Nurturing talent without further ado
18 March 2018
The Government attaches high priority to youth development. Young people are our future, having the greatest potential to drive the community forward. It cannot be overstated that nurturing talent is key to the future success of Hong Kong.
Quality education underpins talent growth. The Government has invested heavily in education over the years to nurture our next generation into quality citizens with commitment towards society, a sense of national identity, love for Hong Kong and an international vision. To help young people develop and thrive, schools and families cannot go it alone. We need concerted efforts of all sectors of the community.
We are living in an ever changing diverse society. It is only natural that some youngsters who do not have much experience outside the home and school feel insecure about their career prospects. To brave the challenges, they should indeed seize every moment and every opportunity to equip themselves for the future. In a globalised world, they will have to compete with not only local young people, but also their counterparts from across Asia and the world.
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That is why the Government has come up with the Pilot Scheme on Corporate Summer Internship on the Mainland and Overseas, which was launched two days ago (16 March). The scheme enlists corporations in Hong Kong to provide quality internship places on Mainland China and other countries for local undergraduate students in Year 2 or above.
The enthusiastic response from the business sector is encouraging. Participating enterprises offer not only placement opportunities, but also their money, efforts and, most importantly, their care for our younger generation. Sixteen corporations have signed up since our invitation was made only a month ago. In addition to providing internships, they will shoulder major costs relating to the placements, including airfares and accommodation fees, to ensure that outstanding young people will not be denied participation owing to financial difficulties.
This scheme aims at enriching our talent pool and enhancing young people’s upward mobility. Altogether, the 16 corporations will provide about 250 internship places on the Mainland and overseas. The Mainland cities or regions covered are the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Foshan), Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan Province and Shandong Province. The seven overseas countries are Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Britain and Australia. Geographically, these places are located across three “economic spheres”, namely the Bay Area, the Belt and Road route, and the ASEAN bloc. As for lines of business, the participating corporations have diverse portfolios spanning various sectors. The placements offered cover a wide range of industries, such as financial services, real estate, construction and public utilities.
The internships provide participants with opportunities to experience life in other places for at least six weeks and to work with major enterprises. Young interns will gain first-hand experience of working in Mainland cities or abroad, so as to learn more about the job culture, career prospects and development opportunities in various destinations. With broadened horizons, they will find it easier to plan for their careers while their work experience and strengthened social networks will give them an edge in the job market.
To help young people get equipped, the Government will continue to offer thematic internship programmes through cross-sectoral co-operation and provide more exchange and internship opportunities on the Mainland and overseas. Meanwhile, many organisations also provide excellent local vocational training programmes for the youth. During my visit to Islands District last Thursday (15 March), I took the opportunity to meet participants of the EXTRA MILE community investment project run by Hong Kong International Airport on the airport island. They are youngsters joining the “Working Holiday@Lantau” programme and non-Chinese participants of another programme known as “The Pioneer” under the project. The participants told me more about the training while showing me around their workplaces.
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Working Holiday@Lantau is a joint endeavour between the Hong Kong Airport Authority and the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups. It offers one-year work placements at the airport to working youth, including jobs covering different skill sectors such as catering staff, receptionists, ground crew, cabin attendants, as well as posts in aircraft maintenance and customer service. The Pioneer is organised in collaboration with the HKSKH Lady MacLehose Centre to provide one-year work placements at the airport for non-Chinese speaking participants with leadership potential. The posts offered include catering and hotel staff, receptionists, cabin attendants, aircraft maintenance workers and drivers of apron vehicles. During our chat, they told me that the programmes did help them find their career paths and life direction.
It delights me to see these initiatives taken by different sectors of the community to train up our young people in various aspects. The Human Resources Planning Commission and the Youth Development Commission, both to be chaired by me, will be established soon. Through closer community-business-government collaboration, they will help nurture our younger generation, promote young people’s upward mobility, enhance our human capital and create a well-equipped workforce for Hong Kong. The two commissions will work in synergy with each other and allow young folks with different aspirations to pursue their goals.
A quality workforce is essential to not only economic growth but also social progress. That makes it all the more imperative to nurture talent without further ado. Government efforts alone will not suffice. I urge all sectors of our society to pitch in and provide more opportunities for young people. At the same time, the Government will tailor a comprehensive blueprint for manpower planning for Hong Kong’s future development so that our city will sustain its soft power and stay competitive in the long run.
