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Consultation on student finance scheme extended
The public consultation period for the consultancy study on local student finance scheme has been extended from August to October, the Student Financial Assistance Agency (SFAA) announced today (Tuesday).
A spokesman for SFAA said in view of the complexity and importance of the recommendations, members of the Joint Committee on Student Finance (JCSF) felt that they needed more time to consider carefully the recommendations and to conduct extensive consultations where necessary.
The deadline was extended to enable students and staff of various institutions to give their views when they returned to school after the summer holidays, the spokesman said.
"Moreover, given the far-reaching impact of the recommendations, members considered it necessary that the new students, who will be enrolled in September/October, should be consulted before the JCSF's next meeting in November.
"The Administration is open-minded on the consultants' recommendations and will consider the way forward in the light of the advice of the JCSF and public feedback," the spokesman said.
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STI to attend APEC small and medium enterprises meeting
The Secretary for Trade and Industry, Miss Denise Yue, will leave tomorrow (Wednesday) to attend the third Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) to be held in Cebu, the Philippines, on September 5 and 6.
The meeting, with the theme "creating the climate for globalisation of SMEs", will focus on existing and new initiatives in the SME Action Program in the five priority areas: human resources development, information access, technology and technology sharing, finance, and market access.