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Vocational Training
To meet the increasing demand for skilled manpower, vocational training facilities are being expanded to give more people the opportunity to acquire skills and knowledge
knowledge in a wide and ever-growing range and level.
In Hong Kong, industrial and technical training is mainly co-ordinated by the Vocational Training Council which was set up in 1982 under the Vocational Training Council Ordinance. The Council's role is to advise on measures required
(i)
to
ensure
comprehensive system of technical education and industrial training suited to the developing needs of Hong Kong;
(ii)
to
(iii)
set up, develop and operate training schemes for training operatives, craftsmen, technicians and technologists needed to maintain and improve Hong Kong's industry, commerce and services; and
to establish, operate and maintain technical institutes and industrial training centres.
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To assist its work, the Council has set up 20 industry-based training boards and seven general committees. The training boards deal with training problems of major industries and commercial sectors. They determine manpower needs, prepare job specifications, design training programmes and draw up trade test guidelines for their respective sectors. The general committees are responsible for specific training areas common to more than one sector of the economy. These areas are apprenticeship and trade testing, electronic data processing training, management and supervisory training, technical education, training of technologists, translation and precision tooling training.
Industrial Training
The Vocational Training Council operates eight technical institutes which offer full-time technical education at craft and technician levels. The main disciplines offered by the technical institutes include : applied
applied science, clothing, commercial studies, computing studies, construction, design, electrical and electronic engineering, environmental studies, food technology, marine engineering and fabrication, mechanical and production engineering, printing and textiles.
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The council has also set up 12 industrial training centres in large complexes located in Kowloon Bay and Kwai Chung to provide basic off-the-job training and up-grading training for the
the automobile, electrical, electronics, gas, hotel, jewellery, machine shop and metal working, welding, plastics, printing, textile and precision tooling industries. The level of courses ranges from operative to technologist. Each year about 9 000 workers are trained in these centres. A new training centre complex is being planned to accommodate some craft courses to be transferred from the technical institutes as a result of the rationalisation of courses in
the polytechnics and the technical institutes.