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LCQ9: Nurturing talents for the architectural, surveying, town planning and landscape professions
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     Following is a question by the Hon Tony Tse and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, in the Legislative Council today (April 15):

Question:

     The 2015 Policy Address has pointed out that adequate and quality manpower resources are the key to Hong Kong's sustainable socio-economic development, so Hong Kong needs to develop and nurture a population that will continuously support and drive Hong Kong's socio-economic development as Asia's world city. Some practitioners from the architectural, surveying, town planning and landscape professions have relayed to me that the Government has failed to allocate adequate educational resources to these professions, resulting in the numbers of places and contents of training programmes failing to meet the demands of these professions. Regarding the nurturing of talents for such professions, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it knows the numbers of programmes related to the aforesaid professions offered by various tertiary institutions and the student intakes and numbers of graduates of the sub-degree, undergraduate and master¡¦s degree programmes among them in each of the past five years (with a breakdown by tertiary institution and profession); the numbers of teaching and non-teaching staff employed by various tertiary institutions on a full-time and part-time basis for the purpose of offering these programmes (with a breakdown by tertiary institution and profession);

(2) whether it knows if the various tertiary institutions have plans to increase the numbers of places in the programmes related to the aforesaid professions; whether the various tertiary institutions have consulted the industries to ensure that the programme contents suit the needs;

(3) of the respective numbers of civil service job vacancies belonging to the aforesaid professions in each of the past five years;

(4) whether it knows the numbers of Hong Kong residents who returned to work in the aforesaid professions after graduating from overseas universities in each of the past five years; and

(5) as the 2015 Policy Address has mentioned that in a bid to attract talents from outside Hong Kong, the Government will study the feasibility of drawing up a talent list to attract, in a more effective and focused manner, high-quality talents to support Hong Kong's development as a diversified and high value-added economy, whether the authorities will include the aforesaid professions in the talent list?

Reply:

President,

     The Government has always attached great importance to developing and nurturing a population with talents in various sectors, including the architectural, surveying, town planning and landscape professions, that will continuously support and drive Hong Kong's socio-economic development as Asia's world city.

     On education, the Government is committed to providing our young people with quality and diversified study pathways with multiple entry and exit points, thus enabling them to unleash their full potential in accordance with their interests, aptitudes and abilities. At present, there are 19 local degree-awarding institutions in Hong Kong. In the 2014/15 academic year, about 300 undergraduate programmes and 400 sub-degree programmes, including those related to the architectural, surveying, town planning and landscape disciplines, are offered by these institutions for meeting the manpower needs of various industries. Students may apply for programmes of different disciplines in accordance with their aptitudes and abilities.

     As Hon Tse's question covers a number of policy areas, the Education Bureau (EDB), in consultation with the relevant bureaux, gives the following reply on behalf of the Government:

(1) The numbers of University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded programmes related to the architectural, surveying, town planning and landscape disciplines, and the respective numbers of student intakes and graduates of these programmes between the 2010/11 and 2014/15 academic years are set out at Annexes 1 and 2 respectively.

     The numbers of full-time locally-accredited self-financing and Vocational Training Council (VTC)-operated publicly-funded post-secondary programmes in disciplines related to architecture, surveying, town planning and landscape, and the respective numbers of student intakes and graduates of these programmes between the 2010/11 to 2014/15 academic years by institution are set out at Annex 3.

     Information on the numbers of full-time and part-time teaching and non-teaching staff hired by institutions for the provision of such programmes is not available.

(2) Post-secondary institutions in Hong Kong enjoy a high degree of autonomy and academic freedom in programme design. They can offer programmes in different academic disciplines according to the needs of the community and relevant industries as well as their own development strategies. Post-secondary institutions have been collaborating closely with industries and engaging them in programme design to better understand and meet their needs. Besides, the Government facilitates communication between both sides by reflecting the needs of industries to institutions. For example, during the UGC¡¦s triennial academic planning, the EDB will consult and invite various bureaux and departments to provide information on the manpower trends of industries under their purview for reference by the UGC-funded institutions.

     Regarding the manpower situation of the construction professionals, the Development Bureau (DEVB) has been working with the Construction Industry Council (CIC) to assess the overall construction output of public and private sectors, and project the manpower supply and demand of the construction industry (including construction professionals) over a 10-year horizon. On manpower projection of the construction industry, CIC has formed a task force comprising the representatives of stakeholders including the relevant trade associations, labour unions, professional bodies and the Government to formulate the methodology of manpower forecast and endorse the results. The results reveal that construction professionals are generally in shortage. Particularly, the manpower situation of civil engineers, structural engineers, quantity surveyors and landscape architects are more critical. The results were released on the CIC website in November 2014, and the manpower projection will be updated regularly. Besides, DEVB and CIC have conveyed the results to institutions through EDB and UGC under the established mechanism mentioned above. The same has also been passed to VTC. This is to ensure that institutions will take account of the needs of the construction industry when formulating their academic development plans.

     In addition, industry stakeholders such as the Hong Kong Construction Association and professional institutes (e.g. the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors) have, over a number of occasions, made repeated calls for an enhanced and sustainable supply of suitably trained engineering and construction-related graduates to support the infrastructural development of Hong Kong in the coming years.

     Regarding programme design, DEVB has also reflected the needs of the construction industry to institutions via EDB and UGC under the established mechanism mentioned above. It has thus pointed out the needs to enhance the programme content of construction-related subjects and strengthen the training in generic skills including communication in English and Putonghua, and to raise awareness and knowledge in subjects like Building Information Modelling, sustainable development, green construction, landscape and tree management, and heritage conservation. The students should also be encouraged to develop a global and international perspective.

(3) The respective numbers of civil service and non-civil service vacancies in professions related to architecture, surveying, town planning and landscape between the 2010/11 and 2014/15 financial years are at Annex 4.

(4) The Government does not have any information on the numbers of Hong Kong residents who returned to work in the architectural, surveying, town planning and landscape professions after graduating from overseas universities.

(5) In the light of Hong Kong's current demographic structure and the new challenges brought about by changes in the population structure, the Steering Committee on Population Policy, headed by the Chief Secretary for Administration, has drawn up the objectives of the population policy. One of the measures formulated to achieve the objectives is the conduct of a study on the feasibility of drawing up a talent list.

     We will accord priority to nurturing local youths and building a pool of talent through continuing education and training. At the same time, it is imperative for Hong Kong as a cosmopolitan city to recruit as many global talent as possible to join our community, especially those who are able to facilitate the development of emerging industries, with a view to broadening Hong Kong's economic base, and creating diversified job opportunities with promising prospects for the younger generation.

     The Government will study, having regard to overseas experiences, the feasibility of drawing up a talent list to attract high-quality talent from around the world in a more effective and focused manner to support Hong Kong's development into a high value-added and diversified economy. The Labour and Welfare Bureau is planning to start the work, together with other bureaux and departments, and will consult the relevant stakeholders in due course. Since the feasibility study is yet to commence, details of the relevant work are not available at the moment.

Ends/Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Issued at HKT 15:46

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