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The Secretary for Education (SED), Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, will lead an education delegation to pay a five-day duty visit to Germany and Switzerland tomorrow (November 3) to look into their vocational education systems and good practices in promoting young persons' career development.
As stated in the Policy Address 2014, the Government has attached great importance to vocational education. With the participation of members of the vocational training and education sector, the visit will facilitate direct dialogues and exchanges with international experts in the two countries. It will be conducive to further deliberations on the strategy for promoting vocational education in Hong Kong.
After arriving in Germany on November 3, the delegation will visit Heidelberg University and the Chamber of Crafts Frankfurt-Rhein-Main.
On November 4, the delegation will call on the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Berlin and exchange views with officials of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. They will also meet with representatives of the Berlin Senate Department for Labour, Integration and Women while touring the ASEA Brown Boveri Training Facility.
On November 5, the delegation will visit Berlin Free University and the Akademie Berlin-Schmöckwitz Training Centre.
The delegates will fly on November 6 to Bern, Switzerland, where they will visit the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training as well as a telecom enterprise.
On November 7, the SED will meet with senior officials of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation in Bern. The delegates will then make their final stop in Zurich, where they will meet with the professors in the Zurich University of the Arts. They will then visit the KV Zurich Business School as well as an electronic and high-tech enterprise.
During his stay in Germany and Switzerland, the SED will take the opportunity to meet with students from Asia to look into their campus life and promote Hong Kong as a regional education hub.
Officials accompanying the SED to visit Europe will include the Principal Assistant Secretary (Further Education), Ms Pecvin Yong; and the Political Assistant to the SED, Mr Jeff Sze. Also joining the delegation will be the Chairman of the Education Commission, Dr Moses Cheng; Deputy Chairman of the Vocational Training Council (VTC) Mr Conrad Wong; and VTC Deputy Executive Director Mr Leung Yam-shing.
The SED will return to Hong Kong in the late afternoon of November 8. During his absence, the Under Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, will be the Acting SED.
Ends/Sunday, November 2, 2014
Issued at HKT 14:01
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