Greening Skills in Hong Kong: Effective Partnerships between Vocational Education, Government and Industry to Support the Greening of the Economy

The importance of transitioning towards a greener economy has been recognised globally by different regions and countries (e.g., The European Comission, 2010; The Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, 2011). Challenges associated with the current and future shortage of resources, their inflating prices, technological development and innovation, new markets, and changes in industrial practices and consumer demands (OECD, 2011; UNEP, 2011) have led to structural economic changes, towards ‘greening’ in business and industry. Issues of climate change, health, and other aspects of personal and social well-being that are closely related to the quality of environment, have become a primary concern for governments globally, including the government of Hong Kong. The purpose of this project is to examine governments’ influences on new skills requirements, employers’ needs, and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector’s responses, with the aim of supporting skills development towards greening economy in Hong Kong. Its focus is on the improvements of collaboration between government, TVET and industry. The project employs a theoretical base developed from the Triple Helix models of Academe-Industry-Government relations (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000) that illustrate a diversity of relationships between the entities that can range from a strong separation, to overlapping of institutional spheres. This will guide the analysis of data and development of new frameworks. Outcomes of the project, which contribute to both theory and improved policy and practice include a conceptualisation of current practices in Hong Kong that enable skills training to adapt to changing economic needs and policy initiatives towards greening; models that consolidate current partnerships pertaining to the greening of skills development; new, forward looking and innovative frameworks which seek to improve collaboration between government, industry and TVET providers towards strengthening and upgrading greening skills; and identification of patterns of TVET greening for countries at different stages of economic development.

Funding Source: RGC - General Research Fund (GRF)