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Reinforcement of Quality Education through Quality Education Fund

Reinforcement of Quality Education through Quality Education Fund
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    The following is issued on behalf of the Quality Education Fund Steering Committee:

    The Chairman of the Quality Education Fund (QEF) Steering Committee, Mr Duffy Wong, today (April 15) announced the eleven priority themes for the 2013/14 QEF applications which aimed at promoting school-based innovative and cross-theme projects to enhance the quality of education, students’ learning effectiveness, and facilitating whole person development and life long learning.

    Mr Wong said that the year 2013 marks the 15th Anniversary of the QEF. The fund had contributed in enhancing learning and teaching, and gained recognition and support from the school sector. The QEF also witnessed the new milestone the Hong Kong education system had reached in the past decades.

    “Our schools have strived for excellence in developing school-based programmes in accordance with their missions and visions. With the dedication and hard work of our professional teaching force, we are pleased to note that our students have excelled on all fronts and enjoyed both local and global recognitions. As the QEF embarks on its 15th Anniversary, we will continue our objective to supporting good projects that could further boost schools’ effectiveness and development.”

    Schools are encouraged to submit innovative projects. Schools can also take reference of successful experience or good practices of their fellow schools or projects, add on improved and innovative ideas and submit fresh applications that can bring about positive capacity and/or impact on learning and teaching, taking into account students and schools’ needs and with clear concepts and detailed implementation plans.

    The eleven priority themes for 2013/14 are:

Areas	Priority Themes
Learning and Teaching	■Catering for Students’ Learning Diversity
	■Effective Learning and Teaching of Languages
	■Enhancing Assessment Literacy
	■Values Education
	■Creative Arts and Culture Education
Support for Students and School Ethos	■Healthy Lifestyle and Positive Development of Students
	■Education for Sustainable Development
	■Support for Students with Diverse Needs
	■Promoting Whole Child Development in Kindergarten Education
Management and Organisation	■Supporting Effective School Management and Leadership
	■Teacher Development and Schools as Learning Organisations

    In addition, applicants can submit application for other innovative projects that meet the needs of schools or enhance the quality of school education.

    To further meet schools’ needs and encourage applications, starting from this year, the processing time for applications for grant not exceeding $600,000 will be shortened to 3 months. Processing time for applications for grant exceeding $600,000 will remain at a maximum of 6 months.

    Since its establishment in 1998, the QEF has supported over 8 200 projects, bringing about successful innovative ideas, practices and experiences to raise the quality of education. The QEF processed about 383 applications in the 2011/12 school year, among which 135 applications were approved involving a total grant amounting to around $65.8 million. The grants approved in this school year range from $73,500 to $2,942,200.

    In celebration of the QEF’s 15th Anniversary this year, a public lecture will be organized on 7 May to kick start a series of activities. Dr Dirk Van Damme from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been invited to give a talk on “Innovation in Education: What Can We Learn from International Experiences?”

    The Quality Education Fund Exposition 2013 – Enhancement of Professional Networking for Better Learning will be held from 9 to 11 May at the Jockey Club Auditorium of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Through a series of conferences and booth exhibitions, the QEF will showcase the project outcomes and its achievements in promoting successful innovative ideas, practices and experiences for the education sector. Teachers, parents, students and the public are welcome to participate in the Exposition.

    Details of the application rules will be uploaded to the QEF website (http://qef.org.hk/) on 17 April 2013. A series of briefing sessions will also be organised in May 2013 to familiarize potential applicants with the priority themes and the application rules.


Ends/Monday, April 15, 2013