ENG-2005 — Page 199

Education I 161

part-time modes. In the 2005-06 school year, 4 982 full-time and part-time students joined the programme.

Drawing on the success of the project, the Government introduced a pilot scheme, the Yi Jin/Secondary School Collaboration Project, to 10 secondary schools in September 2004. The collaboration project offers the same Yi Jin programme for students who have little interest in continuing the conventional Secondary 5 curriculum. At the beginning of the 2005-06 school year, the collaboration project extended its scope with 18 secondary schools participating.

Vocational Education

The VTC was established in 1982 to provide and promote a cost-effective and comprehensive system of vocational education and training for school leavers and adult learners to acquire skills and knowledge for lifelong learning and enhanced employability.

The VTC provides high-quality, internationally

internationally recognised full-time pre- employment education and training courses, at various levels ranging from the craftsman level to higher diploma level, through its Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education, VTC School of Business and Information Systems, and training and development centres. It also operates industry-wide training schemes and a voluntary trade testing and certification scheme.

The self-funded Continuing Professional Development Centre has been set up to promote continuing professional education by providing short courses and organising professional examinations such as the Insurance Intermediaries Qualifying Examination and the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Examination.

Altogether, over 160 000 full-time and part-time places were available for the academic year 2005-06 for both school leavers and people in employment.

Technical Training

The Construction Industry Training Authority (CITA) runs three construction training centres and a management training centre, a trade testing centre and a safety training centre. The authority is funded by a levy of 0.4 per cent on the value of all construction works exceeding $1 million. In response to the demands of the industry, CITA offered a total of 1 960 full-time and 56 180 part-time training places in the 2005-06 training year. In addition, the authority conducts trade tests for construction workers to assess the standards of skills achieved, and certification tests for operators of construction plants.

The Clothing Industry Training Authority provides training courses for the clothing and footwear industries. It is financed by a levy of 0.03 per cent on the Free- on-Board value of clothing and footwear items produced in and exported from Hong Kong. It operates two training centres to deliver both full-time and part-time courses at technician and craftsman levels. At the beginning of 2005-06, the authority offered 600 full-time and 6 000 part-time training places for students.