More firms to speed up training of engineers
The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers has added six more companies to a government-recognised scheme to fast-track qualifications for professional engineers.  Under the institution’s Scheme “A” Graduate Training programme, graduates can qualify as professional engineers in four years – two years sooner than via other training routes.  Some 200 companies have already obtained the training framework from HKIE, and the newly-added firms include Huawei, China Mobile Hong Kong and Hong Kong Broadband. The institution's president, Barry Lee, said there’s a need to speed up the training of professional engineers to cope with the city’s development.  "The [current] shortage of engineers is around 2,000... Some figures hint that this shortage can become more than 4,000 in a few years’ time." "We expect the infrastructure development to be happening in the coming years – which include the Northern Metropolis development and the Kau Yi Chau [artificial islands] reclamation projects. Together with all those technological development in Hong Kong, the demand for engineers, especially those professional engineers, will be very high."