The following is issued on behalf of the Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education:

     The Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education (CSPE) today (October 4) released the study results on the level of compliance by the self-financing post-secondary education sector with the Code of Good Practices on Governance and Quality Assurance for Self-financing Post-secondary Education Sector.

     The Chairman of the CSPE, Mr Tim Lui, said, "We are pleased to learn from the study results that, in just one year's time after the Code was implemented, there has been a high level of compliance among all self-financing post-secondary institutions in areas of institutional governance, programme design and delivery, and staff, other resources and student support. It shows that, despite being at various stages of development, the institutions are generally committed to adhering to the local and international standards in governance and quality assurance."

     The Code was drawn up with reference to local and international good practices in the governance and quality assurance of the self-financing post-secondary sector, and it covers many areas. After extensive consultation with stakeholders, the CSPE promulgated the Code in June 2015 for all self-financing post-secondary institutions to adopt on a voluntary basis. The CSPE and the Education Bureau (EDB) encourage all relevant institutions to adopt the Code, which will enhance the quality, transparency and sustainable development of the self-financing post-secondary education sector as a whole.

     The Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications was commissioned to conduct a study to understand the extent of adoption of the Code in the self-financing post-secondary sector after one year of implementation.

     The study results indicated that the Code has a positive impact on the sector as it enhances its governance and quality assurance practices and further brings the sector to operate quality programmes in a transparent and accountable manner. The majority of the institutions indicated that they had aligned their systems or practices with the Code. Such alignments were mostly in areas related to programme design and delivery, staff management, resources deployment and student support. The institutions considered the Code a good reference document to the stakeholders, particularly the management and staff with quality assurance responsibilities, when executing their respective functions. The study findings signify that the Code has been well received by the sector.
       
     "Through the study results, we hope that the community at large could better recognise the quality of the self-financing post-secondary sector and its ongoing contribution in providing quality education for our younger generations," Mr Lui said.

     "The CSPE is grateful for the institutions' co-operation and feedback during the study. We will continue to work with the sector and the EDB in further promoting and implementing the Code and keep in view the progress of institutions' compliance."

     An executive summary of the study results, as well as the Code and relevant documents, is available on the website of the Concourse for Self-financing Post-secondary Education (www.cspe.edu.hk).

Ends/Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Issued at HKT 12:11

NNNN