How to become a Head of a Public Institution

Official Chinese title (2022 occupational classification): 事业单位负责人

Leads a public service institution (shiye danwei) such as a school, research institute, cultural organisation or hospital, making decisions and managing it.

Main tasks

• Drawing up the institution's development strategy and work plans and seeing them carried out
• Leading the setting of the institution's rules and checking they are followed
• Hiring, dismissing, appointing or removing staff within the authority given
• Leading the institution's day to day management
• Exercising the other powers the law allows

Ways in

• University: Business & Commerce degrees, Offered by 105 universities in China Related undergraduate subject classes in the Ministry of Education catalogue (2025): Public Administration (1204); Business Administration (1202); majors such as Marketing, Financial Management, International Business, Human Resource Management, Auditing, Asset Appraisal. Matched to the occupation by Peernovo.

Pay · AI and this job

• Median pay in China: CN¥100,500 a year (2025).
• Middle half: CN¥64,500 to CN¥178,800. One in ten earn less than CN¥48,000 and one in ten more than CN¥313,500.
• This is the figure for the mid group Heads of Enterprises and Public Institutions, not for this job alone.
• National figure: wage prices of enterprise employees from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) enterprise pay survey. The public sector and the self-employed are not covered.
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

• The census group Heads of Enterprises and Public Institutions holds 1.96% of everyone employed in China; 26.4% of its workers are women (2020 Census).
• 29.1% are under 35, 62.2% are 35 to 54 and 8.7% are 55 or older. The middle age band is 40 to 44.
• Census figures for the whole mid group (2020 long-form sample), not for this job alone.

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Questions people ask

How do I become a Head of a Public Institution?

Ways in include: Business & Commerce degrees.

How much does a Head of a Public Institution earn in China?

Across China, the median pay of enterprise employees is CN¥100,500 a year (Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS), 2025). The public sector and the self-employed are not covered. It is the figure for the mid group Heads of Enterprises and Public Institutions.

Will AI change the work of a Head of a Public Institution?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS): 2025 enterprise pay survey information: wage prices of enterprise employees by occupation mid group, and digital occupations (P10 to P90 annual CNY) (2025 (published 2026-07-08)), retrieved 5 October 2026
• National Bureau of Statistics of China: China Population Census Yearbook 2020, long-form tables 4-6 and 4-7 (employed by occupation mid group, sex, age) (2020 Census long form (10% sample)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Sources: Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition, public consultation draft), Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration for Market Regulation and National Bureau of Statistics; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 2025 enterprise pay survey information; Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2025 labour market wage prices; National Bureau of Statistics of China (www.stats.gov.cn), 2020 Population Census yearbook; Ministry of Education, vocational education major profiles (2022 revision) and undergraduate major catalogue (2025); Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, national vocational qualifications catalogue (2021); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Figures processed by Peernovo. English text, translations and the matching of occupations to ISCO-08, majors, degree fields and qualifications by Peernovo.

Descriptions and tasks are Peernovo's own words, written from the facts in the Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition). Job titles and work types are the classification's own.

Updated 5 October 2026