Dear Chairman, Professor HAYHOE, ladies and gentlemen, fellow students,

I am much delighted to be here today to officiate at the Opening Ceremony of the Tai Po Campus of the Hong Kong Institute of Education. In April 1994, former Colleges of Education and Institute of Language in Education were incorporated as the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Subsequently on July 1, 1996, the Hong Kong Institute of Education came under the aegis of the University Grants Committee and became one of the tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Today marks the opening of this new campus which was built at the cost of over $2.5 billion. Teachers and students, who had to attend classes at scattered premises in the past, can now gather together on unified campus and take advantage of all the state-of-the-art teaching facilities at international standards. This new campus is going to be a place for interflow and cultivation of a sense of belonging shared by both teachers and students.

I have repeatedly stressed that education is the key of Hong Kong's future. The Government of the Special Administrative Region will further upgrade our education and train up local teachers through injection of large resources. The total expenditure on education for the year 1998/99 will be increased to $53.2 billion, accounts for 18.4% of the total public expenditure, and constitutes the greatest share of our public spending. The real growth in expenditure, excluding the allocation of $5 billion for the setting up of the Quality Education Development Fund, amounts to 12.7%. On the basis of basic education, the real growth is recorded as high as 16.4%.

The opening of the Institute's new campus adds a new page to teacher education in Hong Kong. As pillars of our education system, teachers are commissioned with the important task of providing education to our children. After our reunion with China, Hong Kong is now marching towards the 21st Century. We have great expectations of the younger generation, especially our young teachers. We hope that they are able to achieve the following goals:

* To be a person with all-rounded development in ethics,

intellect, physique, social skills and aesthetics;

* To be a person who has deep love of our mother country

and is committed to the development of the mainland as

well as Hong Kong;

* To be biliterate and trilingual;

* To be a person with immense and extensive knowledge,

independent thinking, creativity and enthusiasm; and

* To be a teacher who is caring and eager to serve our

community and a person with lofty ideal and high moral

standards, who is ready to shoulder the onus in the

education of our younger generation.

The Hong Kong Institute of Education is the largest institute entrusted with the heavy and long-term responsibility of teacher training in the territory. I am confident that its Council members, teachers and students will work with dedication and enthusiasm for the development of quality education in Hong Kong.

It is encouraging to note that the Institute has made remarkable progress since its inception in 1994. The Research and Development Centre set up in 1996 promotes academic researches. Besides, the Institute also takes active part in joint projects with local, mainland and overseas institutes of tertiary education to encourage academic exchanges. I know that talks are being held by the Institute with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts for the running of undergraduate programmes in secondary education. In addition, it also works with the Nanjing Normal School and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto in developing undergraduate programmes in early childhood education. Through such cooperation and contact, local, mainland and overseas institutes of tertiary education are encouraged to share with each other their valuable experience in education.

Besides, the Institute is taking active action in setting up a "Centre of Language Teaching". We aim at providing all pre-service and in-service teachers with quality language training through an advanced and well-organized language-teaching training centre. The Institute is also drawing up plans for running a new school to put teaching theories into practice. Students in Tai Po will definitely benefit from the service rendered by this new school. I hope that all these new projects will be implemented successfully.

To ensure the quality of teachers in our schools, I set out in my Policy Address the goal of raising the professional status of teachers. All new teachers will be required to be trained graduates. The date for graduate posts making up 35 per cent of all primary teaching posts will be advanced from 2007 to 2001. It is also hoped that the schedule for the fulfilment of the requirement that all new teachers should be trained graduates could be announced as soon as possible. The Hong Kong Institute of Education will therefore have a new mission to accomplish and a more important role to play in tertiary education. In the coming academic year, the Institute will organize undergraduate and part-time taught postgraduate programmes to promote the continuing and professional development of teachers. These programmes will certainly help to achieve our goal of raising the professional status of our teachers so as to meet the changing expectations of the community and to upgrade the overall quality of our education.

Undoubtedly, the Hong Kong Institute of Education has already laid a firm foundation for our future. I strongly believe that the Institute is able to fulfil its tasks and earn the acclaim as a centre of excellence for teacher education and continuing and professional education in Hong Kong as well as the Asia-Pacific Region. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the Council members and teachers of the Institute for their devotion and contribution towards education in the territory.

May I wish the Hong Kong Institute of Education and all present here today every success in the future!