The Government announced today (May 29) that nine courses offered by the West Coast College were de-registered from the Continuing Education Fund (CEF) with immediate effect.

The decision was made on the ground that the college failed to comply with the conditions of approval for CEF registration

A spokesman for the Labour and Welfare Bureau said, “The college has to inform all affected CEF applicants about the course de-registration and to continue to run the registered courses for those who have enrolled.

"If the courses have not yet commenced, the college must refund in full all course fees and related payments to the CEF applicants. The college must not accept new applications and must refrain from promoting them as CEF reimbursable courses."

All courses registered under the CEF are subject to audit inspections by the Hong Kong Council of Accreditation for Academic and Vocational Qualifications to ensure that they are operated in full compliance with the conditions of approval.

"A number of measures have been adopted since 2007 to step up efforts in monitoring CEF courses. Apart from authenticating attendance records of learners, assessment results and their claims for reimbursement, the Office of Continuing Education Fund (OCEF) would also conduct surprise visits to course providers to ensure that the conditions of approval are fully complied with," the spokesman said.

The list of the nine CEF courses de-registered is at Annex. The information is also available at the OCEF website (http://www.sfaa.gov.hk/cef/courseinfo.htm/). For enquiries, please contact the OCEF at 3101 5521 or write via email, post or by fax.

End/Thursday, May 29, 2008

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