PTU News Reporter

Reports from a newspaper last month revealed that the dissertation of Dr Herdip Singh, Lingnan’s former Associate Vice-President and Comptroller, for his doctorate degree obtained in 2013 in Tarlac State University was a highly match for a 2010 dissertation of a master degree graduate of Lund University in Sweden. Amid claims of plagiarism triggered after the news reports, Singh resigned from his positions of Lingnan University. It was also reported that Singh’ s PhD had been awarded by the University in the Philippines through a referral by a private school called Lifelong College, and we wonder whether the regulation on the intermediaries of non-local courses is sufficient. We urge the Education Bureau (EDB) to look into the case and review the concerned ordinances as soon as possible.

Singh who was accused of plagiarism has served Lingnan University since 1981. Singh studied a PhD program of Tarlac State University through a referral of Lifelong College, and the PhD was awarded in 2013. With reference to the website of Lifelong College, the Tarlac State University requires PhD students to submit a dissertation and sit for an oral defense revoked. So surprisingly a reporter found that Singh’s dissertation was a highly match for another dissertation received in Lund University of Sweden, where both contents, methodology, viewpoints and even flow of arguments are very similar. The reporter sent an enquiry with Singh’s dissertation attached to the supervisor of the dissertation in Sweden, who admitted that Singh had probably plagiarized concerning his dissertation.

Staff of Lifelong College accused of making forged documents

Disguised as an university lecturer, a reporter told the staff of Lifelong College that he wanted to obtain PhD degree as soon as possible. The staff replied that studying in Tarlac would be the quickest way to obtain a PhD. The staff further explained that they could issue an admission letter to certify that the reporter had been admitted in December 2014 and claimed that due to the negligence the admission procedure had been delayed. Through this process, the students’ PhD can be fast-tracked from a three-year study period to one-and-a-half year. By this process Lifelong College was probably making forged documents to deceive Tarlac into awarding the degree.

It was also revealed on their official website that Lifelong College was founded by Dr Lee Ye-lick who is a member of Council and Court of Lingnan University. Press reported that two of Dr Lee’s academic transcripts were even undersigned by himself as the Principal and program director of Lifelong College. Lee replied that he had already reported to the concerned University that he was student, Principal and program director of the College.

EDB must ensure courses’ quality

According to the ordinance, programs of those non-local institutions, like those provided by Lifelong College, have to be registered with the EDB and can only be opened after the approval of the Non-local Course Registry (NCR). The EDB has indicated that 13 non-local programs currently provided by Lifelong College are registered with the NCR. And with reference to the Non-Local Higher and Professional Education (Regulation) Ordinance, the Registrar of NCR will approve the registration of a course only when the Registrar believes that the course is recognized by a non-local institution and effective measures are in place to ensure that the standard of the course offered are maintained. On the contrary, if the Registrar thinks that the course is no longer recognized or its standard cannot be maintained, its registration can be revoked. Ip Kin-yuen, our HKPTU’s Legco representative, thinks that the current registration procedure is too simple to ensure the quality of programs. The case of Lifelong College reflects that the concerned programs have already been out of standard and the EDB is fully responsible for investigating this incident according to the law.

According to the written reply from the Secretary for Education to Legco on 2 Dec, the EDB has asked the Lifelong College for information pursuant to the Ordinance. Actions taken include issuing a letter to the Lifelong College and sending inspection officers to the College. Suspected contraventions of the requirements of Ordinance, if found, will be handled by the EDB in accordance with the established procedures.

“Registered” is not equivalent to “Recognized”

There are currently 108 registered program providers offering more than 466 non-local courses, from the level of sub-degree to doctorate degree. The advertisements of the courses would probably state that the courses are ”registered with the EDB” to attract more students. However, under the existing ordinance, operators who intend to have their non-local courses registered are not required to obtain recognition from relevant local academic or professional organizations for the academic or professional qualifications of the courses concerned, or to apply to the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualification (HKCAAVQ) for program accreditation. Therefore, “being registered” does not mean that the qualifications would be recognized by the Government or employers, which can be a trap for further studies.

According to the Secretary for Education, of the 1198 registered and exempted non-local courses, 143 have been accredited by the HKCAAVQ and placed on the Qualifications Register. We can imagine that if applicants don’t choose their course carefully, they will take risk of spending a lot of time and money on those non-recognized qualifications. Therefore, we urge the EDB to review the law and registration procedures as soon as possible so that our local students could have more protection. Moreover, the EDB should supervise more effectively the registration of those non-local courses to ensure that their quality can be maintained and prevent the incident of Lifelong College from happening again.

