The HKCAAVQ recognises the importance of effective communication with our many stakeholders; these include operators, professional bodies and authorities, other quality assurance agencies worldwide and the general public. We maintain close contact with our stakeholders through various activities to enhance their understanding of and support for the role and work of the HKCAAVQ. We are also committed to strengthening links with quality assurance practitioners in different parts of the world for exchange of knowledge and creating opportunities for collaboration.


Promote Good Practices on QA
The HKCAAVQ organises different activities to inform the local community about the latest developments in our services and to promote and disseminate good practices in quality assurance. We also take the initiatives to provide trainings, workshops and briefings all year round to build capacity of our key stakeholders. In 2012/13, around 50 activities of these kinds were held, involving over 900 specialists, Panel members and operators from the academic and vocational sectors.



To enhance public understanding of our services, we join hands with the Government bureaux and other education and training bodies to address issues relating to our work and processes as well as the latest policies on the Qualifications Framework (QF). During the reporting period, we took part in seven local conferences and briefings, such as the two Briefing Sessions on Award Titles Scheme and Use of QF Credit in November and December 2012, the QF Conference on “Global Mobility – Making it Happen” in March 2013 and another two seminars on qualifications assessment organised by the Education Bureau and the Labour Department in May and June 2012.

Facilitate Exchange and Dialogues
As the HKCAAVQ continues to expand its portfolio of quality assurance work, we seek to improve our services by engaging stakeholders to gather their views and insights. Apart from the online survey that we conduct annually for gauging feedback on our wide range of services, we also organise consultations and focus group meetings to gather views on topical issues.

During the reporting period, six face-to-face consultation sessions were conducted to collect views on the refined model of the Four-stage Quality Assurance Process; three consultation sessions were held to gauge feedback from operators on the publication of the summary accreditation reports; five focus groups were arranged for operators in the vocational sector to discuss the effectiveness of our accreditation tools and another two sessions for the Non-local Programme (NLP) operators to share views on the NLP Accreditation. These meetings provided a good platform for exchange of views and the valuable inputs enabled us to enhance our work process and procedures.

Launch of the New Website
Our official website (www.hkcaavq.edu.hk) enables the general public to stay tuned with the latest development and policies of the HKCAAVQ. It provides the public with details of our work and diversified activities. In July 2012, the HKCAAVQ launched a revamped website. This website has been completely redesigned in terms of structure and content, making it easier to navigate and to find specific information. Since its launch last summer, the website has received 62,374 visits, an average of around 8,900 visits per month. The HKCAAVQ will continue to make use of this online platform to build a closer tie with visitors from all over the world and keep them abreast of our quality assurance efforts, achievements and latest developments.

The HKCAAVQ has developed an extensive network with quality assurance agencies worldwide. We endeavour to promote collaboration and partnership with agencies which have similar missions and objectives in the enhancement of quality assurance in education and training. Last year, we continued to achieve this objective through organising and participating in regional and international events and activities.

Strengthen Partnership
For continuous improvement of our work and services, we benchmark our approaches against international good practices through joint endeavours with agencies across the world. In January 2013, the HKCAAVQ renewed the Memorandum of Understanding with The National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation (NIAD-UE), Japan, to establish a strategic alliance to enhance the operation of external quality assurance. The signing ceremony was followed by a Joint Workshop entitled “Changing Higher Education Landscapes of Japan and Hong Kong from the Viewpoints of Quality Assurance” held at the NIAD-UE’s office in Tokyo.



Enhance Global Connections
In the reporting year, the HKCAAVQ received 11 delegations from quality assurance agencies and education authorities worldwide, such as the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) of India, Singapore Workforce Development Agency, Shenzhen Polytechnic and Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland. In September 2012, we visited the Beijing Open University and delivered a speech on the accreditation/quality assurance frameworks and guiding principals in different parts of the world. Through these events we introduced our counterparts the standards, criteria and process of accreditation undertaken by the HKCAAVQ, and explored areas of mutual interest for future collaboration.

Share Knowledge and Experience
In 2012/13, the HKCAAVQ participated in 10 international conferences, and delivered papers and presentations in six of them, including the Global Policy Dialogue organised by the British Council in March 2012, the Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) General Conference in September 2012, the Australian International Education Conference (AIEC) and the ASEAN Plus Three Forum on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in October 2012, the UK NARIC Annual Conference in November 2012 and the Macao Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in December 2012.

In the year under review, the HKCAAVQ also participated in the International Education Policy Exchange Programme funded by the Australian Government and had one of our staff members attached to the National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition of Australian Education International (AEI-NOOSR) for a work placement in May 2012. In March 2013, we received an assessor from the Assessment and Certification Division of the Council of Private Education (CPE), Singapore, for a short-term attachment and introduced to her our work that underpins the QF.

International Recognition The HKCAAVQ was selected by the Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN) as the winner of its inaugural APQN Quality Awards in the category of International Focus. The Award recognised the HKCAAVQ’s continuous and exceptional work in aligning itself to international trends and good practices in quality assurance over the years, as well as its innovative work in the development and provision of accreditation for non-local programmes in Hong Kong.

The HKCAAVQ embraces every opportunity to work in partnership with our stakeholders in delivering our mission and goals. We will continue to strengthen our communications with the local community to ensure that they are well-informed on our operations, initiatives and accomplishments. We will also seek to consolidate and extend our international reach to keep ourselves abreast of the world trends and best practices on quality assurance.