The National Assessment of Courses in Brazil

Policy Analysis



Education Quality Audit
*as Applied in Hong Kong
William F. Massy

Executive summary
Academic audit emerged in the UK circa 1990 and is being applied in a growing number of
venues across the world. This paper describes the variant, to be called “Education Quality Audit,”
applied by Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee (UGC) in the mid 1990s and again 2002. The
last section briefly compares this variant with other academic audit lineages and with the direct
evaluation of education quality by external assessors.
The UGC’s policy problem was how to discharge its obligation to Government and the public to
assure the quality of teaching and learning without disempowering the institutions, infringing their
autonomy, or spending too much in relation to the results achieved. Its solution was to evaluate the
maturity of the universities’ “education quality work” (EQW): that is, the organized activities
dedicated to improving and assuring educational quality. EQW includes the assessment of student
learning, and also educational goals, curricula, teaching methods, and quality assurance. Steps in audit
include introductory briefings or workshops, self-studies, selection and training of auditors, the audit
visit, and public reporting. Education quality audits aim for improvement as well as accountability.
Audit differs from external assessment in that it does not directly evaluate the quality of
educational provision. Such ...