(......Continued)
	East Asian educators from the mainland, Japan, Korea and Macau gathered at the Institute in February 2004 to share their experiences in small-class teaching.

Benefiting Our Students
Before being granted self-accrediting status, external third parties had to accredit our programmes and modules. This process, apart from being very demanding on staff time, also led to disparities in the focus and standards of programmes, as they had to be modified to fit the differing views and expectations of different accreditation panels. One of our first tasks as a self-accrediting institution has been to standardise the curriculum and remove the unnecessary diversity which resulted from successive external validations.

In 2003 we set up a Core Curriculum Working Group under our Academic Planning and Development Committee to recommend developments for a core curriculum for our teacher education programmes. This will help address the problem by building from a core educational philosophy and framework, to establish common practices which will apply to all programmes. Students will benefit from a well-aligned core curriculum with the added ability to pursue other subjects according to their individual goals and aspirations. With this development, we will be in a position to group students from different programmes together so that all can benefit from the interaction of different perspectives.

Facilitating Lifelong Learning
As Hong Kong moves towards a knowledge-based society, we must provide the necessary programmes that will enable both existing teachers and school leavers to have the opportunity to upgrade and improve their skills and professionalism. Guided by our mission to provide the necessary avenues for lifelong learning, professional development and continuous improvement in education, our self-funded Division of Continuing Professional Education offers a range of programmes all of which are quality assured by means of the rigorous review processes of the Institute.

Putonghua and English language programmes have been designed to help teachers attain the EMB's required levels of professionalism and competence through the upgrading of their language development and practical skills. In 2003-04, a total of 109 Putonghua and 51 English courses facilitated the training of over 2,200 and 1,000 in-service teachers respectively.

During the year 29 courses were held with over 700 students attending our Associate Degree, Pre-Associate Degree Foundation Certificate Programme and Project Yi Jin. These provide an alternative educational route for Secondary 5 and Secondary 7 school leavers who are not seeking to follow the traditional S5-S7 route to university. Apart from allowing students to develop their own potential at a pace that fits their individual abilities, interests and circumstances, these programmes also equip them with the necessary professional skills for employment.