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The Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) welcomed the establishment of the Joint Quality Review Committee (JQRC) by the eight institutions under the aegis of the University Grants Committee (UGC) to oversee the quality of self-financed sub-degree programmes.
JQRC today (November 8) held its first meeting to map out its future direction.
"The Administration attaches great importance to the quality of sub-degree programmes. Self-financed sub-degree programmes provided by the eight UGC-funded institutions together with their schools of continuing education account for over half of the total number of self-financed sub-degree programmes on offer in Hong Kong," an EMB spokesman said.
"The effort by the institutions to set up the JQRC is a big step forward in further enhancing the quality of sub-degree courses," the spokesman added.
"We have required that accreditation of these programmes should be properly conducted, either by the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation, or in the case of programmes offered by the self-accrediting institutions, through the institutions' established quality assurance mechanisms.
"We are very pleased that the Heads of Universities Committee (HUCOM), based on the institutions' self-accrediting mechanism, has taken a step further to set up the JQRC with operational independence to jointly review the quality of their self-financed sub-degree programmes in a highly transparent and autonomous manner.
"This is a conscientious approach which has our full support. It will also be conducive to strengthening public confidence in the quality of sub-degree programmes offered by the institutions," the spokesman added.
Ends/Tuesday, November 8, 2005
Issued at HKT 19:52
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