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The Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, ended his visit in Helsinki of Finland today (May 7, Helsinki time) and headed for Oslo of Norway.
In today's meeting with the State Secretary of the Minister of Education and Science, Ms Helja Misukka, he was told of the Ministry's determination to reform its university. They also exchanged views on educational matters, in particular the Finnish effort to internationalise its universities.
Earlier in the day, Mr Suen visited the EVTEK University of Applied Science, which is an applied science polytechnics with training on technology, business administration and art and design.
Besides, he paid a visit to the Academy of Finland, a government funding body for scientific research in Finland. He was briefed by the president and the vice president on the academy's efforts to support and facilitate high-quality research and researcher training.
Apart from meeting officials and visiting schools and universities in Helsinki, Mr Suen yesterday (May 6, Helsinki time) met local community leaders at a reception hosted by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (London).
He pledged that Hong Kong will continue to nurture our younger generation so that they will have broad-based knowledge, high adaptability skills and the ability to think independently and creatively to face a world which is changing at an unprecedented pace.
"To help our students meet the challenges in a rapidly changing world, we are equipping them with the ability for life-long learning through a comprehensive education reform programme," Mr Suen said.
Outlining that education had taken up the largest share of government resources with annual spending on education exceeding HK$50 billion, Mr Suen introduced government initiatives which were doing in Hong Kong to enhance the education system.
These included extending our nine-year free education programme to 12 years through public sector primary and secondary schools from the start of the next school year in September; introducing a new academic structure for the senior secondary and undergraduate levels, and setting up a HK$18 billion research endowment fund to support research at Hong Kong's tertiary institutions.
"To maintain our status as an international city in Asia, we are working hard to expand and upgrade our homegrown talent through education and retraining," Mr Suen said.
In addition to nurturing our local talent, Hong Kong encouraged more overseas people to come. Initiatives that would be put in place included expanding existing international schools and developing new ones; increasing the quota for non-local students while relaxing their employment and immigration restrictions, and creating a HK$1 billion Government Scholarship Fund for both local and non-local students.
On May 6 (Helsinki time), Mr Suen visited a comprehensive school which provided basic education for students aged seven to 15. He then met with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Mr Mikko Alkio, to get a general account of the Ministry¡¯s funding policy and initiatives on innovation strategies and research.
Besides, he met Rector/Chancellor-elect of the University of Helsinki and visited a training school for teachers in the university, where he had exchanges with students and teachers on teaching English as the second language.
Mr Suen ended his visit in Finland on Wednesday (May 7, Helsinki time) in the evening and headed for Norway to continue his visit.
Ends/Thursday, May 8, 2008
Issued at HKT 07:49
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