CERCular: No.1 of 1998

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• UNDP-Sponsored Study Tour for Chinese Adminstrators
• Japanese Connections
• TIMSS Reports
• MEd in Comparative Education: University of Hong Kong
• Comparing Education in Hong Kong and Macau

UNDP-Sponsored Study Tour for Chinese Adminstrators

CERC has been invited to receive a delegation of 14 administrators and researchers from mainland China. The team, sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will go first to Singapore and then to Hong Kong.

The participants will come from five provinces: Qinghai, Gansu, Guangxi, Sichuan and Yunnan. Their tour is part of the UNDP project 'Improving Nine-Year Compulsory Education in Poor Areas Focusing on Girls'.

The Hong Kong part of the study tour is being organised by CERC's Tomoko Ako, who spent part of 1997 in the Beijing office of UNDP. With support from other CERC members, she has set up an active programme which will include introductions to CERC's international expertise and resources. Participants will also visit Hong Kong primary and prevocational schools, to gain direct insights into the local education system.

CERC looks forward to the arrival of this delegation. We are pleased to continue such cooperative arrangements with the UNDP, and to help improve education in the Chinese mainland.

Japanese Connections

In January 1998, CERC was pleased to receive a visit from Prof. Toru Umakoshi, Professor of Comparative & International Education at Nagoya University in Japan. Prof. Umakoshi is a distinguished figure in the field, both in Japan and internationally. He is especially well known for his work in comparative higher education.

Prof. Umakoshi presented a seminar on his work. Below he is pictured (sixth from left) with some of the CERC members who attended his seminar. We look forward to continued collaboration with Prof. Umakoshi and others from Nagoya.

TIMSS Reports

CERC members Frederick Leung and Nancy Law are responsible for the Hong Kong research for the Third International Mathematics & Science Study (TIMSS) conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA).

TIMSS brings together researchers from 41 different education systems in the world, and has been widely noted both as a model for one type of comparative education research and as a source of important data for both policy-makers and practitioners.

Summary reports on the Hong Kong TIMSS data have been published in a pair of booklets which are being distributed by CERC. One focuses on the junior secondary level, and the other on the mid-primary level. Details are as follows:

• Law, Nancy (ed.) (1996): Science and Mathematics Achievements at the Junior Secondary Level in Hong Kong: A Summary Report for Hong Kong in the TIMSS. ISBN 962 8093 95 9, 39 pp.
• Law, Nancy (ed.) (1997): Science and Mathematics Achievements at the Mid-Primary Level in Hong Kong: A Summary Report for Hong Kong in the TIMSS. ISBN 962 8093 96 7, 40 pp.

E-mail address to place orders: cerc@hkusub.hku.hk. Fax: (852) 2517 4737. Mail: Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China. Price including postage: Local HK$25 each, Overseas US$4 (add US$1 for airmail).

MEd in Comparative Education: University of Hong Kong

In 1996, the University of Hong Kong launched its first Master of Education (MEd) course specifically in the domain of comparative education. It is a two-year, part-time course comprising taught modules and a dissertation. Students gain familiarity with methods and approaches to comparative education, analysing both global and Asian examples.

The next cohort will commence studies in September 1999. Applications will be formally invited towards the end of 1998, with a closing date in February 1999. In the meantime, information may be obtained from: Prof. Mark Bray, Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China. e-mail: mbray@hku.hk.

Comparing Education in Hong Kong and Macau

Much can be learned from comparison of education in Hong Kong and Macau. The two territories make an excellent pair for such study because they have much in common but also some significant differences. The commonalities include their small size, histories as colonies of European powers, and the fact that they are mostly populated by Cantonese-speaking Chinese. However, Hong Kong was a British colony while Macau has been administered by Portugal. Differences in education also arise from economic and social factors, including the scale of populations. Whereas Hong Kong's population exceeds six million, Macau's population is less than 500,000.

In December 1997, CERC hosted a workshop which explored similarities and differences in educational provision. The workshop was led by Ramsey Koo of the Hong Kong Institute of Education and Mark Bray of CERC.

The chief purpose of the workshop was to discuss draft chapters of a book which is planned for publication by CERC. The main participants were the authors of the chapters, but several additional people joined the event. CERC was particularly pleased to welcome Mr Sou Chio Fai, Deputy Director of the Department of Education & Youth in Macau. The 14 papers focused on all levels of educational provision (pre-primary to tertiary), and on curriculum, special education, social change, and manpower development.

Sovereignty over Macau will revert to China on 20 December 1999, i.e. two and a half years after the change in Hong Kong. The education systems in the two territories are adapting to political changes in ways which are in some respects similar but in other respects different. The comparative study is enhancing conceptual as well as practical understanding of the factors which shape education systems, and of the processes of change.