TNAG-0177-FCO40-213-Proposed-Polytechnic-1969 — Page 130

QUESTIONS

Technical College: enrolment

1. DR S. Y. CHUNG asked the following question:-

Will Government inform this Council the amount of increase on the enrolment (both in number and percentage) of the higher level technological and engineering (not commer- cial) courses at the Technical College after the removal of the lower level courses to the new Morrison Hill Technical Institute in early 1970?

MR W. D. GREGG:-Sir, the enrolment of Higher Diploma students at the Technical College excluding Commerce in the 1968-69 Session is nearly 800 and the expected increase in the Higher Diploma courses which commenced either in 1967 or 1968 will be approximately 150 students in the coming two years which represents nearly 20% increase.

The

The enrolment of students in technican courses at the present is about 400 excluding Commerce and will increase to about 600 rep- resenting a percentage increase of 50% in the coming two years. increase is due to the implementation of recommendations of the Industrial Training Advisory Committee.

Sir, not all the recommendations of the Industrial Training Advisory Committee will however be implemented at the Technical College but some of the additional load will be shared by the new Technical Institute, where some 200 places in addition to those at the Technical College are being planned at this level.

Questions

DR CHUNG:-Sir, I am sure my honourable Friend is aware that this year, despite the rise of the entry qualifications at the Hong Kong Technical College, over five thousand potential students had applied for some seven hundred places available, and for certain courses the demand was phenominal.

For example, the ratio of applicants to places for the Electrical- Engineering course was 27:1, and for the Industrial Design.course was 18:1. In view of this great demand for technical education and the increasing need of trained technicians by the local industry will my honourable Friend agree that the current plan of expansion at the Hong Kong Technical College is inadequate and should be reviewed.

MR GREGG:-Sir, I think the intention of Legislative Council questions is to extract information rather than to elicit views but, if I could assume that my honourable Friend is framing his question slightly differently, I think I may say that Government is fully aware of the future need for increasing the number of places available for higher - technical training. It has not yet come to any final conclusion however on whether such places should be provided by extending the existing Technical College, in so far as this is possible to a limited extent, or whether they should provide any separate institution and, if so, what kind of institution would best suit its purposes. Government is aware of the urgency of this matter and will do all that it can to expedite a decision so that detailed planning may be put in hand.

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