Benefits of HKQF and Key features of QF-recognised qualifications

HKQF was officially launched on 5 May 2008. It is a seven-level hierarchy covering qualifications in the academic, vocational and professional as well as continuing education sectors to promote and support lifelong learning with a view to continuously enhancing the quality, professionalism and competitiveness of our workforce in an increasingly globalised and knowledge-based economy. Qualifications recognised under the QF are quality assured and level-rated in accordance with objective and well-defined standards.

Benefits of HKQF

Employer

Identify skill gaps and training needs

Design in-house training programmes

Enhance the effectiveness of human resources management

Practitioner

Encourage lifelong learning

Wider choice of suitable learning programmes

Recognize prior experience and competency

Education & Training Provider

Design training programmes to meet the needs of the industry

Develop VQP courses and SCS-based courses

Enhance the quality of courses to align with QF development

Key features of QF-recognised qualifications

Each QF-recognised qualification is specified a corresponding QF level and QF Credit, and its award title complies with the Award Titles Scheme (ATS). The QF level reflects the depth and complexity of learning leading to a qualification, credit indicates the volume or size of learning of the qualification and the award title reveals the nature, area of studies and range of QF levels of a qualification.

QF Level

HKQF is a 7-level hierarchy.
QF level is assigned in accordance with a set of Generic Level Descriptors (GLD) which specifies, in four domains, the outcome standards expected of the qualifications at each level.

QF Credit

QF credit measures the volume or size of learning of a qualification.
It enables learners to understand the extent of effort to be spent to complete the learning process and attain the learning outcomes of the relevant qualification.
One QF credit consists of 10 notional learning hours.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer (CAT)

QF credit serves as a common currency to support Credit Accumulation and Transfer (CAT).
Policy, Principles and Operational Guidelines for CAT under Qualifications Framework in Hong Kong have been developed to facilitate the recognition and transfer of credits, minimise repeated learning and provide effective support for lifelong learning.

Award Titles Scheme (ATS)

The Award Titles Scheme (ATS) has been introduced to standardise the use of titles for qualifications recognised under HKQF with a view to enhancing the transparency of qualifications and reflecting their QF levels.
There are 15 award titles which can be used for qualifications recognised under QF.