EDUCATION
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Until July 31, 1988 the UPGC Secretariat, which is a government department staffed by civil servants, comprised two separate parts: the secretariat which services the committee and its sub-committees, and the Student Finance Section, which administers means-tested schemes through which financial assistance is provided to Hong Kong students attending higher education institutions in Hong Kong and in the United Kindgom. On August 1, 1988 responsibility for the administration of the Student Finance Section was transferred to the Education and Manpower Branch of the Government Secretariat.
Vocational Training Council
The Vocational Training Council was set up in 1982 and comprises 22 members appointed by the Governor. Four are official members the Secretary for Economic Services, the Director of Education, the Commissioner for Labour and the Director of Technical Education and Industrial Training. The council's role is to advise the Governor on measures to ensure a comprehensive system of technical education and industrial training suited to the developing needs of Hong Kong; to set up, develop and operate training schemes for training operatives, craftsmen, technicians and technologists to maintain and improve Hong Kong's industry, commerce and services; and also to establish, operate and maintain technical institutes and training centres.
Under the council are 19 training boards and seven general committees. The training boards cover all major economic sectors: accountancy; automobile repair and servicing; banking; building and civil engineering; clothing; electrical industry; electronics; hotel, catering and tourism; insurance; jewellery; journalism; machine shop and metal working; merchant navy; plastics; printing; shipbuilding and ship repair; textile; transport and physical distribution; and wholesale/retail and import/export trades. The seven general committees, which are concerned with areas of training relevant to more than one sector of the economy, deal with apprenticeship and trade testing; electronic data processing training; management and supervisory training; precision tooling training; technical education; training of technologists, and translation.
All training boards and some of the general committees assess the future manpower needs of the economic sectors or areas of their concern and recommend measures to meet such needs, prepare and disseminate training materials such as job specifications, training programmes and trade test guidelines and carry out other duties, such as operating and maintaining training centres or training schemes. During 1988, manpower surveys were conducted in the following 12 sectors: accountancy; automobile; banking; electronics; footwear; furniture; machine shop and metal working; management and supervisory training; merchant navy; printing; shipbuilding, ship repair and offshore engineering; and wholesale/retail and import/export trades. The training boards and general committees also continued to prepare or up-date job specifications, training programmes, trade test guidelines, training curricula and glossaries of common technical terms.
The council and its training boards and committees are serviced partly by its own staff and partly by staff of the Technical Education and Industrial Training Department.
Education Department
The Director of Education, supported by the Education Department, is responsible under the terms of the Education Ordinance for general oversight of education in Hong Kong at kindergarten, primary and secondary levels. He directly controls all government schools, the Colleges of Education (including the Hong Kong Technical Teachers' College) and the
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