Visit to Secondary Schools The Institute and the divisions organize various visits to the universities, either with the students or the departmental staff every year in order to identify more opportunities for co-operation. Visit to the Secondary Schools is one of the promotional activities arranged by the Quantity Surveying Division since last year. We found that paying visit to secondary schools on one hand can introduce the surveying profession to the new blood of the society and on the other hand promoting the image of the Institute to the public. Secondary school students are generally not aware of the spectrum of service provided by professional surveyors and there is room for us to do more in attracting the attention of these young people. During the visit to the surveying students of the University of Hong Kong last year, we are told that the information provided to the secondary school students is very important for them before making their choice of universities for continuing their studies, especially by the old boys or old girls of their schools. Visit to St. Paul’s College was arranged in November 2010. With the assistance of the old boys from St. Louis School, the next secondary school visit has been confirmed on 19 May 2011. Actually, we would like to appeal for your help for making visit to the secondary schools. If you can arrange the visit for us or providing the contact of the secondary schools to us, please do not hesitate to give a call to Mr Coody Ko of HKIS (Tel: 2526 3679 or E-mail: [email protected]). We shall follow up with you for further details. Thank you for your help and assistance in advance. The Second Batch Training for the Reciprocity Agreement between CECA and HKIS (QSD) After the training held by HKIS in Hong Kong and The China Engineering Cost Association (CECA) at Shenzhen in October and November 2010 respectively, re-submission of the working reports by the applicants of HKIS members and the subsequent vetting exercise were completed in March 2011. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the senior members who assisted in vetting all the working reports submitted and re-submitted. Thank you for Ms. Y.M. Lee who conducted interviews with 3 CECA Members for the training required by the Reciprocity Agreement on 21 March 2011 in Beijing. Finally, the application from 172 applicants of CECA and 166 applicants of HKIS were passed to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) for processing in early April 2011. The 15th PAQS Congress The 15th Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors Congress will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka between 23 and 27 July 2011. The theme of the Congress is "ost Management in a World Emerging from Adversity". Delegates from QSD will present papers and attend the PAQS Board Meeting and the Committee Meetings in the period. Board meeting among the 9 members and other Associate members as listed below will be held on 24 July 2011: Members: Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (AACEI) Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (AIQS) Building Surveyors Institute of Japan (BSIJ) China Engineering Cost Association (CECA) Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (CIQS) The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS) The Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (ISM) New Zealand Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NZIQS) Singapore Institute of Surveyors & Valuers (SISV) Associate Members: Fiji Institute of Quantity Surveyors (FIQS) Institute of Quantity Surveyors Sri Lanka (IQSSL) Institution of Surveyors, Engineers and Architects, Brunei (PUJA) Observer Member: Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS) The International Cost Engineering Council (ICEC) Region 4 Meeting will be held at the same period in Sri Lanka this year. The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors is one of the 48 members of ICEC. Website of PAQS: http://www.paqs.net/ Website of the 15th PAQS Congress: http://www.paqs2011.lk/ Website of ICEC: http://www.icoste.org/ QSD Annual Dinner-3 June 2011 The QSD Annual Dinner will be held at the Royal Plaza Hotel, 193 Prince Edward Road West, Mongkok, Kowloon. Invitations have been sent to the government officials (Development Bureau, Architectural Services Department, and Past Chairpersons of QSD. It is our pleasure to have Mr WAI Chi Sing, JP, the Permanent Secretary for Development (Works) of Development Bureau to be our Guest of Honour. You are cordially invited to this annual event of QSD and hope to see you there. You may visit our website as below for sponsorship packages and further details: http://www.hkis.org.hk/hkis/html_qsd/index.jsp Assessment of Professional Competence (QSD) Final Assessment 2011-Written Practice Problems The written practice problems of the Final Assessment 2011 of the APC(QSD) will be held on 20 and 21 September 2011 at the Hong Kong International Trade & Exhibition Centre (HITEC). Application shall be submitted to the HKIS Secretariat not later than 5:30 pm, 30 June 2011. Application form can be downloaded from www.hkis.org.hk.