Tag: The Education University of Hong Kong

The urgent need for sustainable development, combined with reaction to climate change from industry and society, has urged many governments in the Asia-Pacific region to develop policies that will lead to a low-carbon economy. The resulting structural changes in labour markets require that new skills be incorporated into technical vocational education and training (TVET).

But a research of Dr Margarita Pavlova, Associate Professor at the Department of International Education, The Education University of Hong Kong, revealed that countries in the Asia-Pacific region lack the green skills to implement and sustain low-carbon economies.

Dr Pavlova researched the skills required for green economic growth, identified how greening occurs in industries and how TVET can become more sustainable. She also recommended changes in government policy and practice to develop generic green skills in the labour force to reduce the negative environmental impact of economic development in the region. Her research has led directly to changes in policy and educational practices to address the problem through TVET.

Dr Pavlova’s research has affected the TVET policy debate, green skills in strategic development plans, national educational training and standards, and TVET institutional practices.

In a project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) from 2012 to 2014, Dr Pavlova and Professor Rupert Maclean mapped existing practices in developing green skills in TVET in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, as well as demand for green skills in the construction, transport, energy and hospitality industries. The project resulted in three ADB briefs, which provided policy direction for developing member countries on green-related skills development.

In 2015, Dr Pavlova and her team participated in a projected funded by UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre and developed a new framework for conceptualising generic green skills, focusing on embedding generic green skills in TVET for construction and agriculture in five countries.She co-led a project hosted by China’s Ministry of Education for APEC in 2015, which recommended reforms for Chinese TVET programmes, leading to more than eight VET providers in China reforming their curricula to include green skills in seven specialties.

From 2014 to 2018, Dr Pavlova co-led a UNESCO project to examine existing practices and the conditions necessary for a positive impact in the catering, automotive, waste management and PVC industries in seven countries. The study developed a systematic framework with measures to address the holistic development of green skills and incorporate their recognition, validation and accreditation into policies, practices and TVET curricula.

In 2015, her policy briefing workshop in Mongolia, based on regional research, identified a need for green TVET in the country, resulting in green skills being included in TVET curriculum development and staff training in the 2016–21 National Programme for TVET development. In the same year, she conducted a national seminar in Nepal, and in 2017, she designed and ran a programme for Nepal ministries and TVET institution representatives on greening TVET in Hong Kong. Malaysia’s Ministry of Education incorporated her research findings in the development of Malaysia’s national framework for TVET Educator Standards, which was expected to affect over 1,000 TVET institutions.

Hong Kong has an aging population.

The number of people 65 or older is forecast to increase to 2.16 million by 2031 and 2.56 million by 2041. As a result, Hong Kong’s recurrent social welfare and health expenditure as a percentage of nominal GDP is forecast to increase from $52.4 billion in 2014 to $563.6 billion in 2042. Hong Kong may experience a structural financial deficit within a decade because of higher social and health spending for older adults and a smaller working-age population.

A review of the literature on the benefits of physical activity (PA) for helping older adults remain active and healthy showed positive benefits in terms of mental and physical health, quality of life, and balance, but concluded that there was a need to identify new forms of PA for older adults. Studies of interviews with older adults found that they preferred PA that emphasised interaction and group activities, as well as sports training. Based on the literature review, the authors concluded that there was a gap between research and services for promoting active aging.

The LVB volleyball is lighter (150g vs. 250g) and larger (80cm vs. 65cm) than the standard volleyball, so the LVB ball moves slower and stays in the air longer, making it more accessible for older players with slower movement and reaction time. Other benefits are that LVB is a non-contact team sport and volleyball is a popular sport in Hong Kong.

A pilot study led by Dr Carman Leung Ka-man, Assistant Professor at the Department of Health and Physical Education, The Education University of Hong Kong, demonstrated improvements in health outcomes among older adults through participation in light volleyball (LVB). Therefore, Dr Leung extends the aforementioned work and proposed this study to investigate the effectiveness of an LVB intervention on the physical and psychological health of older adults on a larger scale in Hong Kong and provide data and evidence to support policymaking in relation to future promotion of PA for older adults.

