Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on the Promotion of Lifelong Education

· Document Number：Announcement No. 32 of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Shanghai Municipality

· Area of Law： Education

· Level of Authority： Provincial Local Regulations

· Date issued：01-05-2011

· Status： Effective

· Issuing Authority： Shanghai Municipality

Announcement of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Shanghai Municipality
(No. 32)
The Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on the Promotion of Lifelong Education, as adopted at the 31st Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth People's Congress of Shanghai Municipality on January 5, 2011, is hereby issued and shall come into force on May 1, 2011.
Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Shanghai Municipality
January 5, 2011
Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on the Promotion of Lifelong Education
(Adopted at the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on January 5, 2011)
Article 1 With a view to meeting the citizens' needs of lifelong learning, developing the undertaking of lifelong education, pushing forward the construction of a learning society, and promoting human being's integrated development, these Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Education Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws and administrative regulations, and in the light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality.
Article 2 These Regulations apply to various planned education and training activities at all levels within the administrative areas of this Municipality, with the exception of the modern national education system.
Article 3 Lifelong education work shall adhere to the guiding principle of government leading, multi-party participation, resource sharing, and promotion of learning.
Article 4 The Municipal Commission for Construction of a Learning Society and Lifelong Education Promotion (hereinafter referred to as the MCLE) shall take the responsibility for the overall planning, coordination and guidance for the city-wide lifelong education and the construction of a learning society. The administrative body of the MCLE is located in the municipal education administrative department.
District/county lifelong education regulatory agencies shall take responsibility for coordination and guidance of the work on lifelong education in their respective administrative areas.
Article 5 The municipal and district/county people's governments shall strengthen the leadership for the work on lifelong education, bring the work on lifelong education under the planning of national economic and social development of the same level, adopt supporting and encouraging measures, and promote the undertaking of lifelong education development.
Town/township people's governments and sub-district offices shall, according to their respective functions and duties, organize and launch the work on lifelong education.
Article 6 The municipal education administrative department is the competent administrative department for the work on lifelong education in this Municipality. District/county education administrative departments shall, according to their respective functions and duties, take responsibility for the work on lifelong education in their own administrative areas.
The relevant administrative departments of development & reform, human resources and social security, public servant administration, agriculture, finance, taxation, industry and commerce, population and family planning, statistics, civil affairs, culture, radio broadcasting, film and television, and public security shall, according to their respective functions and duties, cooperate in the work on lifelong education.
Article 7 Labor Unions, the Communist Youth League and Women's Federations as well as other organizations such as the Disabled People's Federation and the Science and Technology Association shall assist to launch the promotion work on lifelong education.
Mass organizations shall be encouraged to launch the work on lifelong education in accordance with their respective constitutions.
All classes of learning organizations shall be encouraged to launch lifelong education activities for the members of the organizations.
Citizens shall be encouraged to provide voluntary service for lifelong education.
Article 8 People's governments at all levels shall bring the lifelong education expenses into their budget for educational fund at the corresponding level, and guarantee the gradual rise of lifelong education expenses.
The relevant departments of the municipal and district/county people's governments shall provide expenditure to support launching lifelong education.
Lifelong education expenses are mainly used in public service for lifelong education.
Article 9 Enterprises shall extract vocational training expenses in full amount as required, and may deduct them before tax according to law. The proportion of training expenses used by an enterprise for first front employees shall be higher than 60% of the total amount of vocational training expenses, and an enterprise shall report the service condition of expenses to the congress of workers and staff members every year.
A non-governmental non-profit unit and other organizations shall provide expenditure guarantee for the vocational training for in-service staff in their own organizations.
Article 10 This Municipality encourages a natural person, a legal person or other organizations to offer financial assistance for the undertaking of lifelong education or establish lifelong education institutions. Any donator who donated property for the undertaking of lifelong education shall enjoy tax preference according to law.
Article 11 This Municipality shall set up step by step a system of academic credit accumulation and transfer of lifelong education, and realize mutual recognition and connection of learning outcomes of different types.
Academic credit of adults' higher education may be transferred among various adults' higher education institutions at equivalent education level for courses of the same nature.
Academic credits for common higher education courses of common institutions of higher learning may be transferred to the academic credits for courses of the same nature of adults' higher education at equivalent education level such as TV universities and amateur universities.
The catalogue of particular subjects and courses for credit transfer shall be formulated by the municipal education administrative department jointly with relevant departments, and be brought into effect after submission to and approval of the Municipal People's Government.
Article 12 The education administrative department shall take responsibility for the work on adult academic qualification education.
Schools conducting adults' academic qualification education shall, in accordance with relevant regulations of the State and this Municipality, carry out adults' academic qualification education.
Article 13 Administrative departments of education, human resources and social security, and public servant administration shall take responsibility for the work on education and training for in-service staff.
