Qualifications Register

Glossary

Advanced standing is the award of credits by an institution in recognition of prior learning achievements at an appropriate level.

An agency appointed by the Secretary for Education under the Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications Ordinance (Cap. 592) to conduct assessment of skills, knowledge or experience of an individual and to grant qualifications recognised under the Qualifications Framework(currently only on Recognition of Prior Learning) upon successful completion of the assessment.

A new and broader classification of 14 Areas of Study and Training for the QR was endorsed by the Liaison Committee on Quality Assurance (LCQA) in June 2015. Qualifications and the respective learning programmes in the QR are grouped under this new classification system to facilitate searches. For more informaiton, please refer to the Area of Study and Training and Sub-area For the Qualificaitons Register of the Qualifications Framework (with Examples of Subject Matter).

The Award Titles Scheme aims to standardise the use of award titles under the Qualifications Framework (QF), which reflects the nature, area of study and hierarchy of the qualification. For details, please visit the QF website at www.hkqf.gov.hk.

A process to facilitate recognition and validation of units of learning and allows learners to move from one programme to another without having to duplicate learning. For details, please visit the QF website at www.hkqf.gov.hk.

The Credit Accumulation and Transfer (CAT) arrangements are in place at an institutional level that apply across a cognate group of learning programmes offered by the institution.

The Credit Accumulation and Transfer (CAT) arrangements are in place at the programme level for specific learning programme(s). These programme specific CAT arrangements should be underpinned by CAT arrangements at the institutional level.

A list of sending qualification and the corresponding credit transfer arrangement would be available for CAT(P) type of learning programmes.

The Credit Accumulation and Transfer (CAT) arrangements are in place at the programme level for specific learning programme(s). These programme specific CAT arrangements are based on the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) qualifications obtained by the learners through the RPL mechanism under the Qualifications Framework (QF) and should be underpinned by CAT arrangements at the institutional level.

A list of sending qualification and the corresponding credit transfer arrangement would be available for CAT(R) type of learning programmes.

A process whereby qualifications, part qualifications and learning experience are given appropriate recognition (credit) to enable learners to progress in their studies without unnecessarily having to repeat material or levels of study, to transfer from one course to another, and to gain further educational experience and qualifications without undue loss of time.

It provides information about the sending qualifications and associated institutions eligible for credit transfer to CAT(P) and CAT (R) types of receiving programmes.

It is displayed as “From” (i.e. the sending institution) and “To” (i.e. the receiving institution) to facilitate search on the QR.

The policy bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government responsible for the establishment of the Hong Kong Qualifications Framework. For details, please visit the Education Bureau website at www.edb.gov.hk.

It includes general description of CAT policy of the institution and / or the qualification / associated learning programme.

Example:

Credit transfer may be granted to students in recognition of previous studies completed elsewhere at an appropriate level as recognised by the University. The number of transfer credits to be granted will be determined by the major department following a review of past academic records and the level of equivalence to courses concerned.

Transfer credits granted will not be included in the calculation of grade point averages, but the courses approved for credit transfer will be reflected on students’ transcripts.

A granting body is the person, school, institution, organisation or other body which grants the qualification. A granting body can be the operator delivering the learning programme leading to the qualification, or the appointed assessment agency assessing the skills, knowledge and/or experience acquired by an individual.

HKCAAVQ is entrusted with the role to implement a quality assurance system to underpin the Qualifications Framework and to develop and administer the Qualifications Register. For details, please visit the HKCAAVQ website at www.hkcaavq.edu.hk.

The grouping of industry in the Qualifications Register has made reference to the various Industry Training Advisory Committees (ITACs) established by the Education Bureau under the Qualifications Framework (QF). Branch refers to the major divisional functional area(s) within an industry. For details, please visit the QF website at www.hkqf.gov.hk.

Keywords facilitate searches of information from the Qualifications Register (QR). The QR system may match learning programme / qualification title, name of operator / granting body, area of study / training, industry and /or branch, and mode of delivery with the QR records. Users may locate information of a particular learning programme / qualification using one or more keywords associated with the programme / qualification.

A learning programme is a programme of studies or training defined by a curriculum and operated by an education / training operator which will lead to a qualification upon successful completion of the learning programme.

