Wide recognition for Applied Learning pilot courses
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    The fourth cohort of students who have successfully completed Applied Learning (ApL) courses will benefit from wide recognition of their educational attainments as they pursue further studies or employment, a spokesman for the Education Bureau (EDB) said today (July 25).

    The fourth cohort (2006-08 school years) took 32 quality-assured ApL pilot courses in six areas of studies: Creative Studies; Media and Communication; Business, Management and Law; Services; Applied Science; and Engineering and Production.

    More than 3,000 students in this cohort have completed their studies, with some having completed more than one course.  In the 2007-09 cohort, there are around 4,600 students enrolled in 20 ApL courses in the above six areas of studies.

    The 2006-08 cohort was the first time that ApL was extended to include the self-financing arms of universities as course providers, namely City University of Hong Kong (School of Continuing and Professional Education), the Hong Kong Institute of Education (School of Continuing and Professional Education), the University of Hong Kong (HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education) and the Open University of Hong Kong (Li Ka Shing Institute of Professional and Continuing Education).

    The spokesman said, "It is encouraging that both the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) and the Federation for Continuing Education in Tertiary Institutions, on the understanding that the quality assurance mechanism will be consistently applied to all cohorts taking the pilot courses, have extended their acceptance of ApL qualifications for the ApL courses that have successfully gone through the quality assurance process jointly conducted by the Curriculum Development Institute of EDB and the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ)."

    For admission to academic programmes beginning in the 2008/09 school year, successful completion of one quality-assured ApL course will be recognised as comparable to:

* One Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) subject pass, up to a maximum of two subjects, for admission to further studies in the respective institutions of the course providers;

* One HKCEE subject pass, each counted as one point and up to a maximum of two points, for admission to Secondary Six and for entry to the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination;

* One HKCEE subject pass (excluding Chinese Language and English Language), each counted as one point and up to a maximum of two subjects, for entry to Pre-Associate Degree Programmes; and

* Successful completion of two electives under Project Yi Jin (PYJ) if the students who enrol in PYJ have completed one or two ApL course(s) in a related study area.  In other words, students will be required to study seven core modules plus one elective (instead of three electives) under PYJ.

    The spokesman added that the CSB, on the recommendation of the EDB and HKCAAVQ, would also accept completion of a quality-assured ApL course as comparable to a pass in HKCEE (excluding Chinese Language and English Language) for civil service appointment purpose, subject to the counting of a maximum of two courses.

    "Like all other applicants for civil service posts at non-degree level, applicants who have successfully completed ApL course(s) have to meet other entry qualification requirements specified for the posts and satisfy the language proficiency requirements," the spokesman said.

    Renamed from Career-oriented Studies since August 2006, ApL has been confirmed as an elective subject in the Senior Secondary Curriculum of the 334 Academic Structure.  When 334 is in place, students' achievements in ApL will be recorded in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education as elective subjects.

    To pave the way for the sustainable development of ApL, the EDB is planning to invite interested institutions to participate in a series of research projects.  Please visit the website of ApL (www.edb.gov.hk/apl) for details.

Ends/Friday, July 25, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:32

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