Dear Fellow Students,
Updates to Students from the College Management
Before we share our Updates from the College management, we would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to students concerned for initiating the WE Forum, which was held for the first time on 6 May 2019. We are also grateful for the Vice-Presidents and Heads of Office/School for their full support to this meaningful initiative. For students who attended the Forum, we hope you have found the meeting a fruitful exchange providing opportunities for open and frank dialogue with us on issues of concern or areas of College operation which you are interested to know more.
For those who missed the WE Forum, we take this opportunity to highlight in this issue some of the key areas we shared at the meeting, including finance, learning programmes, staffing and campus.
College Finance
1. Though Gratia Christian College (“GCC”/”the College”) is not abundantly funded, we have maintained proper financial management in these four years of operation. Having deficit in the first few years is also anticipated in our plan. With commitment of the founding members, generous offers of donors and funding support of the government, the College has turned around its financial performance with surplus in the last academic year. Financial position of the College has therefore been improving.
2. You may wish to know that Governors and Council members have been rendering unwavering support and trust to us, and a mechanism of monitoring and risk management is in place. As such, we have taken full responsibility to have the College finance in hand and will make the best efforts to maintain the College’s sustainability.
Learning Programmes
3. By the end of 2019, all 5 learning programmes currently on offer will be subject to re-accreditation by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ). Besides external review, the College has established different internal mechanisms for assurance of programme quality, the Teaching Evaluation Questionnaire (TEQ) being one of them. With your support to the exercise, the participation rate is on record high this year.
4. Please be assured that we value students as one of the key stakeholders from which we collect feedback for improvement of the programme operation. An established mechanism is in place to oversee follow-up on feedback collected from different channels. All results are duly examined, discussed and considered, and both the management and faculty staff are involved in the process.
5. In coming years, the College will have more higher diploma (HD) programmes on offer. Riding on the experience of running the HD in Early Childhood Education (ECE), the College is making preparatory work to develop a bachelor degree programme in ECE. We have proactively communicated with the Education Bureau and the HKCAAVQ to seek their advice on developing the proposed articulation path.
Staffing and Learning Support
6. With colleagues’ commitment, the College has been maintaining a stable staff force for the effective delivery of programmes and support services. The staff-student ratios of all programmes are well above our committed ratios. The required ratios of the regulatory bodies are also duly observed. To strengthen the staff force, expertise from relevant industry and sector is engaged for teaching of specific courses.
7. With our small class size, we hope you could enjoy a supportive and caring learning environment. Staff could have close interaction with students in class and attend timely to their learning needs. For guidance and support beyond the classrooms, you are encouraged to make good use of the mentoring system and the counselling service.
Campus and Facilities
8. At present, although we are not competitive in terms of campus space, within the limited space, we have strived our best to provide the necessary facilities and support for delivering different learning programmes at the required standard.
9. To accommodate our further development, we have kept looking out for suitable vacant premises and communicating our need for a proper campus with the government. With support of the Governors, the College is recently exploring with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (our landlord and sponsoring body) the feasibility of re-developing the existing campus building. Both parties indicate strong interest in the collaboration and agree to take the feasibility study forward. As campus development takes time, we would appreciate your continuous understanding and patience.
The Way Forward
We admit that there are rooms for improvement here and there in the College, and we are grateful that you could come forward to us to offer your input to make GCC a better place to learn. Our dialogue will remain open, and the College management will continue to use this channel to update you on progress of work and development of the College.
Best wishes to you all!
College Management