Hong Kong Institute of GerontologyIn view of the ageing population in Hong Kong and the great demand in knowledge related to care for the elderly, Hong Kong Association of Gerontology officially established the Hong Kong Institute of Gerontology in November 2000, and set up its office at 1/F, The Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation Lam Tin Complex, 7 Rehab Path, Lam Tin, Kowloon in June 2001 with the kind sponsorship from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The Institute was subsequently relocated to 1/F, Kimberley House, 35 Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon in October 2009, and carried out renovation work and purchase of equipment in sponsorship from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.Since its establishment in November 2000, Hong Kong Institute of Gerontology has organised more than 1,200 training course, providing professional elderly services training to over 24,000 students.
The objectives of Hong Kong Institute of Gerontology are to improve the quality of elderly services in Hong Kong, improve the quality of life of the elderly and to raise the standard of gerontological training. The Institute’s major work is to provide various training courses, including specialised professional training courses, to all types of staff in the field of elderly services, such as healthcare professionals, social workers, personal care workers and home carers. Courses are given by experienced doctors, nurses, rehabilitative workers and social workers, and are a combination of lectures and practical demonstrations so as to ensure that students can apply the knowledge in daily situations.
Hong Kong Institute of Gerontology is a training institution recognized by The Social Welfare Department, the Skills Upgrading Scheme (SUS) of Labour and Welfare Bureau (‘medical and healthcare sector’ and ‘elderly services sector’) and the Employees Retraining Board. The Institute has cooperated with different organizations in providing on-job training courses for their staff, such as The Salvation Army Hong Kong and Macau Command, Caritas Hong Kong, Hong Kong Children and Youth Services, Christian Family Service Centre, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and Po Leung Kuk.Hong Kong Institute of Gerontology has organized a variety of activities in the past, including conferences, training courses, workshops, and seminars both local and worldwide.
Courses organized by the Institute in the past:
- Skills upgrading Scheme Plus Course
- Care-related Support Worker Training Course
- Diploma in Health Worker Training Course
- Advance Health Worker Traning Course
- Probationary Health Worker Course
- SWD Training Course on Working with Elders with Dementia
- SWD Training Course on Working with Elder Abuse Victims and the Abusers
- Nursing Care Workshop
- Nursing Care Training and Support Services Course
- Domestic Helper Training Basic Course (English)
- Join courses with other Associations
- Tailor Made Course for Government Departments
- Tailor Made Course for Macua Social Welfare Institute
- Diploma Course in Applied Gerontology
Features of the Institute’s services:
- Extensive experience in education
- Hong Kong Association of Gerontology is a non-profit making elderly services and social service agency that has been set up in Hong Kong for over 20 years. The Association has accumulated invaluable teaching experience over the years and has developed deep comprehension of community care, nursing care and residential care homes. It can thus fully grasp the work needs, learning needs and working environment of practitioners, and design and provide suitable training courses accordingly to improve their job skills and raise the service quality of the industry.
- Exquisite notes and complete curriculum guide
- The Institute has inclusive curriculum guides, stringent codes for instructors, comprehensive notes and course evaluation system, and strictly complies with guidelines from sponsors to improve teaching methods continuously and organize notes regularly to enhance students’ interest in learning and absorptive capacity.
- Persistent improvement in quality of courses
- The Institute places great emphasis on the quality of teaching and strives for continuous quality improvement. Tutors meet up regularly to exchange ideas, review their teaching methods and progress of courses and to follow up with students’ comments.
- Curriculum Development Committee reviews programs regularly to monitor the quality of teaching
- The Executive Committee and Management Committee of the Institute are responsible for monitoring the operation of the Association, and the Curriculum Development Committee assesses the courses provided, gives directional guidance, views courses, monitors quality of teaching, evaluates the learning needs of students and designs new courses. Some members of the committees hold teaching, administrative and healthcare posts, and some are even consultants for public bodies. This helps them have in-depth understanding of the sector. Moreover, they themselves may be tutors as well, or they may invite more professionals to join the team.
- Providing continuous courses and postgraduate programmes
- The Institute aims at providing continuous education and encouraging practitioners to pursue further education. In addition to organizing elementary and basic courses related to services to the elderly for students from various ranks and professions, the Institute also organizes postgraduate courses and course for further education for professionals from different industries. In this way, channels for continuing education are provided and lifelong learning can be encouraged.
- Strong network of tutors
- The Institute has an extensive network of tutors who recruits various professionals to participate in training talents. The interpersonal networks formed by our team of over 30 tutors is vast, so if there is any increase in courses, they can recruit more professionals to join the team as tutors. The tutors come from a wide range of organizations, such as public hospitals, units providing community care for the elderly, nursing homes, tertiary institutions and nursing training institutes, so their working experience are diverse and their understanding of the elderly care sector is thorough. They can help other staff in the field sharpen their job skills.
- Occupational therapists providing consultancy services for purchase of rehabilitation products
- The Institute employs occupational therapists to be tutors, and to provide free consultancy services to students who wishes to buy rehabilitation products and answer questions related to elderly rehabilitation.
- Numerous members forming extensive communication networks
- The Association has a large number of members, including over 600 individual members and over 50 organisation members. Besides, the Association has a lot of befriended organizations and frequently contacts different organizations, including government departments, public bodies, non-governmental organizations, newspaper offices and over 700 local subsidized and private residential care homes. Through publishing course leaflets and semi-annual newsletters and mailing promotional materials to members and organizations, course information can be disseminated, and the association can grasp the newest developments of the industry from their feedbacks.
- Training materials and reference books available
- The Institute provides a complete array of training equipment, abundant teaching materials, spacious training areas, pleasant environment and convenient transportation. In addition, the Institute has purchased over HK$200,000 worth of textbooks, audiovisual aids and human models for tutors to use in class, study and update teaching materials. In the future, library resources will be open to students.
Future Development of Hong Kong Institute of Gerontology
- Organize training courses both locally and overseas
- Carry on developing currently available courses
- Design courses specifically for non-governmental organizations and Social Welfare Department
- Organize diploma and certificate courses for gerontology