MR CHAN KIN-POR (in Cantonese): Thank you, Deputy President. President XI Jinping has emphasized the importance of education to our country in various speeches, saying that “when education in a country thrives, the country will thrive, and strong education makes a strong nation”. The Chief Executive has also clearly mentioned in the 2023 Policy Address the need to develop Hong Kong into an international hub for post-secondary education. At present, Hong Kong needs to set clear objectives and an implementation roadmap for the policy on internationalization of education, so as to expedite its development into an international education hub. I would like to thank Mr TANG Fei for proposing today’s motion and the other Members for proposing their amendments, so as to afford us an opportunity to discuss this subject.
At present, the education system in Hong Kong focuses on academic studies to the neglect of application of skills, and this traditional concept has caused the development of vocational and professional education and training (“VPET”) in Hong Kong to lag behind that in the international community. The important direction for the future development of education in Hong Kong is to nurture talents and establish multiple pathways and to promote VPET as a pathway parallel to conventional academic education. VPET is the main channel for nurturing technical talents. We should set up a clear progression ladder for VPET, so that students choosing to receive VPET can be on a par with those pursuing traditional academic degrees and have a well-established career pathway. In addition, we should allocate more resources to VPET institutions, upgrade the quality of teaching, and invite internationally renowned enterprises to set up vocational training centres in Hong Kong and cooperate with vocational education institutions in training technical talents. Meanwhile, close collaboration with industries should be established to organize vocational training courses and provide students with internship opportunities, so as to ensure that they can acquire practical work skills. Moreover, job-matching services should even be provided for enterprises and student interns, thus enabling them to secure employment immediately after graduation, while also saving time for employers in staff recruitment.
Secondly, we should step up publicity in student recruitment in other countries so as to attract more international students to study in Hong Kong in a more targeted manner. Hong Kong’s tertiary education is highly internationalized and diversified, and it is the only city with five universities in the world’s top 100. However, there is still room for enhancing its international reputation and attractiveness. Apart from setting up booths at international education fairs for effective publicity and student recruitment, we should also go global and step up publicity in high schools and university campuses in Southeast Asia and the international world, so as to present to more students Hong Kong’s advantages, such as high teaching standards, a diversified cultural environment and close ties with Mainland China. Through increasing the amounts awarded for academic achievement scholarships, exchange scholarships and research project grants, we can attract more outstanding international students to study in Hong Kong, so as to enlarge the talent pool.
To develop Hong Kong into an international education hub, it is particularly important to formulate a comprehensive strategic development blueprint. We should establish education pathways of conventional academic education and VPET in parallel, attract more outstanding international students and scholars to Hong Kong, create an international learning environment and strengthen employment support for graduates, and so on, so as to contribute to Hong Kong’s education industry and enhance our international influence.
Thank you, Deputy President.