4
EROPA Bulletin
Vol. 35 Nos. 1-2 (January-June 2014)
New EROPA center
officially launched...
Technology, PR China; and Director Yimin Yu of the
Research Center on Regional Electronic Public Service,
Yunnan University of Finance and Economics.
More than 70 representative officials, technical
experts, and staff from various governments, as well as
academic and private institutions within and outside PR
China attended the said seminar. Among them were
Dr. Orlando S. Mercado, EROPA Secretary-General;
Dr. Maria Fe V. Mendoza, EROPA Deputy SecretaryGeneral for Research and Publications and Dean, UPNCPAG; Dr. Masao Kikuchi, Associate Professor, Meiji
University; Professor Jane E. Fountain, Director of the
National Center for Digital Government, USA; Deputy
Secretary Shah Hoque of the ICT Branch, Cabinet
Division, Government of Bangladesh; Dr. Heung
Suk Choi, Professor, Korea University; Dr. Jesper
Schlaeger, Associate Professor, Sichuan University; and
Dr. Ayuning Budiati, Lecturer, Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa
University, Indonesia.
EROPA Secretary General Orlando S. Mercado addresses the
seminar participants during the Opening Ceremony of the
International Seminar on E-Governance in Asia.
Korean, Japanese
colleagues visit
EROPA, NCPAG
Public administration researchers from Japan and Korea
visited the EROPA headquarters in NCPAG, University
Another highlight of the international seminar is of the Philippines, to discuss the preliminary findings
the formal launch and inauguration of the EROPA of their respective research studies.
E-Government Research Center. This was led by EGRC
Director Wu and Dr. Orlando S. Mercado, EROPA On 7 January 2014, Dr. Masao Kikuchi from Meiji
Secretary-General. Distinguished guests present during University and Dr. Kenichi Nishimura from Osaka
the launch were Honorable Xian He, Vice Minister of University talked about the preliminary results of their
the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security study on perceptions on the quality of government
of China, and Prof. Xiaoping Gao, Executive Vice (QoG) in Japan. The preliminary study recognized
Chairman, Secretary-General and Research Fellow of that there is little, if any, common understanding on
the China Public Administration Society.
what the quality of government really means, and that
there is a need for a well-defined theoretical framework
Dr. Mercado congratulated the efforts of Prof. Wu and measurements of reform to gauge the quality of
and the rest of the EGRC for their pioneering efforts government.
in establishing the new Center. He iterated that
e-government ef