| Milestone: |
With the close of the transition period, all estate agents in Hong Kong are now qualified practitioners. Do you see a diminished need for training? |
| Mr Fung: |
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 The Training Committee of the EAA has different tasks to perform at various stages of the trade's development. After the close of the transition period, the Committee has focused its attention on efforts that will enhance the professional standards of the licensees. The Committee has carefully examined the feasibility of introducing Continuing Professional Development programmes for the trade. As the ranks of licensees are gradually replenished by more and more new entrants, the Committee also expects seminars and workshops to be organised to strengthen their knowledge of the regulations, and to induce them to good practice. Such efforts will be supplemented by activities which will promote quality service and showcase practitioners of merit.
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| Milestone: |
Almost 50% of the individuals and shops licensed during the past three years are no longer in the trade. What kind of impact does this have on the training efforts of the EAA? |
| Mr Fung: |
During the past three years, the EAA devoted considerable resources to the development of training opportunities for practitioners, and nine institutions of tertiary and vocational education offered plenty of training places in various courses for estate agents to fulfil their licensing requirements. In 2001, special efforts were made to provide assistance to thousands of unsubstantiated licensees to enable them to meet the training or examination conditions attached to their licences, in which process the training institutions offered much support. We understand that the trade also accorded much importance to human resources development. Whereas large estate agency companies all maintain their own training departments, the training institutions provide a good range of programmes suitable for licensees working in firms of various sizes or as independent practitioners. |
| Milestone: |
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is now being practised in most professions to help maintain standards. What is your view on the applicability of CPD to estate agency? |
| Mr Fung: |
A survey on licensees conducted not so long ago by the EAA tells us that close to 60% of the respondents indicated support for CPD. It is very much the intention of the Training Committee to bring this concept to fruition in due course, but there are many issues which need to be sorted out. Resources and curriculum both require careful consideration, and the cooperation of the tertiary institutions would be essential. CPD is still on our drawing board at the moment and we shall consult extensively before implementation, with special attention to opinions from the practitioners themselves. However, the EAA has to determine its policies on sustained and long-term provision of training to the trade quite soon. |
| Milestone: |
When do you think may be an appropriate time for CPD to be launched? Should participation be mandatory or voluntary? |
| Mr Fung: |
I think it makes good sense for CPD to be launched at a time when the property market is in a more stable and prosperous state. Practitioners tend to find training programmes, whatever their value as aids to professional growth, quite irrelevant when they are facing hard times, as training has no immediate bearing on the improvement of their livelihood. When the property market regains its vigour, then practitioners will pay more attention to activities that will enhance their professional outlook, and that would be a good time for us to introduce our CPD plans. As to whether participation should be optional or not, I am aware that, in many professional bodies, CPD is obligatory. However, the issue is still under study at the EAA and we have not yet come to any conclusion. |
| Milestone: |
Which aspect in the training of estate agents do you think requires the most urgent attention? |
| Mr Fung: |
Estate agency is a trade that is characterised by the great mobility of its members, and the influx of new entrants is substantial at any time. With regard to the future development of the trade and professional development, new entrants hold views very different from existing practitioners. Existing practitioners have witnessed the golden age of the property market as well as its decline, and they tend to be more practical. New entrants, on the other hand, have not seen much of the ups and downs in the market and are more likely to be oriented towards short-term targets. Their concept of estate agency work is founded on less assured grounds, and I think it would be pertinent for us to step up efforts to inculcate moral and ethical standards in them. |
| Milestone: |
There are a number of recent cases in which estate agents, in their pursuit of potential clients, were found to have engaged themselves in unruly behaviour. Do you think this can be rectified through training efforts? |
| Mr Fung: |
To tackle the problem we have meted out penalties as a passive means to deter unruly behaviour. On the more positive side we will seek improvements through training efforts aimed at raising the professional conduct of the practitioners, and imbuing them with the proper attitudes towards their vocation as well as the concept of law. Efforts must also be made to enhance the skills of managers, and to heighten their awareness of the responsibility to exercise effective supervision of their staff.
Admittedly fisticuffs were confined to only a very small number of delinquent agents and the absolute majority of our licensees are law-abiding practitioners. However, such acts have indeed tarnished the image of the industry as a whole, and momentary indiscretion has damaged a reputation which takes years to build up. Those who operate estate agency businesses should know that it does not pay to allow or encourage their employees to misconduct themselves, because a company's good name is a valuable asset which, if not properly maintained, will lead to the detriment of business. That business has fallen on hard times simply is no excuse for acts which trespass on discipline and the law.
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| Milestone: |
Please tell us about the immediate plans of the Training Committee. |
| Mr Fung: |
In the short term the Training Committee will strengthen training activities in professional ethics and management skills. In the medium term we shall review the contents of our training activities so that these will effectively complement changes in legislation as well as market conditions. For the long term, we shall continue to research on continuing professional development programmes for the industry. |