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    Students who successfully completed quality-assured courses under Career-oriented Curriculum (COC) would benefit from the latest arrangements under which their awards would be widely recognised for further studies and employment, a spokesman for the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) said today (August 5).

    First introduced in September, 2003, as a pilot scheme, COC is an initiative to diversify the curriculum at the senior secondary level and to provide students with multiple progression pathways to further studies and employment.

    It also aims to develop the potential and interests of students who learn better through experiencing or doing by placing greater emphasis on applied learning.

    For the first cohort of pilot COC (2003/05 school years) offered by the Vocational Training Council (VTC) and Caritas Adult and Higher Education Service (Caritas), some 450 students have successfully completed their studies in 14 courses.

    "To ensure the standard and quality of pilot COC courses, EMB, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation (HKCAA), have recently completed a pilot quality assurance exercise for the 14 COC courses offered in the 2003-05 school years," the spokesman said.

    "It is concluded that the standard of these COC courses is comparable to a subject pass in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE)."

    For admission to academic programmes commencing in the 2005-06 school year, successful completion of one quality-assured COC course will be recognised as comparable to:

* One HKCEE subject pass for admission to further studies in the same field in VTC and Caritas;

* One HKCEE subject pass for admission to Secondary Six and for entry to the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination;

* One HKCEE subject pass, excluding Chinese Language and English Language, for admission into Pre-Associate Degree Programmes; and

* Successful completion of two electives under Project Yi Jin (PYJ) if the students enrol in PYJ.  In other words, students will be required to study seven core modules plus one elective (instead of three electives) under PYJ.

    The spokesman said that in addition, the Civil Service Bureau, on the recommendation of EMB and HKCAA, would also accept successful completion of one quality-assured COC course offered under the 2003-05 cohort as comparable to a pass in HKCEE, excluding Chinese Language and English Language.

    "Like all other applicants for civil service posts at non-graduate level, applicants who have successfully completed a COC course have to meet other entry qualification requirements specified for the posts including Grade E in Chinese Language and English Language (Syl.B) in HKCEE," he said.

    COC is designed especially for Secondary Four and Five students. The duration of each COC course is 150-180 contact hours within a two-year period, similar to the contact hours of a Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) subject.

    At present, some 1,400 students are currently studying in the second cohort (2004-06 school years) with 32 courses on offer.

    EMB will continue the pilot COC courses. Around 3,000 students have also applied to study in about 40 courses on offer in its third cohort (2005/07) to begin in September, 2005.  

Ends/Friday, August 5, 2005

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