ENG-1983 — Page 37

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EDUCATION AT THE CROSSROADS

There are at present five technical institutes run by the VTC, the Lee Wai Lee, Haking Wong and Kwun Tong Institutes in Kowloon, the Morrison Hill Technical Institute on Hong Kong Island and the Kwai Chung Technical Institute in the New Territories. Three further technical institutes are to be built, at Sha Tin and Tuen Mun in the New Territories and at Chai Wan on Hong Kong Island. It is expected that the Tuen Mun and Sha Tin institutes will be ready to open in September 1985 and Chai Wan in September 1987. Work is also in hand to modify the existing technical institutes to make them more easily accessible to disabled students, while the capacity of Haking Wong Technical Institute is being increased by the construction of a four-storey annexe connected floor-to-floor to the existing building.

The technical institutes provide courses at craft and technician levels roughly at a 40:60 ratio on a full-time, block-release, part-time day release and evening basis. The main disciplines include construction, electrical and mechanical engineering, marine and fabrica- tion, textiles and clothing, commercial studies, industrial technology, design, printing, hotel-keeping and tourism, and motor vehicle engineering, as well as general studies. In 1984-5 it is planned to include new courses in clothing technology, gas fitting, Pitman 2 000 shorthand and advanced typewriting and audio-typing.

The duration of full-time craft courses is mostly one year. The normal duration of part-time day release craft courses is three years, but students who have studied relevant subjects at a prevocational school, or a relevant full-time craft course, are admitted directly into the second year.

Most full-time technician programmes take two years and lead to the award of a diploma. The duration of part-time day release or part-time evening technician programmes, which lead to the Higher Certificate, is four years or either five or six years respectively. Students take a certificate examination after either two or three years' study in a technical institute and may then go on to the Polytechnic for a Higher Certificate course. The minimum entry requirement to technician courses is normally passes in four relevant subjects at Grade E or above in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination. Normally one of the four subjects must be English Language (Syllabus B).

The technical institutes also offer a wide range of short courses, lasting from a few days to several weeks, throughout the calendar year. They are mostly designed to cater to the needs of those who are employed in industry or commerce and who wish to acquire new knowledge or update their knowledge of particular aspects of their work. There are also a few technically-biased leisure-interest courses. Apart from providing a wider service to employees of industry and commerce, the courses will also serve the public at large. The VTC intends to place increasing emphasis on the development of upgrading and re-training as well as leisure-interest courses.

Industrial Training

The Vocational Training Council has 19 training boards covering the following sectors of the economy: accountancy; vehicle repairs and servicing; banking; building and civil engineering; clothing; electrical; electronics; hotel, catering and tourism; insurance; jewel- lery; journalism; machine shop and metal working; merchant shipping; plastics; printing; shipbuilding and ship repair; textiles; transport and physical distribution; and wholesale/ retail and import/export trades. It has also six general committees dealing with training areas which affect more than one sector of the economy. These areas are apprenticeship and trade testing, training in electronic data processing, training in management and supervisory fields, technical education, training of technologists, and translation.