The HKCAAVQ provides a range of qualifications and course assessment services for the general public, organisations, and government bureaux/departments. Our assessment work covers individual qualifications awarded by granting bodies outside Hong Kong, non-local courses leading to higher academic and professional qualifications for registration under the Non-local Higher and Professional Education (Regulation) Ordinance (Cap 493), Continuing Education Fund (CEF) reimbursable courses, and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes for Insurance Intermediaries and Estate Agents.

Qualifications Assessment

The HKCAAVQ offers a non-binding professional opinion on whether the totality of an overseas educational qualification of an individual meets the standard of a particular level of qualification in Hong Kong. We are also engaged by the Education Bureau to provide qualifications assessment services for prospective teachers who obtain qualifications from outside Hong Kong and wish to apply for teacher registration in Hong Kong.

Compared to the last financial year, the number of assessed cases in this reporting period increased from 2,546 to 3,008, representing a growth of 18%. The cases processed this year are categorised in the following areas:

• By source of application
• By level of major qualifications
  
• By place of award of major qualifications

Assessment of Non-local Courses

The HKCAAVQ is appointed by the Registrar of Non-local Higher and Professional Education Courses to provide professional advice as to whether a particular course delivered in Hong Kong leading to a non-local higher and professional qualification meets the registration criteria stipulated in the Non-local Higher and Professional Education (Regulation) Ordinance (Cap 493). We also advise the Registrar whether a registered non-local course continues to meet the registration criteria through annual reassessments.

During the reporting year, the HKCAAVQ conducted an internal review of its non-local course assessment process. As a result, we streamlined the assessment approach, enhanced the transparency of our assessment criteria and improved our communications with the Non-local Courses Registry.

The demand for assessment of non-local courses remained high in the reporting period. This year, we processed 574 non-local courses assessment cases (70 new applications, 363 annual returns and 141 changes of applications), representing a 15% increase compared to the last reporting period. In particular, the number of new applications increased by 75%, while the numbers of annual return and change of applications increased by 8% and 15% respectively.

Breakdown of new applications for non-local course assessment
(1 April 2011 - 31 March 2012)

Assessment of CEF Courses

The HKCAAVQ is commissioned by the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) to assess the Continuing Education Fund (CEF) reimbursable courses to ensure that these courses meet the CEF's requirements in areas such as course contents, learning activities and teaching premises. The HKCAAVQ also conducts surprise audit visits to ascertain whether the CEF courses are operated in compliance with the approved conditions determined by the LWB.

This year, the HKCAAVQ enhanced our internal procedures to shorten the assessment process. We revised the web text, introduced new guidance notes to the applicants and arranged a briefing to the CEF course providers in conjunction with the LWB to facilitate better understanding of the assessment process. The measures were found to be effective in reducing the assessment time for new applications without compromising quality of the service.

In the reporting period, the HKCAAVQ conducted 80 surprise audit visits and assessed 1,484 applications, of which 361 were new applications and 1,123 were applications for amendments to registered CEF reimbursable courses. The number of new application has increased slightly this year by 5%.

Breakdown of the new applications for assessment of CEF reimbursable courses
(1 April 2011 - 31 March 2012)

Assessment of CPD Programmes

In the last reporting year, the HKCAAVQ continued to assess the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes for the Insurance Authority (IA) and the Estate Agents Authority (EAA). The service agreement between the HKCAAVQ and IA has been renewed until May 2014.

During the reporting period, 107 new applications, 219 annual re-assessments and 206 changes of applications were processed under the Insurance Intermediaries Quality Assurance Scheme (IIQAS). Compared to the previous reporting period, there was a growth of 1% in new applications but a fall of 1% and 17% in the other two areas respectively. In the EAA’s CPD Scheme, 11 new applications, 57 annual re-assessments and five changes of applications were assessed, representing a 10% rise in new applications but an 8% and 90% decrease in the other two areas as compared to figures in the previous reporting period.

Breakdown of assessed CPD programmes for IA and EAA (1 April 2011 - 31 March 2012)

Looking Forward

In 2011, staff members of the HKCAAVQ visited the National Recognition Information Centre for the United Kingdom (UK NARIC), and the National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition of Australian Education International (AEI-NOOSR), to benchmark our assessment models, policy and guiding principles in qualifications assessment with international standards and practices. We also attended the 2011 UK NARIC Annual Conference to learn about the latest developments in qualifications assessment in the international arena.

To cope with the ever rising demands for our various types of assessment services, the HKCAAVQ will continue to exchange good practices with overseas qualifications assessment agencies and explore different ways to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of our work. One of the improvement measures planned is the enhancement of the information technology system in processing applications for qualifications assessment. We believe this initiative will help improve the quality of our assessment services and the project is expected to begin in the last quarter of 2012.