(......Continued)
	The Second International Conference for Physical Educators, officially opened by Legislative Council member The Hon Fok Tsun-ting, GBS, JP, successfully united over 400 international physical educators in July 2004.

Experience Sharing with Visiting Academics
With increasing globalisation, the experience of academics from around the world will help our staff to learn about international best practices and enable us to benchmark our development against the best international standards. For these reasons we maintain our ties with institutions from the mainland, the UK, US and Australia, by appointing visiting and advisory professors to work with us and share their research findings.

An excellent example of this sharing is the contribution made by Professor Maurice Galton of the University of Cambridge, who was a guest speaker at seminars held in November 2003 and February 2004. Discussing the importance of small class teaching in the former session, Professor Galton shared with the local education community the findings of a large scale study which developed and evaluated effective group work at primary and secondary levels in the UK. The second seminar had even wider implications. The seminar "Practice on Small Class Teaching in the East Asian Region: Sharing Experience with Local Educators" enabled more than 100 participants and local educators to tap into the experience of their colleagues in Macau, Taiwan, South Korea, Shanghai and Japan, as well as sharing difficulties encountered in the Hong Kong context.

Another example of experience-sharing is the Second International Conference for Physical Educators to be held in July 2004. Organised by our Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, the theme of the conference is the integration of Physical Activity, Sports, Dance and Exercise Science.

Developing Global Networks
We are committed to expanding our students' international experience and outlook as a crucial element of their professional development. The year 2003-04 witnessed an important milestone in this direction with the establishment of the Centre for International Education (CIE), with responsibility for advising, coordinating and developing activities with a particular emphasis on exchanges, immersion programmes and study visits, in order to expose our students to international perspectives and extend their global networks. Building on our previous successes in cultural exchange, CIE arranges numerous language immersion programmes with extended periods of stay in English-speaking countries and on the mainland. Programmes in the pipeline are expected to benefit about 700 students.

Another major Institute activity is the organisation of short-term study visits usually lasting between 2-3 weeks. In the summer of 2003-04, around 800 students will participate in some 40 study visits to different parts of the world ?on the mainland, in Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and the US. These study visits add significant value to our teacher education programmes, helping our students broaden their perspectives and enriching their learning experience.

Masterminded by the Department of English, with the support of the Drs Richard Charles and Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable Foundation, a three-week project taking place in Inner Mongolia in August 2004 will see 6 teaching staff, 12 students and 18 volunteers help about 180 primary and secondary teachers to develop their ability in teaching English and 150 primary and secondary students to improve their English language skills. At the same time, our students will broaden their horizons and gain teaching experience.