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Training of product and software design personnel
Following is a question by the Hon James Tien Pei-chun and a written reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Joseph W P Wong, in the Legislative Council today (Thursday);
Question:
Reply:
Will the Government inform this Council of the following:
(a) what is the present situation regarding the demand for "hi-tech personnel" in
product and software design in the industrial sector in the territory; and
(b) are the Government's efforts in providing training in this field adequate; what is its long term policy, and what is the amount of funds that will be spent, in this regard?
Mr President,
(a) The latest manpower information available from recent surveys indicates that our manufacturing industries' annual requirement for product design technologists is about 35 persons, who are mainly product engineers. In the area of software design, the annual demand by the industrial sector is about 35 at the managerial level and 400 at the support level.
(b) It is Government's long term policy to provide a sufficient number of trained personnel to meet the industries' needs. Government believes that its efforts to provide training in the field of product and software design are adequate. The Vocational Training Council (VTC) trains design personnel in its technical colleges and technical institutes. The VTC's two technical colleges run higher diploma and higher certificate courses in manufacturing engineering with a design stream. The planned total final year places are 70 and 60 respectively. The technical institutes also expect to turn out 238 design graduates in various diploma level disciplines. In software design, there is a total of 75 higher diploma and 90 higher certificate final year places. The technical institutes also produce about 350 diploma level graduates in computing studies.