The study will apply quantitative and qualitative methods. A randomised controlled trial (RCT) design will be used. About 315 participants will be randomly assigned into three groups: (1) the LVB group will take part in a 16-week LVB programme; (2) a Tai Chi (TC) group will use simplified 24-form Yang Style TC; and (3) a control group will follow their normal daily activities and join regular non-PA social gatherings. Measurements will be collected before and after the intervention, and six and 12 months after completion.

The expected and direct beneficiaries are expected to be: (1) participants who will benefit from improved physical and psychological health after participating in the intervention; (2) NGOs, which will have access to information and resources related to a new PA; (3) government departments, which will benefit from the data and evidence to support policymaking in relation to PA promotion for older adults to promote healthy aging, reduce healthcare expenditure, and promote mass participation in regular practice and training; and (4) LVB and volleyball associations in Hong Kong, which will benefit from promoting LVB locally.

Dr Hou Wai-kai, Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology (PS), The Education University of Hong Kong, has been elected a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) for his outstanding contribution to the discipline.

Dr Hou’s research seeks to explicate the psychology and ecology of stress. His work focuses on understanding the everyday processes and mechanisms of resilience, social and physical environmental determinants, and public mental health. As the Director of the Centre for Psychosocial Health (CPH) at the University, he and his team have developed research programmes which enhance the community’s awareness and knowledge of the psychosocial aspects of health.

“I feel very honoured to be elected as Fellow of the APS. This would not have been possible without the support of the University, the faculty, CPH and PS. I will continue fostering health, well-being, and resilience through research and evidence-based practices,” Dr Hou said.

The APS is the global scientific home of more than 25,000 leading psychological science researchers, practitioners, teachers, and students across all continents. It aims to advance scientific psychology across disciplinary and geographic borders.

The size of benefits a company receives from bribing government officials is significantly correlated to the amount of bribe they pay, and how well informed people are in the bribe-taking country.

Researchers in Hong Kong and the UK have found that a $1 investment in bribery returns $6-9 in terms of company value, with more money paid to an authority resulting in greater benefits. However, those benefits decrease if citizens of the country where officials accepted payment are well-informed. Their findings have been published in Management Science.

Bribery between companies and government officials is a persisting, common issue worldwide. For example, a 2010 report by the Organisation for Economic, Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that a third of legal professionals representing multinational corporations who participated in a survey knew colleagues who participated in international corruption such as foreign bribery.

Despite its commonality, little is known about what determines the benefits of bribery at the company level. To find out, public policy researcher Stephen Cheung Yan-Leung of The Education University of Hong Kong, P. Raghavendra Rau of the University of Cambridge, and Aris Stouraitis of Hong Kong Baptist University collected publicly available information on 195 domestic and foreign bribery cases in 60 countries between 1975 and 2015. In those cases, businesses paid officials in exchange for being awarded a project contract. The researchers conducted statistical analysis to measure if correlations exist between bribery size, resulting company value, and 11 other factors.

In the collected data, firms and authorities involved in bribery were from the US, Japan, France, Germany, the UK, South Korea, Singapore, Nigeria, the Philippines, Indonesia, India and Iraq, among others. Industries involved were construction, electronics, aircraft, oil and gas. Officials who accepted bribes included heads of state, ministers, members of parliament, governors, mayors, military officers and judges.

They found that the size of bribe and returns are significantly correlated, with a $1 increase in payment leading to a $6-9 increase in the company’s value as a result of illegitimately winning a contract. Public knowledge was also statistically significantly correlated to benefits: companies received less return if voters of a country where officials took the money were well informed. Companies did not lose much benefit if the bribery was exposed in autocratic countries where politicians are not elected.

Firms tend to have a larger return on payment in more corrupt countries. There was a relative correlation between benefits and legal efficiency, suggesting that benefits would be larger if no efficient legal enforcement is in place in a bribe-taking country.

