1. To facilitate readers' grasp of the essence of the University's self-evaluation, a table is attached in the Appendix, incorporating the major teaching and learning quality processes implemented by PolyU, and their relation to the 5 Teaching and Learning Quality Process Review (TLQPR) themes/areas. From the Table, one can also gain a broad picture of how each theme is being addressed by the various processes. An "X" marks those TLQPR area(s) on which the process has most impact. The leftmost column is our evaluation of the impact of each process on quality, with "strong", "medium" and "weak" impact being designated by "S", "M" and "W" respectively. The overall evaluation of the effectiveness of the processes pertaining to each area is given below, including how the existing processes ought to be improved and augmented by new processes.
   

Curricular Design

2. The system of academic programme design, validation, revalidation and annual programme review, augmented by the External Examiners System and the Advisory Committees, has been developed, formalized and rigorously implemented over the last 16 years. It is by far the most important and mature quality process in place at PolyU and has led to the emergence of a quality tradition in the University. However, since the system is programme based, it incurs duplications of assessment efforts and is therefore not the most "cost-effective" approach (effort herein being interpreted as "cost"). Therefore, the existing system is scheduled to be replaced by a new discipline based process called Departmental Assessment (DA). DA incorporates all the positive features of the existing system plus the advantages of being more robust, comprehensive and streamlined.
   

3. The success of the curriculum design process depends on the extent to which staff members are self-critical, and on the perseverance of those concerned to implement follow-up actions on the feedback obtained. On this latter matter of vigilance, the Department, the Faculty Board, and the central Academic Quality Assurance Committee are the main agencies. For PolyU, the long established curriculum design process is judged to have functioned effectively; its future replacement by Departmental Assessment promises to be even better.
   

Pedagogical Design

4. Discussion about teaching and learning methods is implicit in the academic programme design process, in that this topic must be discussed and documented in the programme proposal and the subsequent programme scheme. Matters such as the management and assessment of the graduation project, the use of lectures, laboratory, tutorial, seminars, mini-projects and field work, subject syllabuses, recommended textbooks and references are often topics for active discussion among programme team members. The formalized process calls for and fosters discussions.
   

5. In providing opportunities to reflect on matters pertaining to teaching and learning, and the provision of teaching skills training, the Educational Development Unit (EDU) plays a vital role. In fact, the primary mission of the EDU is to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. Its activities are coordinated with those of the Learning and Teaching Development Committee. EDU addresses its responsibilities via a wide range of activities. Seminars and workshops on teaching and learning are held frequently to promote discussion and deliberation on these topics. The formalized process of student evaluation of teaching also helps to promote discussion on teaching and learning methods.
   

6. Thus, in PolyU, pedagogical issues are discussed frequently, partly driven by the formalized processes and partly due to active promotion by EDU. However, this is an aspect of the academic culture which could usefully be strengthened. Better use could be made of EDU organized courses. Teaching Development Projects are yet to have much impact. The use of technology in teaching and learning should be increased. One other area which deserves more attention in the future is better understanding of the nature of the difficulties encountered by our students in studying in a second language, and the implementation of procedures to overcome these difficulties.
   

Implementation Quality

7. Teaching performance is ultimately rooted in the quality of the academic staff. Hence, the staff appointment and promotion process is of critical importance. The University has well-defined policies, guidelines and committee structures for the appointment and promotion of academic staff. The existing process is comprehensive and effective especially for appointments at Chair Professor, Professor and Associate Professor levels for which cases external assessments are invariably sought. At lower levels, additional means of evaluating teaching need to be developed.
   

8. There are formal processes to evaluate teaching performance via student evaluation and staff appraisal. The student evaluation process was formalized in 1994/95, and it is now University policy that all academic staff are required to evaluate their teaching through the use of a standardized Student Feedback Questionnaire. An institution-wide staff appraisal system for academic and administrative staff has also been in place since 1994/95. While this system is designed to facilitate the professional development of staff, information from the appraisal will, at the same time, contribute to the decision making process for career progression of the staff member at the University. The evaluation of the quality of teaching and the performance in research and other scholarly activities are important components of this appraisal system for academic staff, and this evaluation also informs staff concerned of areas for further developments.

