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The following is issued on behalf of the Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education:
The Chairman of the Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education, Mr Tim Lui, today (April 26) summarised the work of the Committee in the past year and highlighted the major priorities in the coming year.
Mr Lui said the Committee had taken stock of the development of the self-financing post-secondary sector in the changing landscape of the higher education sector in Hong Kong, and identified key challenges and opportunities. He highlighted three major priorities for the work of the Committee including:
(i) promoting transparency and good practices;
(ii) enhancing governance, quality assurance and accountability of the sector; and
(iii) ensuring the effective and efficient use of support measures for the benefit of students and institutions in the sector.
"To take these forward, the Committee has embarked on the development of an Information Framework via a dedicated website to facilitate easy access to relevant information and statistics including the governance and quality-related matters of the institutions as well as government policy and good practices of the sector. The Information Framework to be launched before the end of the year will help foster transparency and accountability," Mr Lui said.
To promote the enhancement of quality and to support the sustainable development of the self-financing sector, Mr Lui said that the Committee also planned to conduct a consultancy study to identify major development and models of good practices on governance and quality assurance with reference to local, regional and international experiences.
"This will pave the way for promoting good practices on quality assurance and governance in the sector in due course," he said.
Established in April 2012 in response to the recommendation of the University Grants Committee's (UGC) Report on Higher Education Review 2010, the Committee serves as a pivotal platform for discussing macro and strategic issues of common interest to the self-financing post-secondary sector, as well as promoting quality and good practices.
The Committee's membership comprises all members of the Steering Committee of the Self-financing Post-secondary Education Fund which advises on the policies and implementation of the $3.5 billion Self-financing Post-secondary Education Fund. The overlapping membership ensures a seamless alignment of the strategic direction and the allocation of resources in support of the healthy and sustainable development of the self-financing post-secondary education sector.
Mr Lui also welcomed the initiative from member institutions of the Federation for Self-financing Tertiary Education (FSTE) to establish a set of guidelines for their locally accredited self-financing programmes at undergraduate level and below to enhance consistency and transparency in enrolment and admission arrangements.
The Guidelines (at Annex) stipulated the arrangements agreed by member institutions on the recruitment ceilings for locally accredited programmes; the admission requirements and consideration of advanced standing; and administrative matters including pre-admission publicity activities, enrolment deposits and refund of fees.
The Guidelines, which should be observed by all FSTE member institutions with immediate effect, re-affirmed the full compliance with the Common Descriptors for the Associate Degree and Higher Diploma programmes. These Common Descriptors stipulated, among others, the programme objectives, learning outcomes, curriculum, minimum entrance requirements, quality assurance and exit qualifications of sub-degree programmes.
Ends/Friday, April 26, 2013
Issued at HKT 18:00
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