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The Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, will lead a Hong Kong delegation to Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday (November 30) to attend the 2008 International Education Leaders' Dialogue.
The 2008 Melbourne Dialogue provides a valuable opportunity for key education leaders from high performing jurisdictions to come together and share their experiences and the challenges of school reform.
It will sharpen the focus on the latest policies and strategies that are proving to be effective, and will concentrate on sustaining progress and positioning jurisdictions for the next phase of reform. The 2006 and 2007 dialogues highlighted a great deal of progress that had been made in understanding challenges and identifying strategies to achieve large scale reform.
During his stay, Mr Suen will call on Ms Bronwyn Pike, MP, Minister for Education, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, State Government of Victoria. He will meet local personnel in the education field and community leaders to strengthen ties and brief them on the Hong Kong Government¡¦s steadfast commitment to education and to nurturing the younger generation, including the new academic structure for senior secondary education and higher education, and Hong Kong's development as a regional education hub.
Mr Suen will call on the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Glyn Davis, and give a speech at a luncheon meeting hosted by the Provost of the University of Melbourne, Professor Peter McPhee. He will visit a local primary school which has a robust programme for students with special needs and a secondary school to meet with the principal to discuss school based assessment.
In addition to meetings with leaders in education, Mr Suen will also meet the business community in Melbourne. He will deliver a speech at a reception for business and community leaders at Melbourne Town Hall and attend a dinner hosted by the Victoria chapter of the Hong Kong Australia Business Association.
Accompanying Mr Suen on his visit to Melbourne will be the Deputy Secretaries for Education, Mrs Betty Ip and Dr Catherine Chan, and the Secretary-General of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, Dr Francis Cheung. Mr Suen will return to Hong Kong next Thursday (December 4).
Ends/Thursday, November 27, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:09
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