Associate Degree Programme in Social Work
Under Unison's advocacy efforts, two ethnic minority youths were admitted to the Associate Degree Programme in Social Work in 2010/11 after their Chinese language admissions requirements were waived. These students will hopefully become the first batch of ethnic minority social workers in Hong Kong. In the 2011/12 school year, 4-5 more ethnic minority youths were admitted into the same programme.
We also partnered with The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Union to run the Module Certificate in Community Networking and Programme Planning, the first of its kind tailored for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. As part of the Skills Upgrading Scheme Plus of the Employees Retraining Board, the course is tailored for non-Chinese speakers who are working as programme workers in social service organizations, and aims to prepare them for social work training in the future.
These initiatives opened up new professional training opportunities for ethnic minorities who wish to serve the community, and helped them develop their potential and achieve their goals. We believe that the ethnic minorities who benefit from these new programmes will be a great contribution to the society, and could help the ethnic minority community and others in the society.
Issues we are working on:
- More options for F.5/F.6 graduates in VTC and IVE
- More options in the Employees Retraining Board (ERB)
Working Strategies:
- Directly communicate with the training institutions, e.g. Caritas, IVE and ERB
- Media
- Research
Expected outcomes:
- Ethnic minorities being seen in various professional sectors, such as social work, nursing etc.