Message from the President
Welcome to the official site of the Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN). APQN is a young network, having been created in Hong Kong in January 2003. In December 2004, it was incorporated as a legal entity within the State of Victoria in Australia.
When the APQN website was first launched, our immediate Past President, Mr Peter Cheung, compared APQN to a newborn baby. Two years and nine months later through his purposeful vision and inspiring leadership, and with the assistance of a grant from the World Bank, the baby has grown and has positioned itself to become a leader in quality assurance in the Asia-Pacific region.
All across the region from Australia to Mongolia, from Samoa to Pakistan, from Bangladesh to Cambodia, quality assurance in higher education resonates. Seminars and workshops, project groups and staff secondments, have been done with the help of a Development Grant Facility (DGF) from the World Bank, and the collective effort of the more mature quality assurance (QA) agencies in the region. A number of external quality assurance agencies in various countries/territories and small states are emerging.
At present (August 2007), APQN has 47 members classified into four categories: 20 full members, 8 intermediate members, 15 associate members and 4 institutional members. In addition, there are 3 observers from outside the Asia-Pacific region.
APQN seeks to enhance the quality of higher education in the Asia-Pacific region through strengthening the quality assurance agencies and promoting cooperation between them. The recently concluded distance education course on External Quality Assurance: Options for Higher Education Managers, participated in by representatives from 13 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and jointly organised by the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) and the UNESCO Bangkok office, has produced laudable and tangible results. It has also forged stronger links between quality assurance agencies. As the only association linking all the quality assurance bodies in the region, APQN is ideally placed to serve as a platform for mutual cooperation and capacity building.
In December 2007, the DGF funds from the World Bank will come to an end and APQN will learn to fend for itself. It will enter an exciting phase where it has to continue to support its members, strengthen cooperation with its current partners, and develop new partnerships to ensure a sustainable future. This is the challenge to APQN as it strives to respond to the needs of a region that contains over half of the world’s population.
In closing, I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our first President, one of the founding fathers of APQN whose wisdom and visionary leadership steered us through the early years of our existence. Thank you, Peter, for nurturing this baby!
On behalf of the APQN Board, I also wish to thank the World Bank for its generosity and commitment to quality assurance issues in the region. Indeed, this generous support has made a difference in the Asia-Pacific region.
Concepcion V. Pijano
President-designate (APQN) and
Executive Director, Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities