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Following is a question by the Hon Ip Kin-yuen and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, in the Legislative Council today (May 21):
Question:
Quite a number of the teaching staff members of the member institutions (institutions) of the Vocational Training Council (VTC) have expressed the concern that given the continuous decline in the number of secondary school graduates in recent years, the institutions in which they work may reduce manpower due to a decrease in student intake. They have pointed out that as the numbers of teachers to those of students (T/S ratios) of various institutions have dropped continuously in the past few years, any further reduction in manpower will not only increase the workload of the remaining teaching staff, but also affect teaching quality. Regarding the staff establishment of VTC and its institutions, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(1) the respective T/S ratios of the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education, the Hong Kong Design Institute, the School of Business and Information Systems as well as the Youth College under VTC in 2000-2001, 2005-2006, 2010-2011, 2013-2014 and the next academic years respectively; the methods and criteria adopted by VTC for determining the T/S ratios of these institutions; whether the T/S ratios of these institutions have been adjusted after the 2000-2001 academic year; if so, of the reasons for such adjustments; and the long-term plans of VTC to raise the T/S ratios of these institutions;
(2) the (i) numbers and (ii) starting salaries of the teaching and supporting staff of various ranks for different disciplines/programmes of each of the four institutions mentioned in (1), as well as (iii) the numbers of students of such programmes, in each of the past five and the next academic years (set out the relevant information in tables of the same formats as Annexes 1 to 4); the policies and methods adopted by VTC for determining the staff establishment of and the starting salaries of various ranks for such disciplines/programmes; and
(3) the respective names of the administrative units newly added to VTC Headquarters and the numbers of posts with pay levels equivalent to those of senior lecturers or above in such units, in each of the past three and the next academic years?
Reply:
President,
The Government established the Vocational Training Council (VTC) in 1982 under the Vocational Training Council Ordinance (Cap. 1130) to promote the development of vocational education in Hong Kong. VTC offers a wide range of full-time and part-time vocational education programmes which lead to formal qualifications from post-Secondary 3 up to degree levels.
(1) The member institutions under VTC share resources in many aspects, and depending on the operational needs, teaching staff may be deployed to different operation units to best utilise their expertise. The School of Business and Information Systems (SBI) and the Youth College (YC) were both established in 2004, while the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) was established in 2010. The overall student-to-teacher ratios of VTC's member institutions (including the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education, SBI, HKDI, YC, the Hospitality Industry Training and Development Centre, the Chinese Cuisine Training Institute, the Maritime Services Training Institute and Pro-Act Training and Development Centres) in the 2005/06, 2010/11 and 2013/14 academic years are set out in Annex 5.
As shown in Annex 5, the overall student-to-teacher ratio of VTC's member institutions has remained largely stable.
VTC manages its staff deployment according to the teaching needs of individual disciplines and programmes, and the resources are deployed taking into account various factors as appropriate, such as the demand for student support, work circumstances of teachers, VTC's financial situation, etc. In addition, VTC has put in place other mechanisms to enhance the support for students. For example, additional staff has been deployed in support of students with special educational needs and the industrial attachment programme, etc. Therefore, the actual student-to-teacher ratio is higher than the calculations computed solely with reference to the criteria for determining staff establishment. VTC will continue to ensure optimal deployment of resources to provide quality vocational education.
(2) VTC determines its staff establishment mainly on the basis of the number of students, programme operation, roles and responsibilities of staff, etc. The starting salaries of various ranks are determined mainly with reference to the requirement and responsibility of the post, market pay level, internal relativities in pay level across VTC's various ranks, financial affordability, etc.
The facilities in different campuses of VTC are often shared by students of different levels of programmes, and staff may be deployed to different campuses as and when required. The overall numbers of teaching staff, administrative and support staff as well as students at VTC in the past five years are set out at Annex 6.
(3) VTC regularly reviews its programme provisions and services. Depending on the operational and development needs, VTC may consolidate its administrative units and make appropriate adjustments to the staff establishment, and deploy staff to different administrative units. As such, there is difficulty in defining "administrative units newly added" and providing relevant numbers. For example, the Institutional Advancement Division and International Development Division of VTC were constituted in recent years through re-organisation and consolidation of different administrative units, with a view to rationalising relevant existing services as well as to developing new services.
Ends/Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Issued at HKT 13:13
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