To promote a culture of continuous learning in the civil service and to improve service quality, a Three-year Training and Development Programme was introduced from 2001-02 to 2003-04 at a cost of $50 million to provide 90,000 additional training places.  At the end of 2003-04, 174,000 training places were provided.  

By utilising funds remaining at the end of 2003-04, the Programme was further extended into 2004-05 lending support to departments in coping with changes brought about by the second Voluntary Retirement Scheme. Another 10,000 training places were provided.  

Through the Programme, a range of training services will be offered in 2005-06 to help departments develop effective strategies for managing and implementing change.

In April 2005, the CSTDI launched an enhanced Cyber Learning Centre Plus web site to provide more e-learning materials in a more systematic way to facilitate civil servants' continuous self-learning anytime and anywhere.  

When the Three-year Training and Development Programme was first launched, there were three main focus areas:  

(a)	Promotion of a continuous learning culture
		To promote a continuous learning culture and to enhance civil servants' resilience and capability to meet challenges in an ever-changing society, about 7,200 officers were sponsored to attend courses under the Training Incentive Scheme.  Financial support was provided to over 30 departments under the Accelerating Learning Capacity Scheme in enhancing their learning resources, setting up of learning booths and producing self-learning courseware for computer and web-based training.
		Learning resources in the Cyber Learning Centre Plus were expanded and promotional activities such as learning exhibitions were organised.  Thematic seminars were organised to facilitate experience sharing and to reinforce the theme of continuous learning.
(b)	Training in support of the Voluntary Retirement Scheme
		Apart from supporting the first Voluntary Retirement Scheme, training support was provided to affected staff under the second Voluntary Retirement scheme launched in March 2003.
		Training programmes were organised to help staff affected by the Voluntary Retirement exercise to acquire the necessary skills to adapt to the new working environment and to further develop their career.
		Programmes included job transition and redeployment such as change management, personal effectiveness and stress management, and reinforcing general skills and knowledge such as office practices, computer and language.
(c)	Training in relation to the Civil service reform initiatives
		A number of new training courses to enhance the participants' understanding and knowledge of practices/procedures arising from the Civil service reform initiatives have been introduced.

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About HK$7.8 = US$1.)