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Students who have successfully completed quality-assured courses under the Career-oriented Curriculum (COC) would benefit from the recognition arrangements for the second cohort of the COC pilot (2004-06 school years), 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 8).
First introduced in September 2003, as a pilot scheme, the COC is an initiative to diversify the curriculum at senior secondary level and to provide students with multiple 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 second cohort of the COC pilot (2004-06 school years) offered by Caritas Adult and Higher Education Service (Caritas) and the Vocational Training Council (VTC), around 1,300 students have successfully completed their studies, with some having completed more than one COC course.
"To ensure the standard and quality of pilot COC courses, the EMB, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation (HKCAA), has completed a pilot quality assurance exercise for a total of the 32 COC courses offered in the 2004-06 school years. It is concluded that the standard of these COC courses is deemed comparable to a subject pass in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE)," the spokesman said.
Compared with that of the first cohort of the COC pilot (2003-05 school years), the recognition arrangement for the second cohort has been improved by its extension from one to a maximum of two COC courses. For admission to academic programmes commencing in the 2006/07 school year, successful completion of one quality-assured COC course will be recognised as comparable to:
* One HKCEE subject pass, up to a maximum of two subjects, for admission to further studies in the respective institutions of the course providers;
* One HKCEE subject pass, each counted as one point and up to a maximum of two points, 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, each counted as one point and up to a maximum of two subjects, for entry to Pre-Associate Degree Programmes; and
* Successful completion of two electives under Project Yi Jin (PYJ) if the students who enrol in PYJ have successfully completed one or two quality-assured COC course(s) in a related study area. 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 the EMB and HKCAA, would also accept successful completion of a quality-assured COC course as comparable to a pass in HKCEE (excluding Chinese Language and English Language (Syl.B)) for civil service appointment purpose, subject to the counting of a maximum of two courses.
"Like all other applicants for civil service posts at non-graduate level, applicants who have successfully completed a COC course(s) have to meet other entry qualification requirements specified for the posts including Grade E in Chinese Language and English Language (Syl.B) in the HKCEE," he said.
The COC is designed for all full-time Secondary Four students from a wide spectrum of schools who are following a curriculum leading to the HKCEE. The duration of each COC course is 180 contact hours within a two-year period, similar to the contact hours of an HKCEE subject.
At present, in the third cohort of the COC pilot (2005-07 school years), around 2,900 students are currently studying 32 courses offered by Caritas, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the Hong Kong Institute of Accredited Accounting Technicians Limited and VTC.
The EMB will continue the pilot COC courses. For the fourth cohort commencing in September 2006, over 4,500 students have applied to study in 33 COC courses in the six areas of studies offered by a total of nine course providers. Details are available at www.emb.gov.hk/coc.
Ends/Tuesday, August 8, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:30
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