Chinese Academy of Personnel Science (CAPS) is China’s only national research institute on personnel system reform, human resources development, human resource management, and public administration. It is named by the Office of Central Coordinating Group on Talent as “Talent Theory Research Base”. The predecessor of CAPS is China Human Resource Institute established in June 1982 (administered by the State Science and Technology Commission since July 1984) and the Institute of Administrative Sciences established in November 1984, both under the Ministry of Labor and Personnel. In the administrative reform of 1988, the Ministry of Labor and Personnel was divided into two ministries, the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Personnel. Since then, the Institute of Administrative Sciences had been administered by the Ministry of Personnel, and meanwhile the National Institute of Civil Service was set up. In August 1989, the administration of China Human Resource Institute was handed over to the Ministry of Personnel. In November 1991, China Human Resource Institute merged with the National Institute of Civil Service into China Institute of Personnel and Talent Science. In April 1994, the Ministry of Personnel decided to establish CAPS, with the General Office, the Institute of Administrative Sciences, and the Institute of Personnel and Talent Science as its subordinate organizations. Both of the two institutes remained independent legal entities. In December 2003, CAPS was merged with the two institutes and the current organizational structure began to take shape, classified as a department-level organization with the staff quota of 189 persons (including 9 for China Talent Society under the CAPS). In 2008, in the new round of structural reform of State Council organs , the CAPS started to be affiliated to the newly established Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

According to the Notice of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Issuing the Provisions on the Main Functions, Internal Bodies and Staffing of Chinese Academy of Personnel Sciences (RSBF [2019] No.64), the main functions of CAPS include: focusing on the key tasks of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security to conduct theoretical research on human resources and public administration, providing services including surveys and research, theoretical reasoning and technical consulting for the Ministry for major decision-making; conducting research on applied technologies in fields of human resource and public management, promoting research results to serve the society; conducting international cooperation and academic exchange activities in fields of human resource and public management; offering MPA education and cultivating post-doctoral personnel; expanding the network for promoting human resources-related research and achievements; undertaking the evaluation of research achievements in fields of human resource management and public administration; compiling and publishing books on human resource management and public administration.

In terms of the organizational structure, the leadership body consists of the President, the Party Secretary, and Vice Presidents. CAPS consists of 17 divisions, including the General Office, the Division of Personnel and Education (Party Committee Office), the Division of Research Management, the Division of Finance, the Division of Information and Publicity ( the Editorial Committee of Chinese Personnel Science), the Research Division of Public Management and Personnel Institution, the Research Division of Talents Theory and Technologies, the Research Division of Talent Strategy and Policy, the Research Division of Civil Service Management, the Research Division of Public Institutions Management, the Research Division of Enterprise Personnel Management, the Research Division of Education Training and Capacity Building, the Research Division of Performance Management and Assessment, the Research Division of Salary and Welfare, the Research Division of Employment, Entrepreneurship and Policy Evaluation, the Research Division of Human Resources Market and Mobility, and the Research Division of Overseas Human Resources and International Cooperation (the Translation and Editorial Committee of the International Review of Administrative Sciences (Chinese version))

Over the past years, with its mission of promoting the development of talent resources, personnel management system reform and scientific human resource management, CAPS has served the central tasks of the Ministry and the overall interests of the country, and extended its research areas to the administrative system reform, talent pool construction, civil service management, the personnel management system reform in public institutions, human resource management in enterprises, income distribution system reform, employment and entrepreneurship, career development, talent mobility, human resource service industry development,etc. After nearly 40 years of development, CAPS has accumulated abundant scientific research resources, cultivated a competent research team, established a sound academic system of the research on talent and personnel theory, produced a large number of research achievements with far-reaching influence, and performed its due duty as a think tank. Meanwhile, it has been serving the role as a national center for cooperation and exchange in talent and personnel science research, and a leading organization for international academic exchanges and cooperation in the filed of administrative sciences .