Learning Programmes in the Qualifications Register (QR) may be delivered using one or more of the following five modes of delivery:

Full-Time mode generally refers to the delivery of programme with a full load of course work and the learners are expected to be a full-time learner. It also includes mixed mode, sandwich and blended learning;
Part-Time mode generally refers to the delivery of programme with less than a full load of course work and normally outside normal working hours. The programme usually can allow learners to have his/her own full-time job. It also includes day release and evening classes;
Electronic learning refers to the delivery of learning solely or mainly by electronic means;
Distance learning refers to learning under which a student is separated by location from the instructor or other learners. The learner may or may not have face-to-face contact with the instructors and he / she can learn by self-study of various means; and
Online Learning Programme refers to a programme delivered through a digital learning platform to provide structured teaching, learning and assessment, and the programme has more than 50% of instruction delivered online.

Non-local qualification refers to a qualification granted in Hong Kong by an operator from another country or region that operates in Hong Kong. The learning programme of the qualification is registered (or exempted from registration) under the Non-local Higher and Professional Education (Regulation) Ordinance (Cap. 493). Only those which have been accredited by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications can be registered in the Qualifications Register.

An operator is a person, school, institution, organisation or other body which provides and operates a learning programme.

QR Infographics provides a real-time and quick overview of the nature of the current qualifications on QR in terms of their Quality Assurance (QA) Status, QF Level, Area of Study and Training, and Types of Credit Accumulation and Transfer.

The Qualifications Register (QR) Registration Number, the unique identifier for a qualification is assigned to a qualification when it is published on the QR.

A QR Registration Number consists of three groups of numbers:

The first group, which is of two digits, indicates the calendar year in which the QR record is accepted by the QR Authority for the first-time upload onto the QR (e.g. 13 = first accepted in 2013).
The second group (of six digits) is a serial number generated by the QR system in a sequential order of record acceptance during the calendar year.
The last group is a QF level indicator that states the QF Level of the QR record, as follows:

1. Before 25 October 2012, it consists of one digit, e.g. 1 = QF Level 1
2. Commencing 25 October 2012, it consists of an “L” and then a number (of one digit) that indicates the QF Level, e.g. L1 = QF Level 1.
  
  Sample of a previous QR Registration Number: 09/123456/1
  (Before 1 October 2012)
  
  Sample of a current QR Registration Number: 12/123456/L1
  (Commencing 1 October 2012)

HKCAAVQ has been appointed by the Insurance Authority as the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Assessment Authority. A mechanism has been put in place to recognise Insurance Learning Programmes and Insurance-Related Learning Programmes (IRPLs) accredited under the Qualifications Framework (QF) as Qualified CPD Activities. This aims to encourage insurance practitioners to fulfill the CPD requirements by studying QF-accredited Learning Programmes.

QF accredited learning programmes categorised under the insurance industry on the QR will be directly recognised as Type 3 Qualified CPD Activities. QF accredited learning programmes NOT categorised under the insurance industry on the QR can be recognised as Type 4 qualified CPD activities if they are approved by HKCAAVQ after going through a vetting procedure. For details of the vetting service of recognising QF-accredited IRPLs as Type 4 Qualified CPD Activities, please refer to the HKCAAVQ website: https://www.hkcaavq.edu.hk/en/assessment/CPD_IA_prog/.

A qualification in the Qualifications Register is granted by an education / training operator upon completion of a learning programme. A qualification may also be granted by an appointed assessment agency after successful assessment of the skills, knowledge or experience acquired by an individual in a particular industry.

The Hong Kong Qualifications Framework (QF) is a seven-level hierarchy covering qualifications in the academic, vocational and continuing education sectors. Qualifications recognised under the QF are quality assured and level-rated in accordance with objective and well-defined standards. The QF provides a transparent and accessible platform to promote lifelong learning with a view to enhancing the competitiveness of the workforce in Hong Kong. For further details, please visit the QF website at www.hkqf.gov.hk

Qualifications Framework (QF) credit is a measurement of the size or volume of learning in a learning programme or a qualification recognised under the QF. One QF credit consists of 10 notional learning hours.

For details, please visit the QF website at www.hkqf.gov.hk.

Qualifications recognised under the Qualifications Framework (QF) are ordered by levels in accordance with the outcome-based Generic Level Descriptors which describe the common features of qualifications at the same level. The QF level reflects the complexity of learning in a qualification.

For details, please visit the QF website at www.hkqf.gov.hk.

