SCS visits Peking University (with photos)
28.4.2023

The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, visited Peking University today (April 28) to call on the President of the university, Mr Gong Qihuang, to exchange views on collaboration in training for the civil service and to explore room for further co-operation. Mrs Yeung said, "I am delighted to have the opportunity to exchange views with Mr Gong again after our meeting at the Central Government Offices in Hong Kong early last month. Peking University has always been a key partner for civil service training for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). We have a history of more than 20 years of co-organising national studies courses with Peking University and we will have closer co-operation in future. "Among the two new training programmes to be launched by the Civil Service College (CSC) this year, one of them is an in-depth training programme in collaboration with the Institute for Hong Kong and Macau Studies of Peking University on 'one country, two systems' and contemporary China for directorate officers." In September last year, the HKSAR Government and Peking University launched a two-year Master's Degree in Public Policy Programme for senior civil servants of the HKSAR. Participants are required to attend the programme on a full-time basis at the university in their first year, and complete a thesis while working in Hong Kong in their second year for graduation. The Civil Service Bureau is arranging a second batch of senior civil servants to attend this two-year Master's Degree in Public Policy Programme run by the university in 2023. Mrs Yeung had a working seminar with the Dean of the School of Government of Peking University, Professor Yan Jirong. She also took the opportunity to meet the HKSAR civil servants who have enrolled in the Master's Degree in Public Policy Programme at the university to learn more about their study experiences. She said, "I am pleased that the civil servants have the opportunity to conduct social research in different regions during their studies to experience the country's development in person. For example, they learned about the implementation of the country's poverty alleviation measures by conducting social research on 'rural revitalisation and regional development' in Midu County, Yunnan Province in February this year. In the past, it might not be possible for the trainees to visit rural areas in the course of training. I believe that the classroom training and field visits would enable colleagues to learn from their first-hand experience, stimulate their thinking, and deepen their understanding of the country's development so that they will contribute their best to the society after returning to Hong Kong." Another training programme to be launched by the CSC this year is a dedicated seminar series on the theme of "Holistic View of National Security" to foster civil servants' understanding of the challenges facing Hong Kong in safeguarding national security in the complex international environment and the responsibilities civil servants should shoulder in safeguarding national security. Mrs Yeung concluded her visit to Beijing today.