“Connecting To The World” Seminar Series

Talk on "The Netherlands and the Circular Economy: What Design Can Do"

Mr Arjen van den Berg, Former Consul General of the Netherlands in Hong Kong and Macao, and

Mr Sjoerd Hoekstra, Dutch Designer

As part of the “Connecting to the World” talk series, this talk was co-organised by the Mainland and International Affairs Office (MIAO) and the Faculty of Design and Environment at the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi). The session featured insights from Mr Arjen van den Berg and Mr Sjoerd Hoekstra, who shared their expertise on advancing the circular economy in the Netherlands. The discussion highlighted the critical role of cross-sector collaboration in driving sustainable innovation and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

Pictured left: Mr Arjen van den Berg outlines strategic approaches to implementing a circular economy in the Netherlands and the nation’s roadmap toward carbon neutrality.

Webinar on “How COVID-19 Impacts Academic Planning and Development of VET Institutions - The TAFE Experience”

Mr Craig ROBERTSON, Chief Executive Officer, TAFE Directors Australia
(18 June 2021 via MS Teams Live Event)

The COVID-19 pandemic brought enormous disruption in every sector around the globe. Education institutions are required to undertake prompt actions to cope with the changes arising from the pandemic. Technical and Further Education (TAFE), the leading provider of vocational education and training in Australia, succeeded in embracing the challenges brought by the pandemic. Mr Craig ROBERTSON shared the TAFE experience on the quick transition from classroom learning to digital delivery and the provision of TAFE’s free online training courses for the public during the pandemic that contributed to Australia’s economic and social recovery. He opined that the adoption of blended learning, the optimisation of online resources and the use of new student engagement channels are considered the anticipated trend of VET development in post-COVID conditions.

Pictured left: Mr Craig ROBERTSON shares the emergence of new VET models and challenges VET institutions, employees and employers encountered.

Webinar on "Entrepreneurship in the Greater Bay Area: Optimising Opportunities for Hong Kong Start-ups"

Ms Alice TSANG, Assistant Principal Economist (Greater China), Hong Kong Trade Development Council

(28 May 2021 via MS Teams Live Event)

With the rapid development of youth entrepreneurial bases in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and the supportive policies on youth innovation and entrepreneurship imposed by the government, innovative and entrepreneurial activities in the GBA have received abundant hardware and software support. During the webinar, Ms Alice TSANG shared the challenges and opportunities encountered by Hong Kong’s start-ups when entering the GBA market and brought up some real-life examples to help our audience gain a better understanding of the latest developments and characteristics of the start-up industry in the GBA.

Pictured left: Ms Alice TSANG shares the findings of "Hong Kong Start-Ups" research by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.

Webinar on "Opportunities and Challenges for the Development of Hong Kong’s Construction Industry in the Greater Bay Area (GBA)"

Ir Dr PANG Yat Bond, Derrick, JP, Chief Executive Officer, Asia Allied Infrastructure Holdings Limited

(6 May 2021 via MS Teams Live Event)

Serving as one of the key national strategic initiatives, the development of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) enhances the demands for considerable talents in the construction industry to support its infrastructure projects, bringing both opportunities and challenges to Hong Kong’s construction sector. In the webinar, Ir Dr PANG Yat Bond, Derrick, JP shared his insight on the opportunities and challenges raised by the development of the GBA to Hong Kong’s construction industry, supplemented with the advice on how to better prepare ourselves to grasp the potential chances in the GBA.

Pictured left: Ir Dr PANG Yat Bond, Derrick, JP shares an overview of the GBA and its infrastructure development.

Thailand Human Capital and Skills Development 4.0

Dr Luxmon ATTAPICH, Deputy Secretary-General, Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Office of Thailand; and

Dr Wanwiwat KETSAWA, Deputy Director, Corporate Strategy Division, Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Office of Thailand
(21 April 2021 via ZOOM Live Event)

Thailand, our new VPET partner, has implemented the Thailand 4.0 initiative to enhance workforce quality and establish an economic corridor in eastern Thailand for sustainable development. During the webinar, Dr Luxmon ATTAPICH addressed the opportunities in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor, which helps to develop Thailand’s Eastern Provinces into a leading ASEAN economic zone; whilst Dr Wanwiwat KETSAWA shared about Thailand human capital and skills development in four dimensions, namely EEC Model Training, University-Industrial Training Network, Innovation for Technology 4.0, and Demand Driven Curriculum.

