The HKCAAVQ is committed to promoting good practices in quality assurance among institutions, training bodies, authorities and other stakeholders in both local and international contexts. To achieve our goals, we actively engage in activities that facilitate exchanges and enhance public understanding of our services and the benefits of the Qualifications Framework (QF) and the Qualifications Register (QR).

Facilitating Local Exchange

As the Accreditation Authority and the QR Authority under the QF, the HKCAAVQ organises seminars, workshops and meetings from time to time to provide key stakeholders with information on the latest developments in our services as well as training and capacity building. During the reporting year, over 40 briefings and workshops of this kind were organised for our key quality assurance partners, mainly programme operators and specialists from different industries and professions. We also organised a briefing session on the QR in June 2010 to demonstrate enhancements to the register and gather views and suggestions on this on-line platform for lifelong learning.

To keep us abreast of the latest developments in different industries and their manpower needs, we maintained our representation in the Industry Training Advisory Committees (ITACs) and their sub-committee meetings. Over the last year, we also arranged different formal and informal meetings with practitioners from different industries and professions to exchange views and ideas on quality assurance issues.

The HKCAAVQ saw the need to address the concern of the general public about issues relating to the status or recognition of qualifications and the differentiation of awards of learning programmes. To this end, we coordinated with a local newspaper to introduce a weekly column on their education pages from June to August 2010. We also launched a bimonthly e-newsletter QALink in August 2010 to inform our stakeholders about the latest developments of our services and local and international quality assurance practices.

In celebration of our 20th anniversary, we organised a Conference titled Quality Assurance at the Crossroads – A Critical Reflection after Twenty Years to bring together experts in quality assurance to facilitate dialogue and promote the exchange of experiences between professionals from different sectors. The conference reflected on our development over the past two decades, and also identified the challenges that lie ahead and gathered views on the way forward for quality assurance practices in Hong Kong.

Reinforcing International Networks  

For continued improvement and innovation, we actively engage with other quality assurance agencies worldwide through various kinds of cooperation and collaboration. In September 2010, we entered into a Memorandum of Arrangement with the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). This agreement signifies a commitment to further enhancing collaboration and exchange of information and experiences for the mutual benefit of both parties.

 

The HKCAAVQ was invited to take part in the accreditation exercise of the MQA in April 2010 and an audit exercise of the Australian Universities Quality Agency in October 2010. In August 2010, we organised a two-day workshop for the staff and specialists of the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan to introduce the accreditation system and principles of Hong Kong. These exercises allow us to benchmark our approaches with the latest international good practice and standards, and to share information about Hong Kong’s quality assurance practices with our international partners

 

During the reporting year, we actively participated in international conferences organised by other quality assurance bodies, such as the Australian Quality Forum in June 2010, the Policy Dialogue by the British Council in January 2011 and the Asia-Pacific Quality Network Conference in March 2011. By presenting papers at these international events, we shared our knowledge and experiences in quality assurance with peers and experts from around the world. Informal interactions and exchanges also took place through the many discussions we conducted with delegates from abroad.

To promote our new service for Non-local Learning (NLP) Programme accreditation, we arranged presentations to higher education institutions in the United Kingdom in September 2010 and at the Offshore University Campus Management Forum held in Australia in November 2010. Through these events, non-local programme providers were able to understand the framework, guiding principles and process of our NLP accreditation service.

 

Apart from building partnerships with overseas quality assurance agencies and programme providers, we also attach great importance to maintaining close ties with quality assurance bodies in Mainland China. We participated in the Education Evaluation Seminar organised by the Shanghai Educational Evaluation Institute in September 2010, and the Inaugural Conference and Symposium of the Chinese Association for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education organised by the Higher Education Evaluation Center of the Ministry of Education in November 2010.

Looking Forward

The increase in accreditation of Non-local Learning Programmes and the growing trend in cross-border cooperation in higher education call for close collaboration between quality assurance bodies across different regions. The HKCAAVQ will continue to maintain its networks with quality assurance agencies around the world to ensure the suitability and effectiveness of our quality assurance system.