Newsletter No. 69

CUHK Newsletter No. 69 4th May 1995 3 Gettin g Prepared for Teaching and Learning Quality Proces s Audits Parallel to the Research Assessment Exercise, UGC has been consulting institutions it funds about an exercise on teaching quality assessment. For the immediate future, UGC has decided to proceed with Teaching, and Learning Quality Process Audits (TLQPA) first. CUHK and HKU are the first two institutions to be audited in January 1996 while the remaining five UGC-funded institutions will be audited in the following 12 months. Process audits aim to assess the effectiveness of mechanisms and procedures designed to maintain and improve teaching and learning quality. Apart from visits at the institutional level, there will also be selective reviews of departmental procedures and practices. Institutions will be informed of the departments selected for review afew weeks before the visit. UGC plans to hold adiscussion session on the TLQPA for faculty deans and department heads of CUHK in September 1995. The vice-chancellor is forming a task force to help prepare for the TLQPA and to advise on matters relating to teaching and learning quality. The text of aspeech by the chairman of the UGC on the subject is reproduced below. UGC Chairman Explains What to Ant icipate Opening speech by Mr. Antony Leung, chairman of the University Grants Committee, at the UGC's Teaching and Learning Quality Process Audits Forum organized by the Society of Hong Kong Scholars on 25th February 1995 I should like to thank the Society of Hong Kong Scholars for organizing this forum and inviting me to attend. I and my colleagues from the University Grants Committee (UGC) welcome the opportunity of having another frank and open exchange of views with academic colleagues and members of society: this time on the subject of Teaching and Learning Quality Process Audits. I am sure we shall all be better prepared for the exercise as a result. I should first, however, like to dispel two misunderstandings. That at least one of these misunderstandings is quite widespread is evidenced by the fact that it appears again in the brochure about this forum! Teaching versus Research The first misunderstanding I should like to dispel, again, is that the UGC is mainly concerned with the development of research and the assessment of research performance, and has, in the process, overlooked the importance of teaching and learning in higher education. The UGC recognizes, and indeed strongly advocates, that teaching and learning are and should remain central to the roles and missions of all UGC-funded institutions. Indeed, more than 75 per cent of each institution's recurrent grant is provided for the teaching of students. A high quality institution should always be committed to continuous improvement of teaching and learning quality. As I have now said on many occasions, the UGC considers teaching to be of paramount importance in the higher education sector in Hong Kong. TLQAE versus TLQPA The other misunderstanding relates to teaching and learning quality assessment. The UGC did at one time consider undertaking an assessment exercise on teaching and learning quality (TLQAE), on similar lines to the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), with a view to the results also being factored into the Committee's assessment of recurrent grants for the 1995- 98 triennium. However this idea was dropped quite early on for a number of reasons. We recognized, and still recognize, that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to establish a set of quantitative indicators to measure in any meaningful way the quality of teaching and learning in a higher education setting. The introduction of an element of qualitative assessment, through inspections, peer review, visits, etc., might make such a process more meaningful, but it would still be highly controversial — as witness efforts in this direction made in the UK and elsewhere — and would also make the results more difficult to factor into funding. Furthermore it is questionable whether it is more appropriate to award funding to support teaching assessed to be of good quality, or rather to provide more resources to foster improvements where teaching is assessed to be below par. It is also not altogether clear who is to determine what constitutes good or bad teaching and learning, anyway. These concerns were, and I am sure still are, shared by many academics in the UGC- funded institutions. They were raised, often quite passionately, when the issue was discussed at two seminars on teaching and learning quality organized by the UGC with senior academic staff of the institutions in April and September 1994. It was however recognized that, for reasons of public accountability, some means has to be found of monitoring the quality of teaching and learning in higher education institutions which are so substantially supported from public funds. Taking into account all these factors, we concluded that the focus should be on reviewing the institutions' teaching and learning quality assurance processes, and the appropriateness and adequacy of these processes for actually maintaining and improving the quality of teaching and learning in the institutions — hence Teaching and Learning Quality Process Audits (TLQPA). The UGC decided in September 1994 to