Latest position of the testing and certification industry in Hong Kong
Manpower
Mr CHAN Chun-ying enquired about the Administration’s strategy in spearheading the development of the T&C industry in order to leverage the opportunities provided by the Belt and Road Initiative. He also enquired about the Administration’s measures to groom talents for the T&C industry. Noting that the Open University of Hong Kong (“OUHK”) launched Hong Kong’s first full-time undergraduate programme dedicated to T&C in 2013, Mr CHAN further enquired about the number of enrolments and graduates of the programme, and whether the Administration had any plan to encourage other mainstream universities to launch similar programmes targeted to the grooming of talents. Noting that HKCTC launched a teaching kit for senior secondary chemistry teachers in 2016 to help enhance students’ interests in the T&C sector, Mr CHAN asked what other measures the Administration would take to promote T&C among students.
SG, HKCTC said that apart from OUHK, other universities/institutes including the Hong Kong Baptist University (“HKBU”) and the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong set up by the Vocational Training Council (“VTC”) had launched bachelor’s degree programmes dedicated to T&C. Post-graduate T&C programmes were also provided by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKBU, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and OUHK. SG, HKCTC added that the first batch of students of the full-time four-year bachelor’s degree programme launched by OUHK graduated in 2017. Among the 120 graduates, around 60% had joined the T&C industry. On the other hand, about 500 students graduated from the nine T&C-related Higher Diploma programmes organized by VTC each year, among which about 30% had joined the T&C industry.