To promote quality enhancement of the self-financing post-secondary sector, the Education Bureau (EDB) set up the Quality Enhancement Support Scheme (QESS) under the Self-financing Post-secondary Education Fund (SPEF) to support worthwhile non-works projects or initiatives that help enhance the quality of teaching and learning for students and teachers and the sector as a whole.
Non-profit-making education institutions offering full-time locally-accredited self-financing sub-degree or bachelor’s degree (including top-up degree) programmes are eligible to apply. Other related bodies such as the federations of these education institutions and quality assurance agencies may also apply.
The Scheme supports three types of projects, namely, Theme-based Projects, Open-ended Projects, and Industrial Attachment Projects. For details of the Scheme and the previous successful applications, please view the official site of Quality Enhancement Support Scheme.
EDB is now inviting applications for QESS 2024/25 exercise. Under each round of application, each institution can only submit a maximum of TWO applications each for Theme-based Projects and Open-ended Projects. Each institution may submit or be involved in only ONE application (individual or joint) for Industrial Attachment Project, for which the University will coordinate to prepare.
Application Procedure
| Action | Timeline |
|---|---|
| Applicants submit a two-page preliminary proposal with a budget plan (can be included as an Appendix) to the UTLQC Secretary (Ms Mabel Lai) (Please find the attached template for preliminary proposal for your reference) | 5 December 2025 (Friday) |
| UTLQC meeting including presentation session* by QESS applicant(s) and selection process *Remark: The presentation session is tentatively scheduled for 19 December 2025. Applicants are advised to reserve their availability to attend this presentation session. | Mid December 2025 |
| Selected teams will be invited to prepare full QESS proposals for submission to UTLQC for further feedback | by January 2026 |
| Deadline for submission of full QESS proposal to UTLQC | by 23 January 2026 (Friday) |
| UTLQC provides comments on the full proposals | by 2 February 2026 (Friday) |
| Project teams finalise their proposals and upload their proposals to QESS online system | 3-20 February 2026 |
| UTLQC submits the finalised proposals to President for endorsement and prepares for the online submission process | By 24 February 2026 (Monday) |
| Deadline for submission to EDB | 27 February 2026 (Friday) |