The dean of THEi Faculty of Science and Technology, Mr. Kwok Leung Pun, said: “The goal of advancing education and training is to explore the development of a vocational pathway where skills degrees are established. A professional career can be flexibly achieved through a combination of school-based vocational training, on-the-job assessment or recognition as eligible under the Industry Qualifications Framework”.

The Institute’s Professional Diploma Master’s (PDM) program has been successfully applied to elevator and escalator engineering and is accredited by the Hong Kong Academic and Vocational Degree Board.

This is the result of cooperation between the Vocational Training Council (VTC), the government and most importantly, the Elevator Escalator Contractor Association LECA.

The training program requires students to have at least 8 years working in the elevator and escalator industry and a level 4 vocational qualification according to the Qualification Framework.

Students will need to be sent to study by the company and facilitated by the company itself to learn and develop skills in the process of working. At the end of the course, students must undergo an assessment by a qualification agency before receiving a Master’s degree.

There are currently about 6,000 registered elevator and escalator technicians in Hong Kong, and the program will focus on only Level 4 engineering, employing approximately 3,900 employees.

The Institute’s representative also emphasized the role of companies in the industry in cooperation in developing human resource training courses.

The Hong Kong Institute of Higher Education and Technology (THEi) is a member body of the Vocational Training Council (VTC) that offers career-oriented bachelor’s degree programs to high school students in Hong Kong.

The annual APEC Forum brings together experts from the Asia-Pacific region to discuss government, industry and educators issues in vocational education./.