The Tertiary Education Services Office launched the pilot scheme of Institutional Quality Audit in 2016 to consummate the higher education system in Macao and promote continuous enhancement in academic quality. The Scheme helps higher education institutions review their operation and identify good practices and room for improvement for the purpose of continuous enhancement, so that Macau’s higher education can reach international standards.

The University responded positively to the Scheme and was selected as one of the participating institutions. The external quality assurance agency for the University was Taiwan Assessment and Evaluation Association which was qualified to conduct evaluation of international institutions. The agency rigorously followed regulations and requirements in selecting five education experts from world renowned higher education institutions to form the evaluation panel. They were Pro Vice Chancellor, University of Western Sydney, Australia, Associate Dean for Research and Outreach, University of Rhode Island, the U.S. Chairman, Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan, Honorary President, I-Shou University, Taiwan, and Director, Degree and Post-graduate Research Center, Beijing Institute of Technology.

The evaluation was conducted in accordance with ‘Higher Education Evaluation in Macao Guidelines on Institutional Quality Audit’ and ‘Higher Education Evaluation in Macao Guidelines for External Quality Assurance Agencies’. A comprehensive institutional quality audit was carried out by an external evaluation agency, focusing on the areas of ‘mission and objectives’, ‘institutional management, planning and accountability’, ‘operational efficiency and effectiveness’, ‘academic planning, management and development’ and ‘teaching and learning, research, social services and cultural heritage and innovation’. Since September 2016, the University had undergone the stages of “planning guidance”, ‘self-evaluation’ and ‘on-site visit’. It worked closely with the external evaluation agency on evaluation work and completed the self-evaluation report. It cooperated with the expert panels with respect to on-site visit at the University in October 2017.

The process of quality audit took more than one year and the University passed the audit. The external assurance agency has recently published the quality assurance audit report of the University and highly commended our efforts and achievements in ‘renaming, restructuring, transforming, upgrading’ and in continuously improving its quality. The agency reported positively about the high operational efficiency and effectiveness, continuous efforts in improving its system, stable financial situation, academic programmes that catered for the needs of Macau’s social development, deepening internationalization, well established and diversified models for nurturing students and robust mechanism for ensuring teaching quality etc.

As the University faces a new starting point for pursuing excellence in its development, teachers and students are much encouraged by the audit results and would like to thank the Macau SAR government, the Tertiary Education Services Office and different sectors of society for their support.  The University is also grateful to the evaluation expert panel for its advice.  It will continue to strive for better teaching quality and nurture talent in view of the development of Macau and the region. 

Meeting on Institutional Quality Audit