Government offices, enterprises, public institutions, non-governmental non-profit units and other organizations as well as education and training institutions shall launch education and training for in-service staff according to law and improve the quality of in-service staff.
Government offices, enterprises, public institutions, non-governmental non-profit units as well as other organizations shall establish a paid learning system in support of the education and training for the in-service staff.
Article 14 The administrative department of human resources and social security shall take responsibility for the work on the employment training for unemployed persons and the rural laborers working in the city.
Education and training institutions shall, in accordance with training programs and requirements of the administrative department of human resources and social security, launch employment training and entrepreneurship training for rural laborers working in the city.
Employment training for unemployed persons and rural laborers working in this Municipality may enjoy training expense subsidies in accordance with relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality.
Article 15 The agriculture administrative department shall take responsibility for the work on agricultural education and training.
Education and training institutions shall, in accordance with the education and training planning and requirements of the agriculture administrative department, launch education and training for peasants in agricultural production key technologies, key links and new species, and new technique application capability.
Article 16 The administrative departments of education, and civil affairs shall take responsibility for old-age education.
Educational institutions shall, in accordance with the requirements of the administrative departments of education, and civil affairs, launch the knowledge-based, leisure-based and health care education which fit the characteristics of the aged, enrich the livelihood of the aged and increase the health knowledge for the aged.
Article 17 The administrative departments of education, and human resources and social security, and the disabled people's federation shall take responsibility for the work on education and training for the disabled.
Education and training institutions shall, in accordance with the training programs and requirements of the administrative departments of education, and human resources and social security, and the disabled people's federation, place stress on the potential development of the disabled, organize and launch education and training in their vocational skills in accordance with the characteristics and necessity of the disabled people's body and mind.
Article 18 District/county people's governments shall strengthen community education work in their own administrative areas. Town/township people's governments and sub-district offices shall take responsibility for organizing and launching community education work in their respective administrative areas.
District/county and town/township people's governments and sub-district offices shall, in accordance with the actual circumstances, perfect community education network, and guarantee the personnel and expenses of community colleges and community schools. Community colleges and community schools shall provide cultural and skill training services to community inhabitants. Community colleges shall offer operational guidance to community schools. Other education and training institutions are encouraged to provide services to the lifelong education of community inhabitants.
The administrative departments of education, human resources and social security, agriculture, and population and family planning, as well as the Labor Unions, the communist Youth League, Women's Federations and the Disabled People's Federation may entrust community colleges, community schools and other education and training institutions to launch education and training for in-service staff, unemployed persons, peasants, rural laborers working in the city, the aged and the disabled within the community.
Article 19 Women's Federations at all levels shall, jointly with the administrative department of education, have close cooperation with communities, guide and push forward home education, and launch home education dissemination, popularize home education knowledge and expand home education experience through community schools, parents schools, and household civilization guidance centers.
Article 20 Full-time teachers engaged in the work of lifelong education shall acquire relevant teachers' qualifications.
Relevant government departments shall, in accordance with the nature of lifelong education training institutions, bring the professional titles appraisal and appointment of the full-time teachers engaged in the work under the professional titles appraisal and appointment series of relevant professions.
Relevant major groups may be added to school-teaching series for the professional titles appraisal and appointment of full-time teachers in community colleges and community schools, and such appraisal and appointment shall be carried out in reference to relevant systems of school-teaching professional titles appraisal and appointment of the State.
Full-time teachers engaged in lifelong education shall be entitled to coequality with relevant professionals when attending advanced professional studies and examination on profession skills.
Article 21 Experts, scholars and other personnel with expertise and special skills shall be encouraged to take a part-time job of lifelong education. Part-time job teachers engaged in lifelong education shall have the relevant working experience in lifelong education or relevant professional qualifications.
The municipal education administrative department shall, jointly with relevant administrative departments, establish and perfect step by step an informational database of lifelong education part-time teachers, provide teachers information services to various education and training institutions at all levels that engage in the work of lifelong education.
Article 22 Open universities set up in this Municipality shall gradually consolidate resources of adults' higher learning to form an open learning platform.
The education administrative department shall establish a lifelong learning electronic information website, perfect municipal and district/county lifelong education digital learning database and provide service of public remote education, to realize resources sharing.
Schools and education and training institutions at all levels are encouraged to take full advantage of the Internet and mobile communications to open education courses, provide high quality educational resources, and promote the development of lifelong education.
Broadcasting and television stations shall guarantee certain time every day to play lifelong education programs.
Article 23 Common schools shall give full play to the predominance in terms of teachers, scientific research, course development, location, and educational aids, to provide services of lifelong education without affecting regular education.
