Some 53 prizes for outstanding performance in technology learning activities were awarded to junior form students from 20 local secondary schools during the “Technology Project Competition for the Youth 2005”, held at CityU on 14 May. The event demonstrated CityU’s commitment to promoting technology education and reaching out to the secondary school sector in Hong Kong.

 

CityU’s Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management (MEEM), the Hong Kong Technology Education Association and Chinese Technical Press Ltd jointly organized the Project Competition in which more than 200 students and teachers from 25 secondary schools exhibited 120 of their outstanding projects. 

 

Projects were judged on the criteria of creativity, application of technology, appearance, production technique and presentation. Officiating the prize presentation ceremony, Professor C H Chan, Dean of CityU’s Faculty of Science and Engineering, encouraged the participants to pursue a future in which they could capitalize on their talent in technological engineering. He said that the blossoming manufacturing industry on the mainland has a strong demand for engineering talent.

 

 

Another officiating guest, Professor David Liu, Secretary General of the Chiang Chen Industrial Charity Foundation, commended the participants for their original thinking and

creativity, which were among the  most critical factors in the success of the manufacturing industry in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 60s. “Technology Project Competition for the Youth 2005” was sponsored by Chiang Chen Industrial Charity Foundation to inspire secondary students’ interest in pursuing undergraduate education in manufacturing engineering.

 

CityU’s MEEM offers professional education in the fields of engineering management, mechatronic engineering, technology management etc. These academic programmes at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, combined with placement opportunities and exposure to real industrial settings, are grooming the next generation of quality engineers and mid-level managers to sustain economic

growth in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. Professor Michael Hung, MEEM Head, stressed in his opening address that the department is the only  one among local universities offering programmes tailored to support manufacturing industry in the region.

 

The Project Competition was the first in a series of activities in MEEM’s “Revival in Manufacturing Engineering and Its Education in Hong Kong” programme. Other upcoming events the MEEM has in store for this summer include a workshop preparing senior secondary school students for the engineering discipline, as well as visits to manufacturing companies in the region to help parents and students increase their understanding of the career prospects and working environment of the manufacturing industry.

 

According to a survey commissioned by the Federation of Hong Kong Industries last year, of the 59,000 factories serving Hong Kong companies on the mainland, 53,000 were located in the Pearl River Delta region. These manufacturing companies have a strong demand for engineers and mid-level managers trained in Hong Kong to support operations in trading, marketing, quality control and merchandising.