TEACHING AND LEARNING EXCELLENCE

Teaching and Learning Quality Process Review

Teaching and Learning Quality Process Reviews (TLQPRs) were introduced in the 1995-1998 triennium. The Reviews were refined in the 1998-2001 triennium through a detailed evaluation of the first round. The evaluation was conducted by an independent consultancy team from the University of Twente of the Netherlands. The consultants concluded that the Reviews were the right instrument at the right time, and provided positive stimulus to the institutions to help them focus on teaching and learning, and seek continuous improvement in the area.

Both the UGC and the institutions considered that it was necessary to sustain the positive impact generated by the first round of the Reviews, and therefore agreed that the second round be conducted in the 2001-2004 triennium.

To prepare for the second exercise, the UGC organised a Workshop in April 2000 to gauge institutions' views for improvement. More than 100 institutional representatives from different levels took part in the Workshop. The active participation not only strengthened the sense of partnership between the institutions and the UGC; it also ensured that the second round would benefit from the experience of the earlier efforts. The feedback gathered formed a valuable part of the design for the second round TLQPRs which the UGC launched in October 2001.

The thrust of both rounds of TLQPRs has always been on the processes which assure teaching and learning quality, not on the actual content of the curriculum or teaching and learning methods per se.

The elaborate preparation work for the second round TLQPRs undertaken by the UGC in the 1998-2001 triennium encapsulated on the one hand, the importance attached by the UGC to quality teaching and learning and, on the other, priority given by the institutions on this major aspect of their activities.

Teaching Development Grants

To further encourage innovative approaches to teaching and to enrich the learning environment, the UGC continued to disburse Teaching Development Grants (TDGs) to institutions in the form of an earmarked grant during the 1998-2001 triennium.

First allocated in 1994, TDGs form part of the UGC's efforts to cultivate amongst the institutions a more overt awareness of the importance of teaching and learning.

In the 1998-2001 triennium, HK$172.5 million worth of TDGs was allocated in two tranches. The first tranche, amounting to HK$57.5 million, was disbursed through direct allocation while the second, amounting to HK$115 million, was used to support a total of 34 projects which were selected through a competitive bidding process.

Workshop - Preparing for the Next Round of TLQPRs