本報記者

要提升幼兒教育質素，培養幼師人才是首要條件之一。因此，教師專業發展，是制訂免費幼教政策不可或缺的重要一環。

回顧本港幼師專業發展，可謂路途坎坷。儘管幼教界一直期望提升水平，但政府對幼教師資並無具體規劃。教統會於2000年發表《廿一世紀教育藍圖》，才明確指出幼師和校長專業水平的重要性，因而建議從入職要求和培訓兩方面，提升幼師的專業水平。自此政府才開始採取措施，例如在任教資歷方面：2001年起幼師資歷提升至會考五科合格（包括中英文）；2003年起新入職幼師須修畢職前合格幼稚園教師（QKT）課程；及2011年起在職校長及教師須分別取得學位及文憑資歷。

幼師專業發展支援全面中斷

過去十多年，教育局尚且有政策支援，推動幼稚園提升資歷，包括按學校聘請QKT的比例，提供不同級別的資助額；2007年學券計劃包含了「教師專業發展津貼」，但這項進修資助在第五年便告終止。自此，政府再沒有就持續提升資歷，進行任何較有系統的規劃或支援。不但如此，教資會資助的幼兒教育學士學額，也由該年起，由每年逾百減至只有18個，以致要逾百人爭一個學額，成為近年競爭最激烈的學科，反映幼師學士學額奇缺，窒礙了學位化的進度。

學位化規劃報告交白卷

不少先進地區已將學位訂為幼師入職條件，鄰近地區如台灣、日本如是，法國、意大利更要求碩士資歷，香港顯然落後不少。根據社聯調查，家長認為《免費幼稚園教育委員會報告》（報告）最重要處理的問題，就是幼教師資；同樣，受訪幼師也認為，優質幼教最重要的元素是幼師具備專業資歷和水平。可見，對於未來幼教政策，家長和教師同樣最重視教師專業水平的提升。而報告亦指出，逾96% OECD國家均為報讀專業課程的幼師提供經濟資助；可是在制訂本港幼師學位化時，委員會卻交白卷，只把問題拋回教育局「日後檢討」，連薪酬制度也不反映學歷提升，更公開表示幼師只維持文憑資歷，這肯定有負社會期望！

薪酬反映資歷　專款支援進修

15年免費教育，理應是幼師專業發展的一個新里程，教協有三大訴求：一、訂立幼師邁向學位化的時間表，包括新入職教師學位化的目標年期，及提出逐步提升在職幼師至學位資歷的方案，最終達致全面學位化；二、薪酬架構應訂立文憑與學位薪級，保障教師資歷認可，確立具前景的幼教專業階梯；三、設立專項撥款，支援及鼓勵在職幼師自發進修。

本報記者

港大畢業生議會於11月29日召開特別會議，討論由港大校友關注組動議的四個議案。四個議案有五個投票項目，皆以超過96%的得票率通過，其中反對李國章出任校委會主席的議案更獲97.8%的得票。

港大校友關注組感謝所有參與投票的校友及教職員，並對各議案得到壓倒性的得票感到極為鼓舞。關注組呼籲特首梁振英切勿委任李國章為校務委員會主席，以免挑起港大所有持分者的不滿。關注組同時指有多達96%的校友及教職員表示不信任梁智鴻及其他反對任命副校長的校務委員，他們要求所有投反對票的委員包括梁智鴻都應公開道歉，若仍在任的更應問責辭職。

就今次的投票結果，梁振英認為梁智鴻多年來為港大盡心盡力，對他投不信任票是不合理；而對於有九成多人支持校委會成員披露會議內容，梁振英亦認為沒有理據。但梁智鴻未能領導校務委員會妥善處理副校長的任命工作，更曾以「等埋首副」作為拖延任命的藉口；早前更有報道指他身為主席，卻參與投票，違反主席保持中立的慣例。這些事件都難以令人再信任梁智鴻可以帶領港大。若非有校務委員披露會議內容，港大師生及公眾皆無從得知校委會的討論情況，令校委會的運作成為黑箱作業。梁振英的批評是欠缺理據，無助解決港大現正面對的難題。