Committee to deal with talent affairs set up

2014-1-28

From:Macau Daily Times

The Government Gazette (BO) promulgated the establishment of a “talent development committee” yesterday. The committee will design and carry out policies as well as schemes concerning the SAR’s talent affairs.
According to the CE’s notice published in the BO yesterday, the committee is responsible for carrying out research, surveys, data collection and drafting plans on talent cultivation. Other tasks consist in designing short, middle and long-term measures and coordinating resources especially on the three talent schemes for “elites,” “specialists” and “application-oriented individuals” respectively. The commission will also put forth proposals to prevent the so called “brain drain” of qualified residents, support regional and international cooperation in education, science and provide suggestions on human resource training.
Directly headed by Chief Executive Chui, the organization is also made up of seven major officials from the government, including the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Cheong U, (the committee’s vice head), and three principals from their respective public universities. In addition, the committee aims to include “distinguished individuals and professionals in related fields,” with no more than 24 members of the committee in total.
When asked how to define “talent,” Mi Jian, acting Coordinator of the Policy Research Office, explained that the definition could be “broad” according to practices all over the world. “The reason we put forth the concept of talent is to include more people to this group. The MSAR doesn’t want to support a specific group of people, but to allow more young people and ambitious individuals to be a part of this group.”
Schemes will be established to attract workers “who live or study abroad” to come back to Macau, according to Mr Mi.
He pointed out that it takes a long time to cultivate “elites” and “specialists” but as for the third type, “application-oriented individuals,” training is in urgent demand, especially in emerging industries and industries lacking employees.
Mi admitted that an overlap exists between the “specialists” and “application-oriented individuals.” He stated that “specialists will be mainly judged by their specialties. The latter type is the talent that is the most needed at the moment. People in the IT (information technology) industry can be regarded as specialists, but not all of them are ‘elitists’; as only some excellent individuals can be further cultivated to be ‘elites.’”
Alexis Tam, the government’s spokesperson, stressed during the press conference yesterday that the setup of the committee shows that the government is attaching great value to local workers and that the scheme is not related to the immigration policy in place for skilled workers. He also disclosed that a series of dispatches about nominations for remaining committee members will come out after their first meeting, which is to take place within the month.
The government’s intention of fostering talent was revealed in the 2014 policy address last November, during which Chui Sai On also announced the setting up of a talent committee.

Copyright@Macau Daily Times