ENG-2013 — Page 168

Education

Hospitality Industry Training and Development Centre, Chinese Cuisine Training Institute, Maritime Services Training Institute and Youth College.

The VTC also administers the apprenticeship scheme and provides trade testing and certification.

Yi Jin Diploma

The Yi Jin Diploma Programme provides an alternative channel for Secondary 6 school leavers and adult learners to earn a formal qualification for employment and continuing education purposes. The programme is run by seven self-financing institutions and may be taken either full-time or part-time. In the 2013-14 academic year, over 4,000 students enrolled in the programme.

Qualifications Framework

The Hong Kong Qualifications Framework (QF) provides a transparent and accessible platform to promote lifelong learning and help enhance the competitiveness of the workforce. It covers academic, vocational and continuing education qualifications. The QF is underpinned by a robust quality assurance mechanism. All qualifications recognised under the QF are locally accredited by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications or by the self-accrediting institutions in Hong Kong. The government maintains a Qualifications Register, a web-based database that lists the qualifications and their associated learning programmes recognised under the QF.

As at December 2013, the government has assisted 19 industries' in setting up Industry Training Advisory Committees (ITACs) under the QF covering about 46 per cent of Hong Kong's total labour force. A major task of each ITAC, which comprises key stakeholders from the industry concerned, is to draw up Specification of Competency Standards (SCS) for its sector, setting out the skills, knowledge and outcome standards required of employees in the sector's different functional areas, and enabling course providers to design training programmes to meet the sector's needs. SCSS provide useful guides for the development of in-house training and human resources management, such as staff recruitment and performance assessment. Starting from the 2013-14 financial year, $10 million per year will be allocated to support ITACS in launching new initiatives to further enhance workers' knowledge and skills.

The government has also developed a Recognition of Prior Learning mechanism under the QF to enable practitioners to obtain formal recognition for the knowledge, skills and experience they have acquired in the workplace, and facilitate further learning without the need to start from scratch.

1 Printing and Publishing; Watch and Clock; Chinese Catering; Hairdressing; Property Management; Electrical and Mechanical Services; Jewellery; Information and Communications Technology; Automotive; Beauty; Logistics; Banking; Import and Export; Testing, Inspection and Certification; Retail; Insurance; Manufacturing Technology (Tooling, Metals and Plastics), Elderly Care Services and Security Services.

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