Qualifications Register (QR) is a register established by the Secretary for Education under the Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications Ordinance (Cap. 592) for entering qualifications recognised under the Qualifications Framework. The Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications(HKCAAVQ) has been specified in the Ordinance as the authority for developing and administering the QR.

All qualifications registered in the QR have been quality assured by an appropriate accreditation authority including the HKCAAVQ or a self-accrediting operator.

An institution that makes the decisions about credits achieved from a qualification to be recognised for transfer to a receiving programme. A receiving institution operates the receiving programme that recognises the credit transfer.

A learning programme into which the learner’s credits earned from a qualification (including both learning programme and RPL qualification) are recognised for transfer. A receiving programme is operated by the receiving institution that makes decisions about accepting credit transfer from a sending qualification to the receiving programme.

The Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) mechanism under the Qualifications Framework (QF) enables experienced practitioners of various backgrounds to receive formal recognition of the knowledge, skills or experience already acquired at the workplace. For details, please visit the QF website atwww.hkqf.gov.hk.

The three types of Registration Status are 1) Current, 2) Prospective and 3) Archived. The definition for each status type is :

Current:	The Registration Validity Period (RVP) of the qualification is valid for learners to commence his/her study of the learning programme for that qualification.
Prospective:	The RVP of the qualification in the QR is in the future and has not yet started for learners to commence his/her study of the learning programme for that qualification.
Archived:	The RVP of the qualification in the QR has come to an end and the registration status has not been renewed.

Important Note:

If a learner commences his / her study of a learning programme for a qualification on the QR on a date that the Registration Status is “Archived”, the qualification so acquired will NOT be recognised under the Qualifications Framework.

The three types of Registration Status are illustrated in the diagram below:

Registration Validity Period (RVP) is the period a qualification is registered in the Qualifications Register. Learners should commence the study of the learning programme for a qualification listed on the QR during its RVP such that the qualification so acquired will be recognised under the Qualifications Framework.

Under Schedule 2 of the Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications Ordinance (Cap. 592), self-accrediting operator in Hong Kong are:

The Chinese University of Hong Kong
City University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong Baptist University
The Education University of Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Lingnan University
Hong Kong Metropolitan Unversity
The University of Hong Kong

An operator (for learning programmes) or an appointed assessment agency (for RPL qualifications) whose learning units or RPL qualifications seek to be recognised for credit transfer or for articulation to a receiving learning programme.

A qualification from which the learner’s credits are recognised for transfer by the receiving programme. A sending qualification can be a learning programme from an institution or a RPL qualification from an appointed assessment agency.

It includes specific CAT information of the learning programme / qualification.

Example:

Holders of the Certificate in Property and Facility Management are eligible to apply for credit transfer for admission to Professional Diploma in Property and Facility Management.

Specification of Competency Standard (SCS)-based programmes are designed in accordance with the SCS which sets out the skills, knowledge and competency standards required of the practitioners to perform various job functions in specific industries effectively. For details, please visit the QF website at www.hkqf.gov.hk.

SGC-Based Programmes are courses designed by providers using the SGC, which covers four strands of foundation skills, namely English, Chinese, Numeracy and Information Technology. The learning content of these courses are primarily based on the SGC, while the learning outcomes match with the performance requirements and outcome standards as set out in the SGC. For details, please visit the QF website at www.hkqf.gov.hk.

HKCAAVQ defined a list of sub-areas under the new classification of 14 Areas of Study and Training for use with the scope of programme area in Programme Area Accreditation (PAA) exercises (PAA is the third stage of the Four-stage Quality Assurance Process) in September 2015. Sub-area is also used for categorisation of accredited learning programmes listed in the QR. For more informaiton, please refer to the Area of Study and Training and Sub-area For the Qualificaitons Register of the Qualifications Framework (with Examples of Subject Matter).

There are three basic types of CAT, namely CAT (Institutional) [CAT(I)], CAT (Programme) [CAT(P)] and CAT (Recognition of Prior Learning Qualifications) [CAT(R)].

Vocational Qualifications Pathway Courses/Qualifications are developed under the VQP of respective industry which specifies the competency (as defined by "units of competency" in Specification of Competency Standards) and other relevant requirements of principal job positions as well as the progression pathways in learning and employment. For details, please visit the QF website at www.hkqf.gov.hk.