Tung Wah College (TWC) is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed the accreditation exercise on Programme Area Accreditation (PAA) of the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ) and received its first PAA status for the programme area of Occupational Therapy at QF Level 5, marking its first and significant step to become a private university.

According to the Roadmap for Becoming a Private University released by the Government in 2015, self-financing post-secondary education institutions registered under the Post-Secondary Colleges Ordinance (Cap. 320) (the Ordinance) should obtain the PAA status in at least three areas before making an application for university title for consideration of the Chief Executive-in-Council. It is also required to obtain the Institutional Review status from the HKCAAVQ and meet the requirements of the Government on research capability and student enrolment.

TWC has been offering the four-year full-time Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Occupational Therapy programme since 2013/2014. With its professional status recognised by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists and the Supplementary Medical Professions Council of Hong Kong in 2016 and 2017 respectively, the programme has become the first self-financing programme recognised to train qualified occupational therapists in Hong Kong.

To achieve its strategic goal to become a private university, TWC took the first step to make its first PAA application in Occupational Therapy to the HKCAAVQ in 2019. The accreditation panel conducted an onsite visit to the College on 8 – 9 January 2020 and considered, among others, TWC’s PAA application in terms of the organisational governance and management of the College, the development and management of the programme area of Occupational Therapy, as well as the teaching, learning and assessment of the programme area.

After deliberation, the HKCAAVQ came to the conclusion that TWC has met the accreditation standards of both Institutional Domains and Programme Area Domains of the PAA. TWC was thereby unconditionally granted the PAA status for the programme area of Occupational Therapy at QF Level 5 for a validity period starting from 1 September 2020. The College is given the autonomy in developing and operating learning programmes within the programme area at QF level 5 or below within the validity period.

Table of TWC’s first PAA status：