undertake TLQPAs of the UGC-funded institutions starting in 1995-96. The results of these audits would not, indeed by then could not, have any direct bearing on the assessment of the recurrent grants or funding for the 1995-98 triennium. Rather the audits should aim to study and assess, in a collegial and supportive rather than judgmental way, the effectiveness of the various mechanisms for maintaining and improving teaching and learning quality in the institutions. I should ad that we have not ruled out altogether the possibility of undertaking some form of teaching and learning quality assessmentexercise at some future date, but we shall definitely defer adecision on this at least until after the first round of TLQPAs. The UGC's decisions in this regard were conveyed to the institutions in October 1994, but apparently have still not percolated through to all academic colleagues. I hope that, as a result of this forum and other measures we plan to take, the message will be more widely spread through the institutions. TLQPA Turning then to TLQPAs, in order to ensure that mechanisms for promoting and improving teaching and learning quality in the institutions are in place and functioning as they should, the UGC has, as mentioned earlier, decided to undertake TLQPAs of all the institutions starting in 1995-96 These audits will aim to study and assess the effectiveness of the various mechanisms for maintaining and improving teaching and learning quality in the institutions. We envisage currently that aprocess audit will have the following components: documentation review, audit visits, and audit report and follow-up. Documentation Review The documentation review is meant to provide the audit panel, which will consist mainly of local academics and UGC members, but also probably some overseas experts appointed for the purpose, with a checklist of items on which they should focus during the audit visit. Institutions will be required to submit a brief covering document/executive summary of what mechanisms are in place for improving teaching and learning quality, and sample documents showing their quality assurance processes in action. Audit Visits The audit visit, which will last for at least one and a half days, will aim to ascertain whether the mechanisms and procedures for assuring teaching and learning quality that the institution describes actually exist; and if so, whether they are operating effectively, and more importantly, whether they have an impact on improving teaching and learning quality. Apart from visits at the institutional level, there will also be selective reviews of departmental pro- cedures and practices. Audit Report and Follow-up Following the visit, an audit report will be produced. The report will not aim to grade the quality of teaching and learning of the institution being audited, but will simply record the observations of the audit panel during the audit visit in respect of the quality assurance processes. It may also include recommendations/suggestions with regard to the implementation of quality assurance procedures concerning teaching and learning at both institutional and departmental levels. The fndings will not be used, in any way, to rank institutions in terms of their actual teaching and learning standards, but will serve as the basis for further discussion between the UGC and the institutions with a view to maintaining and continuously improving the teaching and learning quality of higher education in Hong Kong. The UGC wi ll discuss with the institutions regarding the distribution of the audit report and indeed whether the report should be published. No decision has yet been made on this. Embodying the spirit of cooperation and collaboration with the institutions in the planning and design of TLQPAs, a Consultative Committee comprising representatives from the seven UGC-funded institutions has been set up to act as afocal point for the exchange of views with the UGC regarding the process audits. The UGC's Quality Sub- Committee met with the Consultative Committee for the first time in early January and had a useful exchange of views on how the process audits should proceed. A further meeting with the Consultative Committee is planned for April 1995. Following a recommendation from the Consultative Committee, the UGC has decided that the first process audits will be undertaken in January 1996, rather than September 1995 as originally planned. Conc lus ion The above are the current thinking of the UGC regarding TLQPAs. The Committee welcomes views of all present today on this issue, in particular, on how TLQPAs should proceed, the distribution of the audit report and the follow up action to be taken as a result, in order to further improve the planning of the whole exercise and make it a success. The UGC looks forward to working closely with the institutions in the development of TLQPA procedures and other processes to assure the quality of teaching and learning, and to provide adequate means for all stakeholders in higher education to be satisfied that the highest possible standards of teaching and learning are being achieved in the UGC- funded institutions. I am sure these aims will be shared by all present today and I look forward to alively and frank discussion of how they may best be achieved through both the TLQPAs and other means.