Annual Reporting of Academic Programmes

Aims 

Undergraduate (Ug) and taught postgraduate (TPg) programmes are required to prepare their respective Annual Programme QA Reports (APQARs) with an aim:

1. to provide an annual assessment of the quality and overall viability of the programme under review with reference to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) adopted in the University Accountability Agreement reporting in the realm of teaching and learning, and internationalization;
2. to continuously monitor the follow-up to the recommendations of the Academic Consultation Panel (ACP) and Departmental Academic Advisor (DAA); and
3. to encourage the development, implementation, and monitoring of specific improvement actions in response to the above two points.

Reporting Process

Programme Level 

As an annual process, Programme Directors (PDs) prepare the APQARs online via the Key Performance Indicator Management System (KPIMS) based on the KPI data provided for the scrutiny of the Faculty/School Board.

An APQAR (proforma for Ug and TPg programmes) includes the following sections:

1. a set of KPI data related to teaching and learning, and internationalization;
2. summary of improvement actions made in response to the last report;
3. performance overview and improvement identified during the current reporting year;
4. targets and expected outcomes for the next reporting year;
5. progress update on implementing the ACP/DAA recommendations;
6. comments and recommendations from the Faculty/School Board; and
7. response of the programme.

Faculty/School Level

Faculty/School Boards will scrutinize the APQARs and submit the Dean’s Comprehensive Reports (CRs) on Ug and TPg programmes (Comprehensive Report Proforma) to the Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) for review.

University Level

The QAC will review the Dean's CRs and make recommendations for enhancement. A Summary Report concluding the review findings and suggestions for ongoing improvements will be submitted by the QAC to the Senate.

All SDPUs are required to submit their Annual Reports (Proforma) to the Quality Assurance Sub-committee on Sub-degree Programmes (QASC) (QF Level 4) and QASC (QF Levels 1-3) in September/October each year to report on the major decisions and quality assurance issues of their Sub-degree (SD) programmes in the past academic year, their strategic plans for development and achievements of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Upon deliberation of the Annual Reports, the two QASCs will prepare their respective Summary Reports on SD programmes to the Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) and Senate.

Departments/Academies and Programme Teams are required to update their programme information and the associated Course Outlines (via the online system) on an annual basis.  The updates should cover all curricular revisions and changes to the course syllabi to be implemented in the ensuing academic year.  The updated programme information should be submitted to Academic Registry (AR) via the Faculty/School Dean’s Office.  Please refer to the table below for details.

The annual updating of programme information is recognized as part of the Quality Assurance (QA) process for the University to monitor programme implementation and management at Faculty, Department/Academy and Programme levels.  The programme information collected will serve as central records of the academic programmes offered by the University, which will also be used for answering external enquiries about our academic programmes and the related QA arrangements.

On the course level, Departments/Academies/Programmes should update the corresponding course outlines via the Course Outline Management System (COMs) (Chrome browser only) and ensure that all course information contained therein is current and up-to-date.  The set of course outlines are extracted in July each year for students’ reference (in BUniPort under U-Wide Policies & Info > General Information > Programmes & Courses Information > Course Information) on course selection and registration.

The planned intake numbers of SF programmes should be reported to the Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) on an annual basis. For cases of increased intake quotas, justifications/rationale have to be provided for QAC’s consideration and advice. While the QAC may consider small adjustments to admission quotas to ascertain academic quality, the approval to substantial increase (>10%) of intake numbers shall rest with the Academic Development Committee (ADC) which will deliberate such proposals from a strategic and resource perspective.