QA of Existing Programmes

Departmental Academic Advisor (DAA) Scheme

Terms of Reference of DAA

The DAA will:

provide mid-term formative feedback on the work and development of each Department and, preferably in the capacity of an external member of the preceding ACP, help the Department follow up on the recommendations and suggestions of the preceding ACP on areas for improvement as well as the preparation for the next ACP visit;
facilitate the identification of appropriate improvement actions at the department level;
help benchmark the Department and its programmes against standards of overseas institutions^* leading in the field; and
visit the Department and submit a report on the progress of the Department in its follow-up to the recommendations and suggestions of the preceding ACP.

^*Special consideration may be given to disciplines such as Chinese Medicine to benchmark against institutions on the Mainland or in Greater China region leading in the field.

Implementation Cycle

The appointment of the DAA will occur in the middle of two Academic Consultation Panel (ACP) Visits (i.e., the third year) following the same arrangement as the appointment of ACP members. By mimicking the practice and operations of the UGC-QAC Quality Audit, the DAA Visit and submission of the DAA Report should be made in the third year after the preceding ACP Visit of individual Departments.

Nominations

DAA would be appointed in the middle of two ACP Visits (i.e., in the third year after the preceding ACP Visit) following the same arrangement as the appointment of ACP members. The DAA should preferably be a member of the preceding ACP, and be made aware of the review objectives of the Scheme (e.g., monitoring follow-up progress on ACP’s recommendations, advising on preparation for the next ACP Visit, etc.). In the spirit of engaging the DAA for a formative review process, the Department may consider also to appoint the DAA as an External Advisor to provide continuous feedback to its development between two ACP Visits.

Appointment details to be confirmed.

Scope of review

The DAAs will make a holistic assessment of the Department and its development, and evaluate the Department relative to international standards. The scope of review should cover a subset or the whole of the focal areas listed below as deemed fit by the DAA and the Department:

Scope of activities and strategic direction of the department/programme(s)

Staffing

Resources
Recruitment
Development
Achievements

Teaching and learning

Academic programmes
Pedagogical design
Academic standard and student achievement^ (Samples of final year project/honours project/assessment/exam scripts (at different grades) must be provided for DAA’s scrutiny)
Quality assurance mechanisms

Research and scholarly activities

Community Impact

Internationalisation

^ compulsory for follow-up and reporting

To facilitate the DAA’s evaluation, the Department is required to provide its DAA with the latest ACP Report (including recommendations and suggestions), Annual Programme QA Reports, samples of final year project/honours project/assessment/exam scripts (at different grades), and any other relevant documents as deemed fit by the DAA and/or the Department.

DAA Report

The DAA is required to submit a DAA Report to the Department shortly after the DAA Visit in the third year after the preceding ACP Visit. The Department must make a written response in the DAA Report. The completed DAA Report should be submitted to the Faculty Board⁺ for discussion and then to the QAC for scrutiny.

+“Faculty/Faculties” is a generic and collective term referring to Faculties, Schools and the Academy of Visual Arts (AVA) of HKBU. For General Education (GE) programme and Centre for Holistic Teaching and Learning (CHTL), the completed DAA Reports, including respective written responses, should be submitted to QAC for scrutiny via the GE Committee and the Teaching and Learning Policy Committee respectively.

Last updated in August 2019