Abstract
Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) is a method of providing services to companies operating across various industrial verticals for the purpose of improving productivity, efficiency, and manufacturing process for manufacturers to meet with globally recognized standards, regulations, and policies set by governments to improve the quality of a product. Testing and inspection have increased the efficiency and productivity of various automotive organizations by reducing the cost and time for delivery, managing and controlling supply chain at each manufacturing stage, improving aftermarket sales and distribution, increasing the safety, and reducing the impact on environment. TIC plays a vital role in guaranteeing quality and credibility when dealing with these global challenges. There are substantial increasing figures indicated that there was continuous growth of the TIC industry because of its important role in the daily life of the Hong Kong community and in external trade. Although there is no further detailed explanation of these professionals’ requirements, it acknowledges that technical knowledge and skills are essential to support the development of the TIC Industry to cope with the manpower demand. The major sources to supply the manpower or professionals should be the graduates in science and engineering disciplines in higher education institutes. Hence, there is a need to review the job competency required by the TIC stakeholders, the competency standards for TIC industry, the curriculum in higher education institutes in order to find out if there is skill mismatch in TIC. This paper studies four main areas: testing, inspection and certification industry, curriculum design, competency and employability skills. It is concluded that TIC may encourage ever more students to pursue science or engineering during their undergraduate study. However, the problems in skill mismatch and skill gaps are reflected by the TIC stakeholders. Hence, greater attention may need to be given to the readiness and the extent of the current science and engineering curricula in higher education of support for undergraduates entering the TIC industry by considering the job competency requirements for TIC.
Highlights
Testing, inspection and certification is an industry with good development potentials
The Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification has recently consulted different stakeholders of the industry to collect their views on the competency required of the practitioners working in the TIC industry
This paper reviewed the development of the testing and certification industry in Hong Kong, discussing job requirements and the purpose of the Qualifications Framework
Summary
Inspection and certification is an industry with good development potentials. According to the fact sheet published by the Information Service Department (2014) of HKSAR, the Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification (HKCTC) was established to advise the Government on the industry’s overall development strategy and introduce new measures to support its growth [1]. Owing to the scale and diverse nature of the TIC industry, the Report of the Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification defined the nature of the industry’s work and divided it into three core business areas [2]: a) Testing: the determination of one or more characteristics of an object according to a procedure. C) Certification: a third-party attestation related to products, processes, systems, or persons
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