ENG-1981 — Page 113

EDUCATION

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Section of the Education Department. From September, however, the responsibility for operating two of the courses for teachers of slow-learning children and mentally- handicapped children - was transferred to the Sir Robert Black College of Education. The Special Education Section continued to organise short courses, seminars and workshops for teachers in ordinary schools and for trainee-teachers at the colleges of education.

Technical Education

Five technical institutes are run by the Education Department with a sixth being planned for the new town of Tuen Mun in the New Territories. These institutes provide courses at craft and technician levels on a full-time, block-release, part-time day-release and evening basis. The main disciplines include construction, electrical engineering, mechanical engin- eering, marine and fabrication, textiles and clothing, commercial studies, industrial technology, design, printing, hotel-keeping and tourism, as well as general studies. A number of short courses are also offered to meet the specialised requirements of industry and commerce.

Enrolment in the technical institutes continued to increase and during the first term of the 1981-2 academic year, there were about 3 520 full-time, 10 100 block-release and part-time day and 16 240 part-time evening students. In September, the teaching establish- ment of the technical institutes was 418 while the establishment of the supporting staff stood at 332. Several major items of equipment were purchased during the year among them a new computer system, installed in the Lee Wai Lee Technical Institute, which is intended to serve all of the territory's technical institutes by means of on-line terminals.

A credit-unit system has been adopted for technician study programmes, chiefly to provide greater flexibility for students. A large number of programmes in the main disciplines have been validated by the Technician Education Council (TEC) in Britain, while validation for others is being sought. TEC qualifications are recognised for qualifying for exempting purposes by many professional and technician bodies in the United Kingdom.

A number of postal surveys were conducted to collect information from past and present students. These included an employment survey of all the 1981 graduates from full-time courses and tracer studies of full-time students who completed their courses in 1976 and 1977. It was evident from results of the surveys that graduates of the technical institutes had no difficulty in finding employment appropriate to their course of study and that their career prospects were generally good.

The Technical Education Division of the Education Department continued to be engaged in the planning and development of technical education and vocational training for the disabled. These services, provided at the World Rehabilitation Fund Day Centre (a purpose-built vocation training centre for the disabled) will be expanded as additional accommodation at the centre becomes available. During the year, two International Labour Organisation planners assisted the division in setting-up facilities and staff training programmes in three new activities for the disabled: training programmes based on the concept of modules of employable skills, vocational assessment and technical aids. In accordance with the government's policy of integrating the disabled into the community, some 40 handicapped pupils were admitted to various courses in the technical institutes. A code of aid for subventing vocational training centres run by voluntary agencies was in the final stage of preparation as the year ended and will shortly be implemented.