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Following is a question by the Hon Audrey Eu and a reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (July 11):
Question:
It has been reported that, in a hearing conducted by the Commission of Inquiry on Allegations relating to The Hong Kong Institute of Education, the former Permanent Secretary for Education and Manpower said that the proposal to the University Grants Committee ("UGC") in 2004 to reduce The Hong Kong Institute of Education ("HKIEd")'s places for Certificate of Early Childhood Education from 200 in 2005-2006 school year to 0 in 2007-2008 school year was merely a result of internal communication problems within the Education and Manpower Bureau ("EMB") and had nothing to do with interference in academic autonomy. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the specific procedures and factors for consideration of the authorities concerned in the periodic allocation of student places to local tertiary institutions funded by UGC; and
(b) regarding the above incident of the reduction of HKIEd's student places, whether the Government has examined the causes of the alleged internal communication problems in EMB and whether it has adopted improvement measures after the incident to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) First of all, I wish to emphasise that the allocation of student places to institutions funded by the University Grants Committee ("UGC") is the duty of UGC. Since the public sector is the major employer of certain professions, the Administration will provide advice on the manpower requirement of these disciplines and professions (such as doctors, nurses, social workers, teachers, etc.) for reference by UGC, so as to ensure an adequate supply of these professionals in the community. However, the Administration's advice is on the overall manpower requirement of the professions concerned, rather than the allocation of student places to individual institutions.
In practice, the Education Bureau will be responsible for coordinating the views of relevant Bureau/Departments on the manpower requirement of the professions under their purview. Upon endorsement by the Executive Council, the Education Bureau will put forward its advice to the UGC for reference by the UGC-funded institutions, as they start their academic planning and prepare their Academic Development Proposals ("ADPs").
The institutions will set out the details of their curriculum planning, distribution of student places, etc. in their ADPs. The UGC, after considering the ADPs, the Administration's advice on manpower requirement, the roles and development needs of individual institutions, as well as the overall strategic development of UGC, etc., will provide individual institutions with the Committee's advice on the allocation of student places and academic planning. The Education Bureau will then submit UGC's recommendations to the Executive Council for consideration, and usually the recommendations on allocation of student places will all be accepted. The overall approved student numbers will also be stated in the funding proposal submitted to the Legislative Council.
Throughout the academic planning process, the UGC and the institutions will be in close contact. Where necessary or when there is disagreement, the UGC will liaise with the Education Bureau on the allocation of student places in individual areas. In fact, the Administration has previously revised its recommendations on manpower requirement in response to comments from the UGC.
(b) The planning for early childhood teacher education places involves mainly two divisions of the Education Bureau. In working out the number of early childhood teacher education places for the 2005/06 - 2007/08 triennium, the two divisions had made a mistake in communication. The division responsible for coordinating the Bureau's input had the wrong impression that as the policy target had already been reached, there was no longer a demand for in-service early childhood teacher education places in 2007/08. They had overlooked the training needs of those early childhood education teachers who wanted to further their studies and had the potential to become principals.
We are sorry about the mistake. Fortunately, in the process of academic planning, the Education Bureau, UGC and related institutions had been in close contact, so that when the mistake was discovered, we could promptly liaise with UGC and the institutions and rectify the problem in time. To avoid the recurrence of similar incidents, we have, apart from requesting colleagues to be more alert, made systemic improvements to the planning process for teacher training places in particular. We will enhance communication among different divisions, as well as arrange discussions and adopt verification procedures to ensure that views and information are accurately conveyed.
Ends/Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:28
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