"The Visit" staged by students of the English Department attracted a huge audience from tertiary institutions and local secondary schools. The "Fragrance of Art" exhibition helped to raise funds for the setting up of scholarships.

Recognising the importance of "hall life" as an essential component of teacher education and university life, a high priority is placed on providing students with residential places on campus. During the year, it was thus decided that, from September 2005 onwards, new full-time students pursuing programmes of two years or more would be required to live on campus, in at least their first year of study. Students encountering financial difficulties in fulfilling this requirement are encouraged to apply for hall bursaries.

The Ongoing Popularity of HKIEd Graduates

Graduates of the Institute continue to fare extremely well in the tough employment market. In the annual Graduate Employment Survey conducted by the Centre for Institutional Research and Development, 98% of the Institute's 2003-04 full-time preservice programme graduates, had either secured employment or were pursuing further studies.

Despite a decrease in the number of kindergartens and primary schools, due to the overall decline in the school-age population; the 2003-04 graduates of the Early Childhood and Primary programmes performed well, attaining employment rates of 92% and 90% respectively. Secondary education graduates, including the first cohort of the new four-year Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Secondary) programme, also achieved an outstanding employment rate of 94%. These very encouraging employment figures provide strong testimony to the popularity of the Institute's graduates in Hong Kong's education sector and particularly among its school principals.
The New HKIEd Language Graduates

Supporting the government's commitment to enhance the standard of language teachers to university graduate levels, the Institute introduced the four-year Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Languages) (BEd(L)) programme with Chinese and English majors in 2001. As professional teachers, these students are qualified to teach Chinese and English at secondary school levels. Within this programme, in addition to being intensively trained in teaching skills, BEd(L) students are widely exposed to a natural language environment while their language skills are closely monitored. In 2005, the first cohort of the BEd(L) programme graduated. Demonstrating the programme's strengths, many of them secured employment early in the year, prior to their graduation while many also received multiple job offers.

Apart from the few who chose to further their studies, almost all were successfully employed as language teachers, with a smaller number choosing to follow careers in the commercial sector or the service industry. This illustrates vividly that the teaching skills of graduates can be transferred to non-teaching professions.