Education: GAES introduces professional accreditation systems to college students

IAS officials briefing the students

The Tertiary Education Services Office (GAES) concluded a series of briefing sessions to local college students yesterday, which covered various sectors’ professional accreditation systems. These sectors included medical, legal, pharmacy and social work practices.
Having invited speakers from the Health Bureau, the Macau Lawyers Association and the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS), the GAES organized the briefings in the hope that they might “deepen high school and college students’ understanding of different professions’ accreditation requirements, so as to better prepare them for the future career [coming from] the major they’ve chosen.”
In the last session held at the GAES’s College Students Center yesterday, representatives from the IAS introduced the forthcoming system of professional accreditation and practice registration in social work to an audience of dozens of students.
The government is expecting to pass legislation at the end of the year in order to launch a professional certification and a practice registration system for local social workers. In response, many of the students inquired about the career outlook in Macau for non-­local graduates from the territory and for Macau graduates from overseas universities.
In addition, students asked about the possible timeframe for accreditation exams and whether they would need to prepare for them before or after graduation. In response, the IAS representatives said that the specific criteria, as well as exam arrangements, will be decided by the future committee to be set up in accordance with the new law.
After the bill is passed, a specialized Social Work Committee, which will be responsible for the system, will be established over the course of the following year at the earliest. The commission will consist of a president, five representatives from the government, and five representatives from the related sector, all of whom will be elected by accredited social workers during the Committee’s next tenure in 2019.