PRESS RELEASES: 2005
Briefing session for public to apply for workplace English training grant
The Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) today (March 29) invites participation in a free briefing session on workplace English training to be jointly organized with the Workplace English Campaign (WEC) on April 1 (Friday) at the Hong Kong Central Library.
“The briefing session will highlight Government's commitment in promoting workplace English training and the d ifferent means available for public to seek financial assistance on such training programmes. These means include WEC's Funding Scheme for Workplace English Training (Funding Scheme) and the Government's Continuing Education Fund (CEF),” a spokesperson for SCOLAR said.
The speakers at the briefing session include Secretary of SCOLAR, Mr Billy Woo, Chief Executive Officer, Office of Continuing Education Fund, Ms Kitty Au-yeung, and Executive Assistant (Funding Scheme), Office of Workplace English Campaign, Ms Tammy Wong , he added. They will introduce the latest developments of the schemes, such as the provision of grant to organize in-house tailor-made English training programmes under the Funding Scheme, and points to note when applying for funds.
The briefing session will be held between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. at the Lecture Theatre of the Hong Kong Central Library at Causeway Bay. As seats are limited, pre-registration has to be made on a first-come-first-served basis at the WEC website: http://www.english.gov.hk. The session will be conducted in Cantonese.
At the same time, WEC will stage a mini-expo to present more information on the Funding Scheme and CEF with staff to answer on-site enquiries. Information counters on workplace English training and examinations will also be set up by individual course providers and examination organizers.
The mini-expo to be held at the Exhibition Gallery 4 of the Hong Kong Central Library will be open for public admission from 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m.
The Funding Scheme for Workplace English Training was launched in 2000 to subsidize employees who need to use English in the workplace to take the necessary training in order to attain the relevant benchmark of their job type by taking any of the international business English examinations specified by WEC.
As of end February, there are over 20000 people who have successfully completed their training and attained the relevant benchmarks. The amount of grant reimbursed was nearly $35 million. Another 5800 people are undergoing training which will incur an additional funding amount of $12 million.
CEF was launched in 2002 to provide subsidies for English training, among other job-related skills, for adults aged 18 to 60, with a maximum sum of $10,000.
WEC is one of the Language Fund projects steered by SCOLAR. SCOLAR was established in 1996 to advise the Government on language education issues and on the use of the Language Fund.
Ends/Tuesday, March 29, 2005
