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and Baptist College are assessed by the UK Council for National Academic Awards. A Planning Committee on Academic Awards has been appointed to make recommendations on the establishment of a system for validation of courses within Hong Kong.
62. The Hong Kong Government is also placing high priority on the expansion of technical education and industrial training to support the continuing development of the territory's manufacturing and service industries. Two more technical institutes were opened in 1986: in the new towns of Sha Tin and Tuen Mun, raising the number of full- time and equivalent places in the seven technical institutes from 9,100 to 13.400. An eighth technical institute will open next year and will provide a further 2,700 places. These institutes have been built under the auspices of Hong Kong's Vocational Training Council. which has wide responsibilities for developing and operating technical and industrial training for operatives, craftsmen and technicians. The Council operates two industrial training centre complexes which provide training in the major industrial skills for some 9,000 trainees each year. On the commercial side, the Council opened two new training centres during the year in the fields of insurance and electronic data processing.
(c) Medical Services
63. In the field of medical and health services work continued on Hong Kong's extensive hospital building programme. The number of beds in government and government- subvented hospitals has risen from 17,000 to 22.000 over the last 10 years and is projected to rise to over 27,000 by the end of 1990.
64.
A government commissioned report by overseas consultants on the management and organisation of hospital services was published in March. One of its principal recommendations is that the management of all government and subvented hospitals be vested in a Hospital Authority to ensure the most efficient use of staff resources and facilities and to reduce the present overcrowding in government hospitals. There has been a mixed reaction to the proposal from some professional bodies and staff associations, but most opinion expressed so far is in favour of the establishment of a Hospital Authority, provided the Hong Kong Government does not relinquish its commitment to improving medical and health services. The feasibility and resource implications of the report's recommendations will be further evaluated in the coming months.
(d) Environment
65. In recent years the Hong Kong Government has been intensifying its efforts to improve the physical environment and reduce pollution. A new Environmental Protection Department was established in April which will be responsible for all aspects of pollution control. Progress was also made in the formulation of legislation to control noise and to improve air quality. New regulations for controlling water pollution were made in June and, in order to reduce the pollution of stream courses which is presently being caused by the indiscriminate dumping of animal wastes, the Hong Kong Government announced later in the year its intention to ban livestock keeping in the urban areas, and to institute strict controls in rural areas.
(e) Culture, Recreation and Sport
66. During the last 10 years the people of Hong Kong have benefited from major investment, by the Hong Kong Government, the Urban Council and organisations such as the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, in facilities for the arts and for recreation and sporting activities.
67. The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts was officially opened by Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent in February 1986. It already has 345 full-time students training in Chinese and western music, drama, dance and related technical arts. When fully developed, it will provide for 600 full-time students. Hong Kong already has eight cultural centres of different sizes and designs, and the Sha Tin and the Tuen Mun Town Halls, each with a 1,400-seat auditorium, will open in 1987. The Hong Kong Cultural Centre with a 2,250-seat concert hall, a 1,860-seat grand-theatre and a 500-seat studio theatre is under construction and due for completion in 1989.
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