"Preparing for the Next Round of Teaching and Learning Quality Process Reviews" Workshop
The University Grants Committee (UGC), in collaboration with all eight UGC-funded institutions, organised a workshop today (8 April 2000) to consult academic and administrative staff and students of the institutions on the arrangements for the next round of Teaching and Learning Quality Process Reviews (TLQPRs).
Speaking at a press conference after the official opening of the Workshop, Dr Alice Lam JP, Chairman of the UGC, said: "The main objectives of the TLQPRs are to focus institutions' attention on teaching and learning and to assist institutions in their efforts to improve teaching and learning quality."
"The UGC has often emphasised that teaching and learning are the primary mission of higher education institutions in Hong Kong," Dr Lam said. "The institutions are also committed to constantly striving for improvement in teaching and learning quality, as can be seen from their support for the first round TLQPRs and this Workshop," she said.
Prof William F Massy, Chairman of the TLQPR panel and himself a world-famous expert on quality assurance and management in higher education explained that, following the first round TLQPRs, a review was undertaken by a group of internationally-renowned experts from the Centre for Higher Education Studies of the University of Twente at the Netherlands.
"I am pleased to say the consultants concluded that the TLQPRs were 'the right instrument at the right time', and that they had had a beneficial effect on the institutions' quality assurance processes for teaching and learning," Prof Massy said.
Prof T P Leung, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Workshop, and Vice President (Quality Assurance) of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University said: "Both the UGC and UGC-funded institutions agree that, with a view to encouraging continuous improvement of teaching and learning quality in the institutions, a Workshop should be organised to gauge the views of academic staff and administrators as well as student representatives from the UGC-funded institutions on how the next round of TLQPRs should be conducted."
Dr Lam said: "I am very pleased to see that close to a hundred academic staff and administrators from the UGC-funded institutions are here today to share with us their experiences and views regarding the conduct of the next round of TLQPRs. We also have several student representatives here today, and we organised a separate forum for them before the main workshop as well. Both the UGC and the institutions attach high value to the views of students, who are, after all, the major stakeholders in the teaching and learning processes," said Dr Lam.
The UGC will take into account all the views gathered from the consultations before and during the Workshop before deciding how the next round of TLQPRs should be conducted.
"The institutions will continue to work closely with the UGC in the next round of TLQPRs to maintain and reinforce the positive impact generated from the first round TLQPRs," said Prof T P Leung.
Background
As part of the UGC's on-going mission to assure and improve the quality of teaching and learning in its funded institutions in Hong Kong, the UGC undertook a series of Teaching and Learning Quality Process Reviews (TLQPRs) of the then seven UGC-funded institutions in 1995-1997.
The emphasis of TLQPRs was on reviewing the teaching and learning quality assurance processes of the institutions, rather than the quality of teaching and learning per se. The TLQPRs were carried by a panel of UGC members with participation of international experts and representatives of UGC-funded institutions. Reports of the TLQPRs, together with the responses of the institutions concerned on the identified areas of improvement, have been published by the institutions and can be accessed via the following link: http://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/ugc/about/publications/prog/tlqpr/tlqpr.html.
UGC Secretariat
Saturday, April 8, 2000