[Message from the editor: In June, Prof. ZHAO Zhirong was appointed the new dean of the Zhejiang University School of Public Affairs. Prior to this position, he was the Gross Family Professor of Public & Nonprofit Management at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on public budgeting, public finance and urban governance. In an interview, Prof. Zhao spoke about his research and insights in the future development of public affairs and shared his advice for young students.]
Quotes from the interview:
- By having brain, we mean analytical skills. By having heart, we mean we should care about public values. We care about collective interests and also many important values that we collectively care about.
- Public affairs is a very practical field of study. We need theoretical knowledge. We also need capacity. I strongly encourage students to go out into the real world, to investigate, to learn from experiences and to gain capacity there.
- By “大公管”, I mean the broadly defined public affairs, the field of study. It could include multiple subfields like public management, public policy, and urban affairs. Those subfields in some other countries sometimes may be fragmented. But in China, they are highly integrated.
- In the past, we had focused quite a bit on traditional infrastructure, like transportation, or like environmental facilities. In recent years, we have expanded into social infrastructure, things including education, human services and public housing. But an exciting new area of development would be digital infrastructure. Many people know that in Hangzhou, China, we are at a frontier of urban digital transformation.
Produced by Office of Global Engagement, Zhejiang University
Filmed and edited by Watchman Studio
Special acknowledgement: School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University