In a further push into the mainland China market, a five-member delegation from CityU visited Wuhan in the Hubei Province, 5-8 July. The purpose of the trip was to ascertain the training needs of relevant Hubei Provincial Government offices and to explore possibilities for CityU to offer training programmes to Hubei civil servants. The delegation also visited educational institutions in Hubei to explore potential collaboration.

Members of the delegation consisted of Mr James Ng and Ms Shirley Lam,  Executive Director and Associate Director of CityU Extension (CTEX), respectively; Mr Charles Wong, Director of the School of Continuing and Professional Education (SCOPE); Dr Zhu Guobin, Director of External Liaison and Cooperation Office (ELCO); and Ms Candy Chouk, ELCO Executive Officer.

 

The delegation was received by Government representatives from the Human Resources, the Education and the Training Divisions of the Hubei Organizational Department of Party Committee. Recently, Governor Luo Qingquan of the Hubei Provincial People’s Government had met with Mr Tung Chee Hwa, Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR, and they agreed on the need to provide on-the-job training for mainland civil servants. CityU was, therefore, invited by the Hubei Provincial Government to look into the feasibility of offering training programmes with job attachment opportunities at relevant units of the Hong Kong Government.

 

Educational collaboration potential

In addition to meeting Hubei Government officials, the CityU delegation visited Wuhan University (WU), the South-Central University of Nationalities (SCUN), and the Hubei School of Administration / Party School.

 

Wuhan University is one of China's  key state universities under the administration of the Ministry of Education. Also a comprehensive university, the SCUN provides higher education to minority nationalities on the mainland. With the management of WU and SCUN, members of the CityU delegation considered collaboration ideas, including a faculty-level academic exchange agreement, establishing an institute for continuing educational services in Wuhan, joint offering of award and/or non-award bearing courses with CityU and overseas institutions, inviting renowned professors to CityU to give guest lectures, and organizing CityU study tours on understanding minority nationalities cultures and customs. The delegation also took part in site visits to study the conditions and the environment of some possible locales for future collaboration efforts.  

 

The delegation was impressed by the opportunities for the development of education and training businesses in Central China. “The Government officials we met expressed eagerness to learn international practices, especially in public administration," Mr Ng said, "while the academic institutions showed a keen interest in collaborating with CityU to provide higher education and professional training to the mass of students and working people there.”

 

According to Mr Ng, CTEX will act as a facilitator for the provision of executive training through CityU Professional Services Ltd. Meanwhile, SCOPE will actively study the feasibility of cooperating with appropriate partners in Wuhan to provide various levels of educational courses. “We feel that Wuhan offers a very good chance of success because of the size of the untapped market and the quality of students,” Mr Ng added.   

 

“In fact, Wuhan is one of the many potential markets on the mainland which CityU can tap into for opportunities to provide training and education,” Dr Guobin said. “If the University and our Professional Development Centre can do a good job of promoting CityU's strengths, more and more opportunities will emerge. While we are contributing to enhancing the quality of human resources on the mainland, we can also benefit CityU and Hong Kong society,” Dr Zhu concluded.