HKU SPACE was Highly Commended by the UGC Quality Audit Report on the University’s Sub-degree Operations for Outstanding Academic Excellence

【Hong Kong – 26 February 2019】The Quality Audit Report on sub-degree operations released today by the Quality Assurance Council (QAC) of the University Grants Committee (UGC), highly commended HKU SPACE’s excellent policies and procedures, comprehensive and informative documentation, as well as the commitment and enthusiasm of the teaching staff, in both full-time and part-time sub-degree programmes. HKU SPACE was delighted by the positive comments which not only affirmed the School’s high level of commitment to quality assurance, but also paid tribute to the outstanding level of academic excellence for sub-degree programmes achieved by HKU quality assurance mechanisms for many years.   

The Report of the Task Force on Review of Self-financing Post-secondary Education published at the end of last year suggested that institutions providing full-time self-financing programmes at sub-degree and undergraduate (including top-up degree) levels, including the self-financing arms of publicly-funded institutions, should come under the aegis of Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance (Cap. 320). This could mean our full-time sub-degree and top-up degrees would be detached from the university proper with quality assurance coming under an external quality assurance body. The highly positive UGC Quality Audit Report on our sub-degree provisions, covering a wide range of full-time and part-time programmes, has demonstrated the current effectiveness of the School’s quality assurance mechanism which mirrors that of the HKU quality assurance system. This QAC review is far more comprehensive than the mechanism recommended by the Task Force. Moreover, as HKU SPACE was established under the power of the HKU Ordinance, the School adopts equivalent quality assurance policies as HKU to ensure the high quality of the study programmes and student learning experiences.

The President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Zhang Xiang, was delighted to learn of the very positive comments in the Report on the findings of the UGC Quality Audit of the sub-degree programmes offered by HKU SPACE. He was pleased to read in the Report that, “given the volume and range of the sub-degree programmes on offer, there are excellent policies, processes and procedures in place to guide their development, approval, monitoring and review stages”. He also joined with the UGC in congratulating HKU SPACE “on the detailed informative documentation that guides all aspects of management and quality assurance regarding these programmes”.

Professor William K.M. Lee, the Director of HKU SPACE, said, “HKU SPACE is very appreciative of the Quality Audit conducted by the QAC, essentially because it served as an opportunity for us to undertake a thorough self-evaluation of our sub-degree operations. The positive comments made by the Report were very encouraging and affirmed our academic excellence, especially in continuing education. Established in 1957, HKU SPACE is the oldest continuing education provider and also the first sub-degree provider since 2000. The Community College strives for academic excellence which articulates with the HKU mission and has created second chances for many secondary students in articulating to university study places. To date, over 23,000 graduates have been admitted to bachelor’s degree programmes. HKU SPACE is proud of its long heritage in part-time continuing education and in full-time sub-degree education.”

He added, “I would also like to thank all the teaching and administrative staff for their commitment and professionalism in quality assurance that makes our system work so well. The School is planning to undergo the International Quality Review by the UK Quality Assurance Agency to benchmark against international standards. As we aspire to be a world-class centre of excellence for the provision of professional and continuing education in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the region, the School will continue to provide quality continuing education.”

The University and HKU SPACE found the audit a stimulating and helpful process and are looking forward to submitting an Action Plan to the UGC in May 2019 and a Progress Report in August 2020.

For details of the Quality Audit Report, please refer to the Appendix.

Media enquiries

Ms Cherie Lam

Manager, Corporate Communications

Tel: 2975 5854                    Email: cherie.lam@hkuspace.hku.hk

Ms Cansie Ruan

Marketing Communications Coordinator

Tel: 2910 7586                    Email: cansie.ruan@hkuspace.hku.hk