ENG-2014 — Page 172

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Education

As at December 2014, the government has assisted 20 industries' in setting up Industry Training Advisory Committees (ITACs) under the QF covering about 48 per cent of Hong Kong's total labour force. A major task of each ITAC, which comprises key stakeholders from the industry concerned, is to draw up Specification of Competency Standards (SCS) for its sector, setting out the skills, knowledge and outcome standards required of employees in the sector's different functional areas, and enabling course providers to design training programmes to meet the sector's needs. SCSs provide useful guides for the development of in-house training and human resources management, such as staff recruitment and performance assessment.

The government has also developed a Recognition of Prior Learning mechanism under the QF to enable practitioners to obtain formal recognition for the knowledge, skills and experience they have acquired in the workplace, and facilitate further learning without the need to start from scratch. In July 2014, the government introduced a policy and principles for credit accumulation and transfer (CAT) under the QF to further support learning pathways for learners. The policy and principles for CAT assists education and training providers in developing or refining their CAT systems. It also facilitates the recognition of a learner's assessed learning outcome and minimises the need for any repetition of learning already achieved.

Following its announcement in the 2014 Policy Address, on 1 September the government established the QF Fund, a $1 billion endowment fund to provide a steady source of income to support the sustainable development of the QF.

Quality Assurance of Post-secondary Education

There are three quality assurance bodies in Hong Kong to monitor the quality of the post- secondary education sector. The HKCAAVQ is a statutory body responsible for the quality assurance of all operators and programmes except the UGC-funded institutions which enjoy self-accrediting status. The Quality Assurance Council (QAC), a semi-autonomous non-statutory body under the aegis of the UGC, conducts quality audits of the UGC-funded institutions and programmes offered at degree level and above, however funded. The Joint Quality Review Committee (JQRC), established by the Heads of Universities Committees, provides peer review of the quality assurance processes of self-financing sub-degree programmes offered by the UGC-funded institutions.

The government collaborates with the HKCAAVQ, JQRC and QAC through the Liaison Committee on Quality Assurance to identify ways to enhance and rationalise the quality assurance required for the self-financing post-secondary regime, so as to provide a stronger platform for the sector's continuous development. The government will implement periodic external quality audits on sub-degree operations of UGC-funded institutions.

1 Printing and Publishing; Watch and Clock; Chinese Catering; Hairdressing; Property Management; Electrical and Mechanical Services; Jewellery; Information and Communications Technology; Automotive; Beauty; Logistics; Banking; Import and Export, Testing, Inspection and Certification; Retail; Insurance; Manufacturing Technology (Tooling, Metals and Plastics), Elderly Care Services Security Services and Human Resources Management.

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