Pictured left: The webinar kicks started with the opening remarks by

Mr Tull TRAISORAT (top right), Royal Thai Consul-General in Hong Kong, followed by the online presentations from Dr Luxmon ATTAPICH (top left) and Dr Wanwiwat KETSAWA (bottom left).

Dual VET – A Success Factor for the Swiss Economy

Many of us are mesmerised by the natural beauty of Switzerland, in particular of its scenic mountains. When it comes to the dual-track approach to Vocational Education and Training (VET), the Swiss successful model also captures worldwide attention due to its contribution to the strong economic performance of the Swiss industry and the low level of youth unemployment. Mrs STAMPFLI-FERRAZ shared how the public-private partnership, one of the key elements in the Swiss model, promoted the delivery of quality skilled workers. Her enlightening presentation inspired us to explore possible enhancements in Hong Kong’s vocational and professional education and training model.

Pictured left: Mrs STAMPFLI-FERRAZ shares the Swiss dual VET system and its impact on national employability and economy.

Singapore – A Country Pioneering Applied Learning in Southeast Asia

Singapore is a pioneer in Southeast Asia to promote and develop applied learning in enhancing the quality of industry-ready workforce.

The Singapore government had introduced an education reform aimed at developing a new applied degree pathway in 2011, and identified the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) as the first institute to be granted with the status of an autonomous applied learning university in 2014.  Through Prof Foo’s well-received sharing, we learnt about the good practices of SIT in setting up a government-funded University of Applied Learning, its unique pedagogy and the latest development of applied learning education in the regional arena.

Pictured left: Prof FOO Yong Lim introduces the SIT’s Integrated Work Study Programme (IWSP) that exemplifies the best of university-industry collaboration.

Brazil – A Country More Than Good Coffee

Brazil has been the most dominant coffee exporter in the world since 1867. Coffee trade has become an important business in Brazil, which has an enormous influence in Brazil’s development in various aspects. Consul PAULINO, the Consulate-General of Brazil in Hong Kong led our audience to embark on the journey to understand Brazil’s cultural and economic development, the coffee industry in Brazil, as well as the opportunities for young people.

Pictured left: Consul PAULINO, who uses Brazil’s dominant position in the production and export of coffee to tap into the growing coffee culture in Hong Kong when talking about the social and geographical situation in Brazil, as well as the close relationship between coffee and the country’s economy.

The Philosophical Aspects of Japanese Manga

Japanese comics, or manga, have influenced us for many decades and have courted huge popularity and attracted numerous fans across various ages. While embracing the “manga effect,” the hidden messages and philosophy behind the comics are equally fascinating.

Mr Kenji WADA used popular comic works such as “SLAM DUNK”, “ONE PIECE”, “Attack on Titan” and “Naruto,” etc. to illustrate philosophical concepts and controversies on friendship and justice. The talk served as a good opportunity for all of us to learn and explore some philosophical concepts and to reflect on ourselves and our choices in life.

Pictured left: Consul Mr Kenji WADA of Japan talks about his views on the philosophical concepts embodied in Japanese manga.

South Africa – A Country in Transition and International Film Appreciation - “Invictus”

April 27th 1994 marked the end of apartheid rule and introduced a new Constitutional order, where all South Africans worked towards a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society. The talk gave the background information about this historic event and, in addition, introduced South Africa’s culture, tourism opportunities, current socio economic development, as well as the transformational leadership of Nelson Mandela and latest efforts in addressing the legacy of Apartheid.

For a better understanding of the event, the talk was immediately followed by screening of the film “Invictus”. This award winning film showcased how the newly elected President Mandela made use of South Africa’s rugby team to help unite the new country.

Pictured left: Mr Leon NAIDOO shares the latest development of South Africa.

