QA of Existing Programmes

Departmental Academic Advisor (DAA) Scheme

1. to provide for an annual, holistic assessment of the work and development of each Department;
2. to facilitate the identification of appropriate improvement actions at the Department level;
3. to provide for benchmarking against international standards; and
4. to help the Department on follow-up to the recommendations of the Academic Consultation Panel (ACP) on areas for improvement as well as the preparation for the next ACP visit.
   *DAA Scheme is not applicable to the School of Continuing Education, College of International Education and the programmes offered by the UIC. 

1. Implementation Cycle
   
   As originally planned, approximately one-third of departments would appoint DAAs and the order of which would correspond with that of the ACP visit schedule in a six-yearly cycle.  That is, the appointment of DAAs would be made on a staggered basis so as to ensure continuity of the DAA process.  Subsequently, in light of the positive experience in the debut operation, it was decided that the implementation scope of this Scheme be extended to a full-scale basis with immediate effect in mid-April 2015 to enable all Departments to benefit from the advice of their DAAs.


2. Nominations
   
   The DAA appointment is for a non-renewable term of three years.  Departments are invited to nominate renowned scholars (at the rank of full professors or above) to the Dean/Director of Academy of Visual Arts (AVA), who will make recommendations to the Provost for approval.


3. Scope and responsibilities
   
   The DAAs will make a holistic assessment of the Department and its development, and evaluate the Department relative to international standards. The assessment should cover the following areas:
   
      
   • Scope of activities and strategic direction of the Department
   • Staffing and resources
   • Staff recruitment and development
   • Quality assurance
   • Teaching and learning (including academic programmes)
   • Research and scholarly activities
   • Service to the community
   • Internationalization
      
   To facilitate the DAA’s evaluation, the Department is required to provide its DAA with the latest ACP Report (including recommendations), Annual Programme QA Reports, and any other relevant documents as it sees fit.  Each DAA will be required to conduct at least one visit to the Department within the 3-year term. 


4. DAA Report
   
   A written report on the Department is required from the DAA to be given to the Department in March/April of each academic year.  The DAA Report is expected to be formative with an emphasis on advising the further development of the Department.  The Department must make a written response to the DAA Report.  Both the DAA Report and the Department's written response should be submitted to the Faculty/School/AVA Board⁺ for discussion and then to the QAC for scrutiny.
   +For General Education (GE) programme and Centre for Holistic Teaching and Learning (CHTL), the individual written responses of GE office and CHTL, along with the corresponding DAA reports, should be submitted to QAC for scrutiny via the GE Committee and the Teaching and Learning Policy Committee respectively.
   
   Last updated on 6 April 2017