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> One company that was inspired by this was the British East India company which introduced an exam for employees I would assume they were based on the exams i

by qwytw 2y ago

> One company that was inspired by this was the British East India company which introduced an exam for employees I would assume they were based on the exams in the English navy introduced in 1677 (which I think was almost 200 years before EIC)? They weren't fully standardized by modern standards but I'm not sure that they were influenced by the Chinese exams as much as common practices in European universities, guilds etc. It's not that obvious that standardized in the 1800s didn't just gradually develop from previous practices with limited external influence. AFAIK was the first country in Europe, they had standardized for judges in the 1740s (so 100 years before the EIC) and the "Abitur" exam for school graduates was introduced in 1788. I doubt had any links with the Chinese exams. Pretty much all Western Educational systems were significantly influenced by Prussia.

LarsDu88 2y ago
Also the East India Company was founded in 1600, predating those English Navy exams by 1677. I'm not sure when they started adding standardized exams. Edit: It's possible these EIC exams were only introduced in the 19th century after the company was taken over by the British government. Could not find any sources stating that they were introduced earlier.
- qwytw 2y ago
  They reformed the civil service system in 1853. I'm not sure it was something that the EIC came up with on its own, rather it was the British government/parliament, possibly trying to fix the arbitrariness/mismanagement/inefficiency that was so rampant in the EIC. There might be some Chinese influence coming through the Jesuits as early as the 1600s. However the early European "exams" in the 1700s seem to have been very different e.g. basically you'd join the navy, or the civil service (in Prussia) in an entry level position, learn on the job for a few years and then take some semi-formal oral exam before by a panel of senior officials. So probably much closer to the guild style system than actual standardized exams which didn't really came until the 1800s. And of course you are already hade to come from a fairly affluent/well-connected background just to get in.

by qwytw 2y ago

LarsDu88 2y ago

Also the East India Company was founded in 1600, predating those English Navy exams by 1677. I'm not sure when they started adding standardized exams. Edit: It's possible these EIC exams were only introduced in the 19th century after the company was taken over by the British government. Could not find any sources stating that they were introduced earlier.

qwytw 2y ago
They reformed the civil service system in 1853. I'm not sure it was something that the EIC came up with on its own, rather it was the British government/parliament, possibly trying to fix the arbitrariness/mismanagement/inefficiency that was so rampant in the EIC. There might be some Chinese influence coming through the Jesuits as early as the 1600s. However the early European "exams" in the 1700s seem to have been very different e.g. basically you'd join the navy, or the civil service (in Prussia) in an entry level position, learn on the job for a few years and then take some semi-formal oral exam before by a panel of senior officials. So probably much closer to the guild style system than actual standardized exams which didn't really came until the 1800s. And of course you are already hade to come from a fairly affluent/well-connected background just to get in.