Regulatory burdens, namely the US’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the OECD anti-bribery convention, might have discouraged some companies from bribing, but for those who did commit the crime, it did not affect the size of benefit. In other words, those enforcements might have increased the cost of bribe, consequently limiting the number of firms who could afford such act.

There was no correlation between returns on bribery and the remaining factors such as the company’s ability to pay, the rank of politicians, competitiveness of the contract, political system of a bribe-receiving country, or complexity of the project.

According to Hong Kong government statistics, an average of 15,637 tonnes – more than 1,000 doubledecker buses’ weight – of solid waste was disposed of in landfills each day in 2019.

A mean of almost 240 tonnes of this daily total was made up of unavoidable by-products from water and sewage treatment processes. Although a sludge treatment facility was built to alleviate the growing pressure faced by landfills, it can only process some of the sludge.

Dr Chris Tsang Yiu-fai from the Department of Science and Environmental Studies at The Education University of Hong Kong and his research team have come up with an ingenious way of solving this problem. They have been exploring the possibility of reusing and recycling the waste residues into ecoconstruction materials. This eases pressure on waste treatment facilities and reduces energy consumption.

By using waste sludge and combustion by-products from water and wastewater treatment plants, as well as coal-fired power stations, they have produced eco-concrete paving blocks. Instead of sand, which is typically used in making concrete, they have added bottom ash, fly ash, waterworks sludge and sewage sludge. “This method has a two-way benefit: it reduces the use of natural resources and upcycles metropolitan waste,” Dr Tsang explained.

The engineering performance, including compressive strength, of the eco-concrete blocks complies with the General Specification for Civil Engineering Works in Hong Kong and the toxicity characteristics meet both Hong Kong and United States standards. Not only that, the eco-concrete blocks outdo other ecoconstruction blocks for a number of reasons: pre-treatment, transportation and storage costs are lower; and supply and quality of these waste residues are stable.

According to Hong Kong government statistics, an average of 15,637 tonnes – more than 1,000 doubledecker buses’ weight – of solid waste was disposed of in landfills each day in 2019.

A mean of almost 240 tonnes of this daily total was made up of unavoidable by-products from water and sewage treatment processes. Although a sludge treatment facility was built to alleviate the growing pressure faced by landfills, it can only process some of the sludge.

Dr Chris Tsang Yiu-fai from the Department of Science and Environmental Studies at The Education University of Hong Kong and his research team have come up with an ingenious way of solving this problem. They have been exploring the possibility of reusing and recycling the waste residues into ecoconstruction materials. This eases pressure on waste treatment facilities and reduces energy consumption.

By using waste sludge and combustion by-products from water and wastewater treatment plants, as well as coal-fired power stations, they have produced eco-concrete paving blocks. Instead of sand, which is typically used in making concrete, they have added bottom ash, fly ash, waterworks sludge and sewage sludge. “This method has a two-way benefit: it reduces the use of natural resources and upcycles metropolitan waste,” Dr Tsang explained.

The engineering performance, including compressive strength, of the eco-concrete blocks complies with the General Specification for Civil Engineering Works in Hong Kong and the toxicity characteristics meet both Hong Kong and United States standards. Not only that, the eco-concrete blocks outdo other ecoconstruction blocks for a number of reasons: pre-treatment, transportation and storage costs are lower; and supply and quality of these waste residues are stable.

At the 2020 International Innovation and Invention Competition in Taiwan, the project won Silver Medal; and the Silver Medal at the 2021 International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. As a pilot project supported by the Water Supplies Department (WSD), the eco-concrete blocks derived from waterworks sludge will be used to construct a stretch of road next to the buildings at two local schools, one NGO, as well as the WSD visitor centre.

The next step will be to develop a standard treatment for unavoidable by-products from drinking water purification and waste recycling processes, and collaborate with commercial partners to produce this inexpensive source of eco-construction materials at an industrial level.

The next step will be to develop a standard treatment for unavoidable by-products from drinking water purification and waste recycling processes, and collaborate with commercial partners to produce this inexpensive source of eco-construction materials at an industrial level.