Civil service exam

Civil service exam

Civic service exams were implemented in various countries as a way to achieve an effective, rational public administration on a merit system. The most ancient example of such exams were in Imperial China. Prussia then implemented such procedures in the turn of the nineteenth century.

In the United Kingdom, a permanent, unisex and politically neutral civil service, in which appointments were made on merit, was introduced on the recommendations of the Northcote-Trevelyan report of 1854, which also recommended a clear division between staff responsible for routine (“mechanical”) work, and those engaged in policy formulation and implementation in an “administrative” class. The report was well-timed, since bureaucratic chaos in the Crimean War (1854-56) promptly caused a clamour for the change. A Civil Service Commission was accordingly set up in 1855 to oversee open recruitment and end patronage, and balls of the other Northcote-Trevelyan recommendations implemented over some years. This system was broadly endorsed by Commissions chaired by Playfair (1874), Ridley (1886), MacDonnell (1914), Tomlin (1931) and Priestley (1955). Civil service examination was established in the United States with the 1883 Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. Currently, a written exam is only required for a minority of US civil service positions; merit is evaluated by examining factors such as education and experience.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Civil Service Exam — ➡ Civil Service * * * …   Universalium

  • Civil service — Not to be confused with civilian service. The term civil service has two distinct meanings: A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations. The body of… …   Wikipedia

  • United States Civil Service Commission — The United States Civil Service Commission a three man commission was created by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act,[1] which was passed into law on January 16, 1883. The commission was created to administer the civil service of the United… …   Wikipedia

  • the civil service — the part of a government that takes care of the government s basic business : the administrative part of a government often used before another noun a civil service employee the civil service system I took the civil service exam. [=I took a test …   Useful english dictionary

  • French Civil Service — The French Civil Service (French: fonction publique française) is the set of civil servants (fonctionnaires) working for the French government. Not all employees of the state and public institutions or corporations are civil servants; however,… …   Wikipedia

  • Chinese civil service —       the administrative system of the traditional Chinese government, the members of which were selected by a competitive examination. The Chinese civil service system gave the Chinese empire stability for more than 2,000 years and provided one… …   Universalium

  • exam — UK US /ɪgˈzæm/ noun [C] (also examination) ► a formal test that you must pass in order to earn a particular qualification or be allowed to do a particular job: take/pass/fail an exam »Candidates for supervisory jobs must take a written exam.… …   Financial and business terms

  • competitive civil service examination — Examination which conforms to measures or standards which are sufficiently objective to be capable of being challenged and reviewed by other examiners of equal ability and experience. Such exam may be open in which case all may take it or may be… …   Black's law dictionary

  • competitive civil service examination — Examination which conforms to measures or standards which are sufficiently objective to be capable of being challenged and reviewed by other examiners of equal ability and experience. Such exam may be open in which case all may take it or may be… …   Black's law dictionary

  • Civil Services Examination — The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a nationwide competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to the various Civil Services of the Government of India, including Indian Administrative… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”