9. It is judged that student evaluation of teaching alone is not an adequate and entirely reliable measure of teaching performance. In future, the above processes will be complemented by the compilation and assessment of teaching dossiers. Additionally, we plan to give more explicit recognition of excellent teaching in staff promotion, including the recognition of the development of good quality "products" such as multimedia learning packages. Also, there will be mandatory initial training and continuous updating in teaching competence. In fact, the Learning and Teaching Development Committee recently made two major policy decisions as follows:
   

• basic training in teaching is mandatory for academic staff new to teaching; and

• all academic staff are expected to engage in appropriate ongoing teaching development activities which are to be documented and monitored as part of the Staff Appraisal procedures.
  

10. Finally, there is the major issue of enhancing interaction between teachers and students and among students. When halls of residence become a reality, students' campus life is expected to be enriched. Meanwhile, services provided by the Students' Union and the Student Affairs Office are the means to a well-rounded student life.
    

Outcomes Assessment

11. There are many processes to assess student performance. In general, students' performance is monitored by continuous assessment and/or a formal final examination. With increasing use of projects and other problem-based learning methods, continuous assessment has become increasingly used. Research into the effect of assessment methods on the students' study style has been conducted by EDU staff. This includes the use of different assessment methods to promote a desirable study style and hence to achieve specific educational objectives.
    

12. The External Examiners, during their biennial visit to the Department, often meet with at least the final year students and scrutinize their graduate projects. They also participate in the Board of Examiners meetings for all stages of the award and help, in particular, to decide on the honours classification. Likewise, the revalidation panels, and the professional accreditation panels almost invariably meet with the students and the graduates, and provide feedback to the Department on their observations. In the annual programme review exercise, the programme team will also obtain feedback from the students, and in some instances, survey the graduates and the employers. The Student Affairs Office also conducts annual surveys of recent graduates in relation to their first employment and their perception of the relevance of their studies to their jobs.

13. The above processes together help the Department to build a profile of the performance of the students and graduates, such as the quality of their degrees relative to international standards and as preparation for employment. Although surveys of students and employers have been conducted systematically and regularly in some academic units, such is not enforced universally, and continuous improvement based on the outcome of a formalized feedback process is not yet assured. The situation is expected to improve with the full implementation of the "Generic Quality Assurance Framework" policy. It requires each academic, administrative and academic support unit to implement its QA system. It also calls for an in-depth 5-year cycle review as well as annual reporting on "customers' satisfaction". The latter mandates action on regular feedback as the means for continuous improvement.
    

14. Another major issue would be the concern for students' total educational experience at PolyU, and the assessment thereof. Addressing this issue requires long term effort, research, and a quality culture which has been more fully and extensively internalized.
    

15. The Learning and Teaching Development Committee, the Educational Development Unit and the fruition of the many teaching development projects are expected to be the agencies for improvement in this area.
    

Resource Provision

16. Resource provision is a matter highlighted for attention in the validation of a new programme and in the revalidation of an existing programme. Resources cover staffing, equipment, space, computing and library provision. Management information statistics on the resource profile of each academic unit, on the utilization of resources such as staffing and space are regularly available.
    

17. The University firmly believes that a caring environment with appropriate resource provision helps students to derive maximum benefit from their years of study at the University. Efforts are made to create an environment conducive to the promotion of interaction among staff and students and the all-round development of students. These efforts include orientation programmes for new students, provision of a wide range of student services, student amenities and facilities and extra-curricular educational programmes and activities.
    

18. That the former Polytechnic attached much importance to teaching and learning was evidenced by the setting up of the then Education Technology Unit in 1976. More recently, the unit was reorganized into the present Educational Development Unit to give emphasis to improving teaching and learning methods, and educational research. The ETU/EDU, with the staffing of a small Department, has long been a special resource provision which directly supports the quality learning and teaching. EDU also services the Learning and Teaching Development Committee, which was introduced as a counterpart of the Research Committee, with the intention of sending the message that both teaching and research are the main functions of PolyU.
    

19. Rich learning resources are provided by the Library, the Office of Information Technology Services and the Student Affairs Office. The full implementation of the "Generic Quality Assurance Framework" policy will emphasize service-orientation and customer-satisfaction, and attention will focus also on the extent the service output impacts teaching and learning and not just on the facilities input.
    

Future Development

20. Since the formulation of the Strategic Plan 1995-2001, a series of new academic policies related to teaching and learning have been approved. These include the development of the Credit-based System, plans for mandatory Language Enhancement, inclusion of mandatory General Education elements in our academic programmes, and the introduction of Departmental Assessment and Generic Quality Assurance System. The University is confident that these new policy initiatives will improve the University's quality assurance system by making it more comprehensive, effective and efficient.
    

Appendix