Dear colleagues, students and alumni,

The Quality Assurance Council (QAC) of Hong Kong was established in 2007 as a semi-autonomous non-statutory body under the aegis of the University Grants Committee (UGC) of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to assist the UGC in assuring the quality of programmes offered by UGC-funded universities.  Following the previous two audit cycles, the QAC started the third audit cycle in 2023, covering all programmes at the levels of sub-degree, first degree and above leading to a qualification wholly or partly awarded by the UGC-funded universities. 

I am pleased to announce that CUHK(SZ) successfully completed, as a part of the CUHK system, the quality audit in October 2023 and it gives me great pleasure to share with you the Report of Quality Audit of The Chinese University of Hong Kong , which has just been released earlier today. Same as what Professor Rocky S. Tuan, Vice-Chancellor and President of CUHK, has rightly highlighted in his Message in response to the QAC Report, we at CUHK(SZ) are also very much heartened by the kind commendations of the QAC, acknowledging the effort that CUHK and CUHK(SZ) have put into delivering quality education over the years, including:

• strong commitment to and effective and extensive policies for reviewing and enhancing the frameworks for managing academic standards and quality at both CUHK and CUHK(SZ);
• assurance of quality and standards through external benchmarking at both CUHK and CUHK(SZ) (e.g. the comprehensive and international Visiting Committee), which consequently promotes enhancement of the whole student experience;
• comprehensive embedding of graduate attributes in programme design, monitoring and review; and its alignment with and positive impact on learning, teaching and assessment in taught and research programmes;
• significant progress achieved in articulating criterion-referenced, outcomes-based approach to assessment since the last quality audit cycle;
• systematic collection, analysis and usage of quantitative and qualitative data of both CUHK and CUHK(SZ) in planning, management, evaluation and enhancement of academic activities; including the effective use of student feedback at course and programme levels to inform various reviews;
• provision of high-quality and effective support to students at both CUHK and CUHK(SZ), enabled by well-established policies and procedures as well as well-designed infrastructure to facilitate students’ study and promotion of students’ personal, academic and professional development; various support measures to promote student integration;
• responsiveness to the needs of society and students; provision of learning resources and learning environment to students at all levels; and
• identification of and support for students who are at risk through the comprehensive and multi-tiered academic advisory system of both CUHK and CUHK(SZ).

We are also encouraged to further enhance our teaching quality through peer review of teaching across Schools, and to address challenges we are facing in terms of data application and management.

Together with CUHK, we sincerely thank the QAC for the comprehensive and rigorous review. The quality audit is a good opportunity for the University to reflect on the quality of its teaching and learning activities and initiatives at all levels.  At the milestones of celebrating the 60^th anniversary of CUHK (in 2023) and the 10^th anniversary of CUHK(SZ) (in 2024), the Audit Report is a timely recognition of our achievements in managing academic standards and academic quality, which forms a solid foundation for our future advancement.

On behalf of the University, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to our colleagues, students, alumni as well as other stakeholders for their unfailing support over the past ten years.  Your invaluable contributions are the key to success to realising the vision and mission of CUHK(SZ) in the face of the challenges ahead.  Last but not the least, we sincerely thank our CUHK colleagues for their continued support and guidance to help establish the quality assurance system and practices at CUHK(SZ) !

Yangsheng Xu
President

Quality Assurance Council publishes report on quality audit of CUHK: 

https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202406/11/P2024061100242.htm