Academic accreditation provides assurance on the quality of postsecondary education in Hong Kong. Academic accreditation has, over time, been extended from degree programmes to encompass the sub-degree sector, and from publicly-funded institutions to privately-funded programme providers. Our service also covers institutional reviews for institutions seeking registration under the Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance (Cap 320).

Institutional Review and Programme Validation

During the reporting period, there was a rise in demand from private institutions seeking Institutional Review (IR) for registration under Cap 320 with degree-awarding status and for HKCAAVQ Programme Validation (PV) status for their planned degree programmes. The increase in demand was due to the Government’s encouragement to develop more private universities and the desire of these institutions to have degree programmes in place for the ‘double cohort’ of students in 2012, arising from the implementation of the new 334 structure. 

Over the past year, there were more requests for academic accreditation in more diverse disciplines. While traditional programmes such as Business Administration, Languages, Social Work and Media Arts remain popular, new disciplines such as Health Science, Nursing, Pharmaceutical Studies, Engineering, Environmental Studies and Sports Studies were also accredited.

During the reporting period, three IR exercises for degree granting status have been carried out by the HKCAAVQ. They were the IR exercises for the Tung Wah College of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, the New College of the School of Professional and Continuing Education, The University of Hong Kong (HKU SPACE), and Caritas Institute of Higher Education (formerly known as Caritas Francis Hsu College).

The HKCAAVQ completed one Initial Evaluation (IE), six PV and 13 Programme Revalidation exercises for the year ended 31 March 2011. We also reviewed programmes or institutions which planned to introduce substantial changes. During the year, 23 such exercises were conducted. In addition, preparation work was undertaken to process substantial changes made by operators of Associate Degree/Higher Diploma programmes in response to the launch of the new academic structure and the Common Descriptors for these programmes released by the Education Bureau.

Non-local Learning Programme Accreditation

After a successful pilot exercise conducted in 2009/10, the HKCAAVQ officially launched a new service for Non-local Learning Programme (NLP) accreditation in June 2010 to accredit registered/exempted programmes under the Non-local Higher and Professional Education (Regulation) Ordinance (Cap 493) leading to non-local awards offered in Hong Kong. This new accreditation service quality assures programmes offered in Hong Kong leading to awards of non-local institutions. Under this new service, an accredited NLP enjoys similar status to locally-accredited programmes, and their qualifications can be recognised under the Qualifications Framework (QF).

In view of the potentially large number of accreditation requests, the HKCAAVQ conducts the NLP accreditation exercise by phase and by discipline. The discipline covered in the reporting year was Art and Design, with the participation of three local operators involving 25 programmes coming from the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. The range of the local operator partners covered a private operator, an extension arm of a university and a publicly-funded institution.

The next two phases of NLP accreditation exercises for the Business Management and the Accounting and Finance disciplines have been scheduled from October 2011 to late 2012 (Table 1). It is expected that the demand for NLP accreditation will continue to rise significantly. The HKCAAVQ will explore different dimensions in which the framework of the NLP accreditation service can be further developed. This will include exploring the important element of mutual recognition with overseas quality assurance agencies.

Streamlined Procedures for Preparing Accreditation Documents

For continuous improvement in our accreditation service for both local and non-local programmes, the HKCAAVQ developed more user-friendly templates and streamlined procedures for operators. The new templates and streamlined procedures were introduced to operators through training workshops from September to November 2010 and have received positive feedback from both existing and new operators. Operators that used the templates expressed that they could produce accreditation documents in a more self-evaluative and efficient way. The streamlined procedures allowed them to be more focused and have a clearer picture of the expectations of an accreditation exercise. The HKCAAVQ will continue to work on improving our academic accreditation service.

Breakdown of Academic Programmes Validated or Revalidated (1 April 2010 – 31 March 2011)



Looking Forward

With the Government’s initiatives to encourage the establishment of private universities, and the rising demand for lifelong learning in support of Hong Kong’s transformation into a knowledge-based economy, it is expected that quality assurance in higher education will become even more important and the demand for accreditation service will continue to grow.