Students successfully completing Career-oriented Curriculum (COC) courses will get better opportunities for further study and in employment, the Education & Manpower Bureau says.

Under a quality assurance exercise undertaken by the bureau and the Council for Academic Accreditation, the standard of COC courses is deemed comparable to a subject pass in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE).

The Civil Service Bureau will accept successful completion of a COC course as equivalent to a pass in HKCEE (excluding Chinese and English language) for civil service appointments, subject to a maximum of two courses being counted.

In the 2004-06 school years, about 1,300 students successfully completed 32 COC courses offered by Caritas Adult & Higher Education Service and the Vocational Training Council. Students enrolled have grown to 2,900.

Introduced in September 2003, COC is an initiative to diversify the curriculum at senior secondary level, and to provide students with multiple pathways to further studies and employment.

Designed for all full-time Form 4 students, each COC course lasts 180 contact hours within a two-year period, similar to the contact hours of an HKCEE subject. Click here for details on COC courses.