Article 24 Libraries, museums, science and technology halls, galleries, cultural centers (stations), workers' cultural palace, adolescent activity centers and neighborhood cultural activity centers shall, in accordance with citizens' requirements, launch lifelong education activities in various ways including holding lectures, hosting expositions or presentation and conducting science popularization education.
People's governments at all levels and their departments may, through paid service, utilize the educational and learning resources developed by private enterprises and non-governmental non-profit units for lifelong education.
Article 25 This Municipality shall, in accordance with relevant regulations, grant commendations and rewards to the organizations and individuals having outstanding achievements in the work of lifelong education.
Article 26 Where a non-operating training institution is to be set up, the applicant shall, in accordance with relevant regulations of the State, conduct approval procedure in the education administrative department or the human resources and social security department. After the school license is acquired, the registration of either a legal entity of a public institution or a non-governmental non-profit unit shall be made according to law.
Article 27 Where a private operating training institution is to be set up, the applicant shall apply to the industry and commerce administrative department for name approval procedures, and then for registration.
The industry and commerce administrative department shall send the relevant application materials to the education administrative department or the human resources and social security administrative department for comments; the administrative departments of education, and the human resources and social security shall give feedback with written comments in a timely manner.
The industry and commerce administrative department shall make decisions on whether or not the registration is granted after receipt of the written comments. Where the decision of registration approval is made, the Corporate Legal Person's Business License shall be issued and be filed in the education administrative department or the human resources and social security administrative department for record. Where the decision of denial of registration is made, reasons shall be informed in written form.
Article 28 Private operating training institutions shall meet following requirements:
1. have personnel in charge knowledgeable about teaching professional work and management of running a school;
2. have full time and part-time teachers matching the training category, level and scale;
3. have relevant funds for running a school and fund sources for guaranteeing the regular work of routine teaching;
4. have teaching sites and educational aids matching the training projects; and
5. have a management system for running a school and teaching.
Private operating training institutions shall not arbitrarily engage in training activities without registration, shall not impropriate the expense for running a school, and shall not viciously terminate the running of a school.
Article 29 In any of the following circumstances, private operating training institutions shall go through the termination formalities of running a school according to law:
1. termination is required in accordance with the provision of the constitution of the training institution; or
2. the running of a school is unable to continue owing to the fact that assets for liabilities cannot be compensated for.
Article 30 This Municipality shall establish a supervision and control system of special deposit account of tuition and related costs for education and training institutions, to guarantee the tuition and related costs collected by education and training institutions are mainly used for education and teaching activities and to maintain the legitimate rights and interests of educatees and teachers. Specific procedures shall be formulated separately by the municipal education administrative department jointly with relevant departments.
Article 31 The relevant administrative departments of education, human resources and social security, industry and commerce, and public security shall, in accordance with their function and duty division, strengthen supervision over the matters of running a school including the conditions in running a lifelong education and training school, business registration, advertising, and the safety of school buildings.
The relevant administrative departments of education, and human resources and social security shall, in accordance with their function and duty division, organize or entrust social intermediary organizations to make an evaluation on the work of lifelong education undertaken by various education and training institutions at all levels, the evaluation result shall be made known to the public.
Article 32 This Municipality shall establish a statistical system of lifelong education. The lifelong education regulatory agency shall organize relevant departments to launch the statistical work on lifelong education according to law, ensure the good performance in the administration of statistics, and release relevant information at regular intervals.
Article 33 The municipal education administrative department shall, jointly with the administrative department of human resources and social security as well as the administrative department of industry and commerce, set up a unified hotline for lodging a complaint, and make it known to the public.
Educatees may lodge a complaint when encountering damaging of the legitimate rights and interests in lifelong education activities. Relevant administrative departments shall, upon the receipt of a complaint, make disposition according to law in accordance with their function and duty division, and give the complainant a reply of the disposition situation within the legal time limit.
Article 34 Private operating training institutions which arbitrarily engage in training activities without authorization shall be punished by the industry and commerce administrative department jointly with the education administrative department or the human resources and social security administrative department according to the provisions set by laws and regulations.
Where a private operating training institution impropriates the expenses for running a school and/or viciously terminates the running of a school, it shall be ordered to make corrections by the education administrative department or the human resources and social security administrative department according to their respective functions and duties, and shall be imposed a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 200,000 yuan. Where there exist illegal gains, the illegal gains shall be confiscated after the collected fare is refunded; where the case is serious, the recruitment of students shall be ordered to suspend; if a crime is constituted, the wrongdoer shall be prosecuted for criminal liability according to law.
Article 35 These Regulations shall be effective as of May 1, 2011.