TNAG-2912-FCO40-4187-International-support-from-Asia-regarding-the-future-of-Hong-1993 — Page 44

POLI

IN CONFIDENCE

Secretary of State for Employment

4.

institutions which are impressively well-equipped with the latest technology and,

in Japan and Hong Kong in particular, working closely with the relevant industries. In all three countries there has been a conscious effort to develop in the public sector centres of excellence which are well equipped and up-to-date and provide a high level of instruction. Such centres are important in providing a standard against which all provision can be judged. In the private sector, large firms maintain high level, state-of-the-art training establishments which they see as a vital part of maintaining their competitive edge;

b) the norm in all three countries is for a very large proportion of the costs of off-the-job training for young people to be paid for by the state. The major exception to this was the largest firms in Japan and South Korea, who run their own training schools, although these too received a considerable element of indirect subsidy. But outside the largest firms it was seen as a state responsibility to cover the costs of off-the-job training. Much effort went into ensuring that provision met employment needs, although there was a good deal of interest in the approach we have been adopting through the TEC movement to give employers greater control over local provision;

c) it was also apparent that in all three countries there is a strong and flourishing group of private sector training providers. These were notably lively institutions, closer to the market place than their public sector equivalents and providing a valuable extra element in the system. The dangers of over concentration in the public sector are clearly well appreciated and employers and individuals alike benefit from the greater choice which can be made available.

There are some areas in which my visits have suggested that our current policies in the UK are very much on the right track:

a) it was notable that in neither Japan nor South Korea is there an overall framework of qualifications to which training could be related. In both countries there was a good deal of interest in the work we have done to establish a framework of NVQs to help define needs and measure achievement;