ENG-2008 — Page 187

Education | 139

run by the Vocational Training Council (VTC) for Secondary 3 school leavers, giving senior secondary students an alternative free avenue to mainstream education.

Development of Post-secondary Education

Phase Two of the Review of the Post-secondary Education Sector has been completed. Arising from this, a package of recommendations on promoting the long-term, sustainable development of post-secondary education has been introduced. Good progress has been made in implementing these recommendations, which include strengthening the quality assurance mechanisms, enhancement of the transparency of the sector, improving opportunities for higher studies, promotion on recognition and employability, modification of government support measures to steer them towards quality enhancement, and improvement of Financial Assistance Scheme for Post-secondary Students.

Further Developing Hong Kong as a Regional Education Hub

Following the Chief Executive's announcement in his 2007-08 Policy Address of plans to further Hong Kong's development as a regional education hub, the Government has implemented measures to internationalise the tertiary sector, and to assist talented non-local graduates to live and work in Hong Kong to enhance the city's talent pool.

These measures include increasing non-local student quotas for local institutions, establishing a $1 billion scholarship fund for awarding Government scholarships to outstanding local and non-local students, exploring alternative student hostel solutions such as construction of 'joint-hostels', relaxing employment restrictions for non-local students during their studies, relaxing immigration restrictions for non-local graduates to stay or return to work in Hong Kong, and granting fresh non-local graduates 12 months' stay without restrictions.

Progress of Upgrading Teacher Status and Professionalism

To raise the status and professional standards of teachers, the EDB has increased the ratios of graduate teacher posts in public sector primary and secondary schools to 45 per cent and 80 per cent in the 2008-09 school year, and will further increase the ratios to 50 per cent and 85 per cent as from the 2009-10 school year. A deputy head rank in public sector primary schools has been created in the 2008-09 school year to enhance the quality of primary education.

The EDB has continued to organise the Chief Executive's Award for Teaching Excellence (CEATE) to give recognition to accomplished teachers and to foster a culture of excellence in the teaching profession. A total of 66 teachers received the Award or the Certificate of Merit in the CEATE 2008.

Student Achievements

In the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2007, the performance of Hong Kong students was remarkable. In mathematics, Primary 4 (P4) students rose to the world's top and Secondary 2 (S2) students ranked fourth. In science, P4 students came third and S2 students were in the ninth place.