WARNING OVER COURSES ‘GOOD FOR EMIGRATION’

Providers under Continuing Education Fund risk reprimands, deregistration and must declare they are in line with security law, Eric Chan says

Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki has warned places of learning that promote government-subsidised adult education courses as good preparation for emigration that they may face reprimands and have classes deregistered.

Course providers will also be asked to sign a declaration to confirm that their operations are in line with the Beijing-imposed national security law as part of measures designed to tighten up management of the government’s Continuing Education Fund.

Chan yesterday told the Legislative Council that the authorities had written to course providers and asked them not to promote those that deviated from the fund’s objectives to improve the city’s economy.

He said: “The fund authorities have requested submission of duly prepared promotional materials by course providers at the time of application for course registration for checking their compatibility with the objectives of the fund.

“If course providers are found to have allegedly promoted … courses as a means to pave the way for emigration, or in any way deviated from the objectives of the fund, the authorities will request them to withdraw and/or cease to use the relevant promotional materials, and take other appropriate regulatory actions in case of severe non-compliance, such as issuing warning letters or reprimands to the non-complying course providers or deregistering the courses.”

The scheme, launched in 2002, was designed to offer subsidies to encourage adults to pursue continuing education and training to upgrade their skills and help the city to become a knowledge-based economy.

Public concerns over its management were raised after a report last October by the director of audit found some organisations had promoted their courses as offering skills that could help students find jobs after emigration.

The Legislative Council’s Public Accounts Committee in February said it had “grave concerns” that the authorities had failed to “identify such irregularities” and questioned whether the agencies involved had been negligent during inspections.

Legislator Michael Luk Chunghung, also a committee member, said there should be harsher penalties against repeat offenders.

“If an institute is found to have repeatedly offered courses that are not in line with the fund’s objectives, the government should consider deregistering the institute, not only the course in question,” he said.

Students who successfully complete a course can get a refund of fees of up to HK$25,000 from the fund. A total of 721,209 reimbursement claims, involving HK$5.24 billion, were approved by May last year.

The director of audit’s report also highlighted a lack of national security-related guidelines for course providers.

Chan said letters would be issued next month to institutions to require them to sign an “undertaking on safeguarding national security”.

He said the government would also require them to sign a declaration to confirm “their operational arrangement of the courses must fulfil the requirements” of the national security law when they applied to register new courses or renew registrations.

The government should consider deregistering the institute, not only the course

MICHAEL LUK, LEGISLATOR