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Final consultancy report on VTC released
The Government is inviting views from concerned parties on the consultancy report on the Strategic and Organisational Review of the Vocational Training Council (VTC).
The consultancy was commissioned by the Education and Manpower Branch (EMB), and the report is being sent to VTC and other interested parties including the industrial and commercial sectors for comments. The aim is to secure all comments within one month.
Making the announcement today (Friday), a spokesman for EMB said the report acknowledged that VTC had many strengths and had achieved a great deal over the years. However, given the rapid economic changes in Hong Kong, market pressures and demands of employers for skills at various levels, VTC needs to adapt.
The consultants pointed out that more emphasis should be placed on generic skills such as information technology, communication and language proficiency which are important to the service sector.
"Hong Kong needs a workforce of world-class standard and the VTC has a major role to play in securing this vital economic and human objective.
"The VTC will need to put in place a robust yet flexible management system able to cope with and, indeed, benefit and grow from a constantly changing economic and social environment," the spokesman said.
The consultants have identified a number of key issues that need to be addressed. They cover VTC's involvement in the strategic planning and monitoring of its own performance, staff development, a quality assurance programme for courses; the unfavourable perception of the VTC by parents and students; and the apparent imbalance between the provision of courses for manufacturing and manual jobs and those for the service industry.
The consultants have come up with 44 recommendations which seek to promote an organic, rather than radical and fundamental, change in the VTC. Among the key recommendations are:
Drawing up a Memorandum of Understanding to define more clearly the roles and responsibilities of the EMB and VTC;