The civil service is the backbone of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government, shouldering the responsibilities of thoroughly implementing “One Country, Two Systems” and supporting the HKSAR Government in the administration of Hong Kong. The Government attaches great importance to civil service training including, in particular, training on the understanding of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, the Basic Law and our country’s development, as well as training to enhance leadership and managerial competencies of civil servants. With the enactment of the National Security Law and the improvements to the electoral system, our society will become more stable and the community will expect government bureaux and departments to implement more policy initiatives which can meet Hong Kong’s development needs and improve people’s livelihood, thus placing even higher expectations and greater demands on civil servants.
In this connection, we are actively making preparations for the establishment of the Civil Service College (the College) in 2021 to further enhance civil service training in terms of both quality and quantity. The Government has identified a site in Kwun Tong for composite development, including construction of the long-term accommodation for the College. Prior to its completion, we are upgrading the existing facilities of the Civil Service Training and Development Institute (CSTDI) at the North Point Government Offices, so that the premises can be used as the interim accommodation of the College to tie in with our plan to establish the College in 2021.
Apart from the hardware facilities, we will also further strengthen civil service training on the software front in different areas, including understanding of our country’s development and HKSAR’s constitutional order, leadership development, innovation and technology applications, international outlook, etc. We will also strengthen experience-sharing with civil servants in other places on public service management, and promote the development of Hong Kong into a regional training hub.
A Civil Service Training Advisory Board has been set up to give guidance on training programmes for the civil service and its long-term development strategy. The Advisory Board is working to examine four key areas of training for civil servants in a focused manner, which include national studies and the Basic Law, leadership development, innovation and technology applications, and international collaboration. To enrich the deliberation, colleagues are most welcome to share with CSTDI any views they may have on civil service training. We hope that, by way of enhancing training facilities and programmes, the civil service will be better equipped to meet various challenges and scale higher in service delivery.
The Civil Service Bureau (CSB) is pressing ahead with the work of establishing the College. We will launch the Civil Service College Logo Design Competition (the Competition) for all serving colleagues (including civil servants and non-civil service contract staff) and retired civil servants, encouraging them to give play to their creativity in designing a logo for the College and join our efforts of promoting the objective of the College as an institution dedicated to civil service training. You are cordially invited to join the Competition. For details, please feel free to visit the CSB website or the Cyber Learning Centre Plus. The deadline for submission of entries is 21 May 2021.
We have, in recent years, been making on-going efforts to strengthen training and development for the civil service, and adopting a multi-pronged approach by organising various training courses, thematic talks, visits and exchanges, and enhancing our e-learning resources, so as to encourage continuous learning in the civil service. Even during the epidemic, we have made ceaseless efforts in providing training for civil servants through, say, classes of a smaller scale or by way of e-learning programmes. Going forward, the establishment of the College will be an important milestone for the enhancement of training and development for the civil service. I hope that colleagues will give their support to the initiative, and make good use of every valuable training opportunity to better equip themselves, so as to enable our civil service to move ahead with the times as a learning and professional team. Together, we will build a better Hong Kong and contribute to the development of our country.