With the Government’s announcement of a further tightening of social distancing measures in view of the recent surge in local COVID-19 cases, the Institution has made corresponding arrangements including closing the meeting facilities at the Headquarters from 15 July - 4 August 2020.
In light of the situation, both the first Council meeting originally scheduled for 16 July 2020 as well as the “Championing Innovation” - Kick-off Ceremony for events and activities for Session 2020/2021 scheduled for 23 July 2020 were postponed. The HKTDC Education & Careers Expo has been rescheduled, and the Institution will continue to participate in the Expo in January 2021.
International Engineering Alliance Meetings (IEAM) 2020 and the Seoul Accord Mid-term Meeting (SAMM) 2020
Due to the global spread of COVID-19, both the IEAM 2020 and SAMM 2020 were conducted virtually.
The IEAM 2020 was conducted online from 22 - 26 June 2020. Ir Peter Y Wong, Chairman of the Accreditation Board (Session 2019/2020); Ir Prof Arthur Mak, Deputy Chairman of the Accreditation Board (Session 2019/2020); and Mr Wilbur Pang, Associate Director - Professional Standards & Services, represented the Institution in different meeting sessions. President Ir Ringo Yu (Session 2019/2020) and Past President Ir Dr Philco Wong also attended the online meetings to observe the process and the discussions of Signatories on various topics.
President Ir Dr P L Yuen participated in the SAMM 2020 on 25 June 2020 as the Deputy Chair of the Seoul Accord. As for the delegates of the Institution, Ir Dr Chan Chun-leung, Chairman of the Accreditation Committee for Computer Science Programmes (Session 2019/2020) and Mr Jerry Kok, Manager - Professional Standards (2) also participated.
As face-to-face meetings were not possible, pre-recorded sessions and live webinars were made available online to provide more information to the delegates of the Signatories. The topics were “Secretariat RFP Process”, “IEA WFEO Working Group: Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies” and “Proposal on Agreement Changes”. Webinars on governance structure, application process, review of mentoring and consistency among accords and agreements will also be arranged from August to November 2020.
We are pleased to report on the admission of the following signatories/members to the Educational Accords/Competence Agreements:
• Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos de Costa Rica of Costa Rica as a Full Signatory to the Washington Accord
• Institution of Engineers Papua New Guinea of Papua New Guinea as a Provisional Member of the APEC Engineer
In order to tackle the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the accord reviews, it was agreed that all Washington Accord and Sydney Accord reviews be postponed by one year with the situation being reassessed in 2021. As such, the periodic review of the HKIE under the Washington Accord has been postponed from 2020 to 2021. The Signatories of Seoul Accord also approved to delay the current review cycle by one year.
Signatories of Seoul Accord shared their experience in handling accreditation under COVID-19. The meeting also discussed the proposal of a Signatory to be reviewed virtually, but confirmed that a physical site visit will still be conducted in 2021.
The voting for granting full signatory status under the Seoul Accord to Consejo Nacional de Acreditación en Informática y Computación (CONAIC), Mexico of Mexico was deferred. Signatories will be invited to vote at a later stage.
The next meetings of the IEA and the Seoul Accord will be held in Killarney, Ireland in June 2021.
The HKIE President's Protégé Scheme 2020/2021
The HKIE President's Protégé Scheme 2020/2021 received an enthusiastic response from our young engineers. Twelve young engineers were selected by the President, and we extend our congratulations to the successful candidates. A special column introducing the President's Protégés of this Session will be available in the coming issue of the Journal.
The 45th HKIE Annual Dinner
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 45th HKIE Annual Dinner originally scheduled in February 2020 will be postponed to Friday, 19 March 2021 at the Convention Hall, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Members who are interested in attending the Dinner, please mark your diary and stay tuned for further details on the HKIE website.
President of The Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers
We are pleased to report that Ir Duncan W O Wong was elected President of The Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers for the term from June 2020 to May 2021. Ir Wong’s election to the post is indeed an honour to the Institution.