Heritage Education Funds Inc.

Kamila Burgess, a 23 year old university student, was awarded a US$10,000 scholarship from Heritage Education Funds International. Chosen out of numerous applicants, Ms. Burgess is the first Bermudian who has won the Graduate Award.

Heritage Education Funds International offers educational savings plans to assist families in saving for their children’s post-secondary or tertiary education, and the Graduate Award recognizes outstanding students who possess not only excellent grades, but who are also actively involved in their communities. Ms. Burgess spent two years volunteering at the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo, and now is a student ambassador at DeVry University in Orlando, Florida. Her exceptional efforts of assisting her community made her stand out among the many entries and Heritage is proud to announce Ms. Burgess as the recipient of this year’s award.

“I was surprised and grateful; very grateful that I had won the award,” Ms. Burgess told the Royal Gazette. Ms Burgess gave credit to God and her family who opened a Heritage Education Savings Plan for her when she was just a child; she credited her family to encouraging her to pursue this scholarship opportunity. “I know it was also a financial relief for them because my schooling is quite expensive.” Ms Burgess encourages other parents to start saving with Heritage Education Funds International early for their own child’s future education. Ms. Burgess ended our interview with her by encouraging her fellow students to pursue their dreams without fear. “Don’t be afraid to take risks, don’t be afraid to push yourself more and fight for what you believe in.”

Heritage would like to thank all the beneficiaries who submitted their entries and wishes them well in their school year.

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The South China Morning Post reports that the social economic gap between the rich and poor in Hong Kong has grown in prominence over the past 10 years. Concerns around social equality were raised when a census indicated university enrollment rates were nearly 80 percent dominated by the wealthier children from families of the top 10 percent of the Hong Kong population.

Based on the recent census of 1991 to 2011, Professor Chou Kee-lee of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd), found that students aged 19 to 20 whose families are in the top 10 percent of high income households, have 48.2 percent of admission rate, comparing to 11 percent of those from the low income families. The gap has grown compared to 1991; when the stats indicated more equal results of 9.3 percent for affluent families and 8 percent for lower income families.

These increasing statistics reflect that higher education has been enjoyed by the wealthier families in Hong Kong as they have had better access to these educational opportunities. This raises concerns of another issue, of competition in the future job market. With a growing trend of social emphasis on educational credentials, those students from non-degree institutes are hardly able to compete with the ones from universities. A fair education system is supposed to help close the gap between the rich and poor, and now the public education system in Hong Kong is struggling to do just that. The article claims that Hong Kong home-grown resources remain underdeveloped and pose a threat for attracting future talent to support the ageing society, as well support a socially cohesive society.

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Hong Kong is known for being one of Asia’s most expensive cities, but the cost to educate a child in Hong Kong may still surprise you. In a recent TV commercial created by Hang Seng Bank, they breakdown the astonishing price tag of bringing up a child in Hong Kong in terms of the price to education them. They estimate it to costs as much as $4 million dollars (US$510,000) per child and the South China Morning Post provides calculations of the expected fees a parent may incur from birth to 18 years of age.

Preschool
Preschool education is not free in Hong Kong, and the cost of sending your child to a regular kindergarten ranges from HK$1,500 to $4,000 a month, while the international kindergartens can cost anywhere between HK$6,000 to $14,000 a month.

Primary and Secondary
In Hong Kong, public primary and secondary education is free until Form 3 (equivalent to Grade 9 in US system), however, if you send your child to private primary and secondary school the tuition cost can range from HK$50,000 to HK$60,000 a year for primary, and roughly HK$100,000 at the secondary level in ESF (English Schools Foundation) schools. A popular trend in Hong Kong is sending your child to international school and the fees for these institutions can go upwards of HK$170,000 a year. In addition, these fees do not include the extra costs of books, school supplies, school trips and activities.

University
At the university level, the cost of attending local university ranges from HK$75,000 to HK$120,000 a year. If the child decides to study abroad in Britain or the US, the cost will easily be double.

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The countries of OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) are aware of their ageing populations and growing problem of not having enough young people to go into science and engineering fields in their own countries; while immigrants are not always the most effective way to resolve the problem, they are now focusing on retaining the talented international students to stay and work after graduation.

The OECD countries have been working to have more welcoming policies to help international students to stay in their countries after completion of studies.

For example, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden have introduced full cost fees and scholarships for non-EU students, and created work opportunities to help them to stay after graduation.

In Britain, the government has tried to encourage the international PhD students to stay in the UK by allowing them 12 months of residence following their completion of studies. This provides them more time to find employment or set up their own businesses. Furthermore, Britain will issue an additional 1,000 visas each year to MBA graduates who want to stay there.

It is reported that the percentage “stay rate” of international students, who stay in the country of study after graduation is about 25% for OECD countries, and their retention for their local alumni and graduate students are 60% and 70% respectively. This shows there is a lot more that needs to be done to see real improvement.

On the positive side, this is good news to all international students as they are now being presented more perks to travel abroad and more possibilities for global career development; however the reality is that there are still many high obstacles, such as; integration and recognition of foreign trained talents, which still need to be overcome. The governments of all OECD countries are challenged to alleviate these problems so international students are more inclined to stay in the countries they studied in.

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As many schools cut out extra-curricular activities, Triumph Higher Education Group has started to provide free online culinary demonstrations to high school classes through interactive webinars. Students not only can gain some culinary insight but also have the chance to talk to an industry expect durning the regular school hours. This outreach program is conducted by the VP and Executive Chef Mark Dowling, the demostrations topics include Basic Knife Skills, Mother Sauces, Egg Cookery, and Chocolate Work. School from coast to coast enrolled and trhousands of students benefited from the demostrations.

Chef Mark Dowling oversees the development of curriculum for Triumph's culinary schools, Auguste Escoffier Schools of Culinary Arts in Austin, Colorado and the Escoffier Online International Culinary Academy, the first and newly launched online culinary school with offers professional culinary, baking and pastry training.

Wendy Johnston, Director of Admissions for Auguste Escoffier Schools of Culinary Arts said, "Not only do students benefit from the demostrations, but teachers enjoy the rich new content in their classrooms." Besides the weekly online culinary demostrations, the Escoffier school also offers online tutorials and scholarships to encourage teacher chefs in continuing education.

For further information on how schools can enrol in the free online culinary demostrations, and information of Auguste Escoffier Schools of Culinary Arts and their Online Academy, please visit their website by clicking on the links above.

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