Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying pointed out, in his policy address, the importance of vocational education and training for Hong Kong. He made the obvious but often forgotten point that academic education is not for everyone and more guidance should be given to the young in their choice of careers. Accordingly, it will take a number of initiatives to promote it, with the Vocational Training Council playing a significant role.

This is welcome, and some would say about time too, because vocational education and training has too often played second fiddle to academic education, and the role of the council in training young Hongkongers has never been properly recognised. It is also consistent with the central theme of Leung's address to help the poor because many students of vocational education and training come from poorer families.

An efficient labour force must consist of a number of related parts; one will not function well without the other. Vocational education and training is integral to this. The growth of many economies has been hampered by the absence of such skills. In Australia and Canada, many university graduates now enrol in vocational institutions to improve their employability.

The relative importance of the parts must be consistent with the economy's requirements. In the poorest economies, the labour force structure resembles a pyramid, with a large number of workers with basic literacy and technical skills, and low incomes, at the base. In richer economies, where repetitive, routine, low-skilled work is done by machines, the structure is more like a diamond. The demand for workers with low skills is small; it is large for workers with higher skills on good pay. In Hong Kong, the structure across all age groups resembles an hour glass, especially so among the 15-24 age group. 

Writes David Lim for South China Morning Post.

Read the full article here.


Expert commentary by Steve Corry, British Council Hong Kong

This article summarises beautifully why vocational education is a hard sell in Hong Kong, despite labour shortages and an urgent economic need for more skilled workers. While the Hong Kong Education Bureau is keen to promote vocational education, Hong Kong is a very academically focused market and a stigma surrounds vocational options. A contradiction therefore results, where a clear market need exists but not necessarily a market demand. For this reason UK institutions looking to enter the vocational education marketplace in Hong Kong need to carefully scope the market and find the right opportunities, the value of which then also need to be very clearly communicated to the market.
 

For more information about the Hong Kong education landscape contact steven.corry@britishcouncil.org.hk.