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EDUCATION
professional development workshops on quality assurance in higher education; and advice and assistance in response to relevant requests from the tertiary sector, government, and individuals. This includes advising on overseas institutions advertising or operating in Hong Kong, and on the development of teacher education.
The HKCAA maintains a register of subject specialists, which now includes nearly a thousand names of local and overseas academics and experts. Members of institutional review and validation teams are drawn from this register.
School Management Committees
Under the Education Ordinance, each school is managed by its own management committee, which employs the staff and is responsible for the proper education of the pupils and the operation of the school. One of the managers must be registered as the supervisor, whose main role is to be the point of contact between the management committee and the Education Department.
Each aided primary or secondary school is operated, under a letter of agreement, by its sponsoring body, which contributes the full cost of furnishing and equipping the premises, and nominates the first supervisor of the school. In September 1992, a total of 856 schools were in the care of 254 sponsoring bodies, with between one and 72 schools operated by any one body.
The School Management Initiative (SMI) was introduced in 1991 to give school managements in the public sector more decision-making power in return for more formal procedures for planning, implementing and evaluating their activities. The 21 aided secondary schools which joined the scheme in September 1991 made good progress in developing a new school management framework, and came under more flexible funding arrangements in September 1992. A further 13 secondary schools (10 government and three aided schools) joined the SMI in September 1992. An advisory committee, whose members provide a wide range of education and management expertise, offered advice and support to schools taking part in the SMI. During the year the committee produced reference materials on the school plan, school profile, staff appraisal, school policies and procedures and financial management. A newsletter, the SMI Quarterly, publicised the scheme and provided a forum for sharing experiences in school management reform.
Governing Bodies of Tertiary Institutions
Each tertiary institution has its own structure of governance, set out in its ordinance. In all cases the structure includes a governing body (called the Court, the Council, or the Board of Governors) and a body to regulate academic affairs (called the Senate or the Academic Board). Some institutions operate under three bodies: a governing body, an executive body, and a body dealing with academic affairs.
In addition to representatives of the institution's staff, a majority of members of the governing bodies are drawn from the community. Some institutions are required by their ordinance to include experienced businessmen or industrialists on the governing body. This helps to ensure that the institution's services are relevant to Hong Kong's needs.
Funding of Education
Approved public spending on education in the 1992-3 financial year, at HK$22,860 million, represented 23 per cent of the government's total recurrent expenditure and 7 per