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Kevin Kwong

TERTIARY institutions should offer student courses tailor-made to produce trained ''products'' who will slot into the labour-hungry south China economy, according to the chairman-designate of the Hongkong Polytechnic Council.

  Mr Peter Woo Kwong-ching, who is also chairman of Wharf Holdings and World International Holdings, believes that such institutions have a vital role to play in training students for the business world.

   The 46-year-old business tycoon will succeed legislator Mr Stephen Cheong Kam-chuen as council chairman next month.

 ''As far as tertiary institutions are concerned, we are in the human resources business,'' Mr Woo said.

   The ''products from tertiary institutions'' should be trained to fit into the economic system immediately as employers nowadays do not want to wait and spend money on training, he said.

  ''Not that employers don't have [the money], but they think that they have to apportion resources effectively,'' Mr Woo added.

  Though Hongkong tertiary education has always emphasised vocational training, the demand for trained students has now outstripped supply and has reached a stage where the lack of human resources is impeding business expansion, he said.

  ''[Hongkong businessmen] are worried that they can't expand anymore because they just don't have enough trained people.''      Mr Woo is confident cross-border business activities will continue to prosper but only if Hongkong continues its key role of supplying skilled human resources.

  China's rapid economic growth places a great strain on Hongkong's pool of trained personnel, he said. ''We have to look at that as one of the key items on our agenda.''   In terms of curricula and training, courses in tertiary institutions would be market driven in the future, said Mr Woo.

  People were now shifting from manufacturing to service industries and there would be pressure on tertiary institutions to provide more training for this change.

  ''We must build Hongkong's future through people. We have the capital, we have the know-how, we have the infrastructure. What we don't have, given this tremendous demand, is enough trained people,'' he said.

  Mr Woo's term as council chairman lasts for three years. The 23-member council is the governing and policy-making body of the institution and comprises government officials, representatives from the private sector and teaching staff.

  In a flying visit to the polytechnic campus this week, Mr Woo told a group of students in a impromptu out-door lecture that he has not ruled out the possibility of introducing student representatives to the council.

  ''I hope that when the new council starts in April that we will have a chance to discuss these issues and we invite your thoughts,'' he said.

  ''I have talked with the others about the acceptability of students joining the council and I related to them a personal experience.

  ''During my junior and senior year in college, we were going through campus unrest and my fellow students would demand things. I supported those demands, one of them being that they wanted representation in the council.''   Mr Woo said that society is now like being in a team and is no longer a ''military hierarchy situation''. Times have changed and students should play a more important role in their academic environment.

    They should also become ''more practical and productive'' by the time they leave college rather than just academic products.



Product motive behind student life