Culture of the Czech Republic

Apart from being one of Europe´s top travel destinations with countless cultural and historical points of interest, the Czech Republic is a country of great historical and cultural importance.  Since few VTC students and colleagues had been to Czech Republic, Mr Dalibor MIČKA unfolded before us the beautiful capital city Prague and many other towns and historic monuments in this country, which are so well-preserved and noted in the UNESCO register as world cultural and heritage landmarks.

In addition, the Czech Republic is also famous in film production, video games development and beer production.  Mr Dalibor MIČKA shared with us the many successful stories also in these areas and taught us the longest word in Czech.

Pictured left: Mr Dalibor MIČKA teaches us the longest word in Czech language.

To Discover the Philippines

The culture of Philippines is a combination of Eastern and Western influences.  Due to historical reason, the Philippines exhibits not only aspects found in other Asian countries and Southeast Asian heritage, but also culture displaying a significant degree of Spanish and American influences.  It has numerous beautiful islands and attractive landscapes.  The people of the Philippines, in particular, are talented in languages and music.  Audience was immersed in a lovely song ‘Anak’ sang by Mr Quentin, who used to be a musician before working for the Consulate.

Pictured left: Mr Robert QUINTIN sings a song for us.

Islamic Culture

Islam is one of the top three religions and the fastest-growing major religion in the world with over 1.7 billion followers.  In Hong Kong, there are around 300,000 Muslims, in which 50,000 are Chinese and 150,000 are Indonesians.  With the growing number of non-Chinese speaking students in VTC and to facilitate our daily interaction with Muslim people, this talk which had been previously conducted two years ago was re-run, hoping that our staff and students will understand more about the Islamic Culture.  Although this was the second time Imam YANG delivered the talk for us, the number of staff and students signed up was encouraging.

Pictured left: An interesting presentation by Imam YANG enlightens audience about the Islamic culture.

Germany Dual VET and Vocational Education 4.0

Funded by the VTC International Visiting Fellows/Scholars Scheme, the Youth College has invited Dr Margot OHLMS to Hong Kong during the period of the International Fortnight 2017.  Among the various activities, she delivered an inspiring seminar to the VTC colleagues on the structure of VET in Germany and introduced the influence of industry 4.0 on vocational education.

Pictured left: The talk is full house of audience as many colleagues are interested in the topic.

Economic Development of Hungary

Since 2010, Hungary has introduced a string of measures aimed at reshaping the country’s economy into an investment friendly environment.  Building on the country’s strong traditions in education and innovation, changes to the tax, labour and incentive legislation as well as the government’s new strategy of strengthening economic ties with Asia are now bearing fruit.  Through the sharing by Dr Péter GARAI, we learnt about Hungary in general, its participation in the Belt and Road initiative and how it has become one of the fastest growing economies of the European Union.

Pictured left: Dr Péter GARAI shares how Hungary recovers from the economic downturn.

Culture and Economy of Iran

Dr Mehdi FAKHERI took the audience to an interesting journey of Iranian culture by talking about poetry, music, cinematography and sports.   His talk also covered Iranian economy and tourism.  Some major cities of Iran were portrayed for a better understanding about this ‘mysterious’ country under the veil. 

Pictured left: Dr Mehdi FAKHERI talks about the Iranian culture and economy.

Talk on "Circular Construction and the Latest Circular Building Initiatives in the Netherlands".

Mr Robert Dijksterhuis, Envoy for Sustainable Construction at the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and Mrs Lucille Merks, Deputy Consul General of the Netherlands in Hong Kong and Macao (21 November 2023 at IVE(Morrison Hill))

Riding on the success of the inaugural session on the Netherlands' circular economy, VTC partnered once again with the Netherlands Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macao to present the second talk in the “Connecting to the World” series. This session featured keynote speaker Mr Robert Dijksterhuis, who offered insights into sustainable construction and circular building practices in the Netherlands. Mrs Lucille Merks, Deputy Consul General, delivered the opening remarks, underscoring the value of international collaboration in promoting green building solutions.

The event provided VTC students and staff in civil engineering and surveying with meaningful perspectives on applying principles to modern construction practices.

Pictured left: Mr Robert Dijksterhuis discusses innovative approaches to circular construction, highlighting the Netherlands’ leadership in sustainable building practices.