Forum calls for IT re-think

The information technology (IT) industry was booming worldwide until recently. With the rapid downturn in the world economy, the dotcom bubble burst and the industry now faces an uncertain future.

Against this backdrop, the SAR Outstanding Students' Union organised a conference recently to stimulate a re-think over IT. Students, educators and industry experts were invited to share their ideas on future trends.

At the IT Youth Conference 2002, senior secondary school students expressed their concerns about the IT curriculum at both secondary school and university. They were worried about lagging behind their competitors in the region.

There were also heated discussions on linking secondary and university IT curricula.

Some strongly believed that computer studies should be introduced at an earlier stage so that students could specialise at A-level.

Dr Francis Lau Chi-moon, head of the Computer Science and Information Systems Department at the University of Hong Kong, was a guest speaker at the conference.

'If we just start from the bottom during university, we will never reach the top in life, not to mention winning a Nobel Prize from among world-class scholars,' he said.

Also speaking at the conference were Ma Siu-leung, principal education officer at the Education Department's Information Infrastructure Division, Elizabeth Quat, president of the Internet Professionals Association and Professor Wong Po-choi, director of HKeducationCITY.net.

Ms Chan is a computer science student at the University of Hong Kong