instance, the 37 percent of the civil servants who are not recruited through competitive examinations are commonly called "Black Officials" because of the conflicts between the way they are recruited and the regulation spelled out in Article 18 of the ROC Constitution. Although they are all employed in accordance with certain laws, these are either out of date and should be amended or abolished, or their meanings have been distorted, which results in partiality. This defect in the system makes it difficult for the government to reach the ideal standard for recruiting talented people. As a result, the government should amend or abolish the technically unfair Regulations Governing the Appointment of Technologists and the Rules Governing Auxiliary Personnel. The government also should avoid distorting the Regulations Governing the Assignment of Accredited Officials, and the Regulations Governing the Engagement of Specialized Employees.
The contents of the examinations also deserve review, because they do not adequately meet the needs of government employment. According to Article 18 of the Regulations Governing the Appointment of Civil Servants, officials above Grade 12 (Chian-jen) are qualified to hold high-ranking offices in any field. In other words, these officials, on account of their high rank in office, should be all-around persons with extensive administrative ability. But the current Special Examination A for Civil Servants in stead stresses the recruitment of specialists, which makes those recruited in many respects unfit for high-ranking posts that require much broader experience.
Moreover, the content of examinations has put so much emphasis on courses taught in schools that it is hard for the government to recruit eligible civil servants. Classroom education is not necessarily designed for cultivating civil servants; therefore, to hold examinations based on the courses taught in schools can make exams inefficient in recruiting eligible persons. Some nations, such as West Germany and France, have solved this difficulty by holding examinations in two phases, interspersed with a professional internship or training period, so that examination results will be based upon more than classroom learning.
Although Article 21 of the Examination Law for Civil Servants has included training as one part of the examination process, there is no follow-up test to judge accurately the candidates' knowledge of administrative affairs acquired during the training period. The training therefore still fails to meet the needs of the civil service.
With regard to the issue of impartiality in the examinations, although Article 85 of the ROC Constitution stipulates that examinations should be open and competitive, various examinations held in the past and present do not quite adhere to this regulation. For example, the Examination for Qualifications Registration, the Special Administrative Examination for National Defense, the Special Examination for Veterans, and the Regulations Governing the Screening of Qualifications of Reserve Officers Transferring to Civil Service are special cases that violate the general principle of openness and fairness to all.
In addition, those personnel employed according to the Rules Governing Auxiliary Personnel did not have to take any open competitive examinations, and they will be eligible for promotion by taking the Promotion Examinations, which are actually limited competitive examinations. These also violate the general principle of fairness.
Scholars and other observers have suggested various ways to overcome these defects in the examination system.
First, the government should abolish or amend the Rules Governing Auxiliary Personnel and the Regulations Governing the Appointment of Technologists (a new law is in fact currently being discussed in the Legislative Yuan and has passed second reading) and require open and fair examinations as the sole method of recruiting all civil servants. This would refurbish confidence in the system and ensure equal and fair evaluation of those entering government service.
Second, the actual process of employment should be strictly regulated when offices recruit new employees. This will prevent distortions of the Regulations Governing the Assignment of Accredited Officials and the Regulations Governing the Engagement of Specialized Employees.
Third, the Examination Yuan should make every effort to determine the duties and qualifications necessary for service as a high-ranking official, then make these the basis of its recruitment efforts through examinations and other formal evaluations of aptitude and ability.
Fourth, the first level of Higher Civil Service Examinations should replace Civil Service Special Examination A, because the recruits through the latter are in most cases not eligible for the high-ranking posts they are holding on account of insufficient and inappropriate job experience.
Fifth, on-the-job training or some form of professional internship should be considered as one part of the examination process. This would increase the scope and efficiency of the examination, and would better meet the needs of the government.
Sixth, while the Examination for Qualifications Registration is rarely held and the Special Administrative Examination for National Defense will also not be held again, the Special Examination for Veterans and the Regulations Governing the Screening of Qualifications of Reserve Officers Transferring to Civil Service are still in effect. The latter two violate either the principle of open competition demanded in Article 85 of the ROC Constitution or the rule of Article 140 of the Constitution that no military man in active service may concurrently hold a civil office. The elimination of these examinations would be more in line with the goals of equal opportunity in the examination system.
Last, since auxiliary personnel can be promoted to become formal officials by taking Promotion Examinations, the employment should be done in the form of open and competitive examinations. Hence, the Rules Governing Auxiliary Personnel should be amended to meet the fairness principle demanded in Article 85 of the ROC Constitution.
In brief, the ROC examination system has strong and idealistic goals, but reaching these goals still requires additional efforts to improve and refine the manner in which individuals can secure positions in the civil service. As the system improves its fairness and quality, both the government and nation can expect to benefit accordingly. —(Hsu Pin-sung is a professor of Public Administration at National Chengchi University in Taipei.)