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The following is issued on behalf of the University Grants Committee:
The Government today (April 1) announced new appointments to the Quality Assurance Council (QAC).
The following members are appointed to the QAC for a period of three years:
With effect from March 1, 2010-
* Dr Judith Eaton, President of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation of the United States
* Professor Edmond Ko, Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
With effect from April 1, 2010-
* Mr Roger Thomas Best, Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Welcoming the new appointments to the QAC, the Chairman of the University Grants Committee (UGC), Mrs Laura Cha said, "I am very happy to have the new members on board. I am sure that with the benefit of their expertise and experience, the Council will continue with its excellent work."
The Government also announced the re-appointments of Mr Philip Chen as QAC Chairman, and Professor Richard Ho Man-wui, Sir Colin Lucas and Sir Howard Newby as QAC members for a period of two years with effect from April 1, 2010.
QAC Chairman Mr Philip Chen said, "I am honoured to be given the opportunity to serve on the QAC as chairman and contribute to the development of Hong Kong's higher education sector.
"The work of the QAC is moving in full swing, with the first round of quality audits scheduled to be completed in 2011. I very much look forward to working closely with the new and existing members to assure the quality of our institutions' educational provision," Mr Chen added.
He also thanked Professor Dr Frans van Vught, an outgoing member of the QAC, for his contributions to the Council in the past years.
The QAC was established in April 2007 as a semi-autonomous non-statutory body under the aegis of the UGC. The QAC assists the UGC in providing third-party oversight of the quality of UGC-funded institutions' educational provision (however funded) at first-degree level and above. The QAC fulfils this task primarily by undertaking periodic quality audits of the institutions. The updated QAC membership list is at Annex.
Ends/Thursday, April 1, 2010
Issued at HKT 16:00
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