Gov't grants university title to Caritas Institute of Higher Education

The institution will change its name to Saint Francis University.

Caritas Institute of Higher Education (CIHE) has been granted a university title following the Chief Executive-in-Council’s approval to change its name to Saint Francis University.

The approval is in line with the government’s agenda to develop publicly-funded and self-financing post-secondary education institutions into private universities.

The government assesses the institute’s range of programmes, research capability, size and scale, governance and management, financial stability, academic environment, and quality assurance.

The Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (CAAVQ) concluded CIHE’s private university approval in 2022.

In the academic year 2023-24, CIHE operated 13 self-financing locally accredited post-secondary programmes comprising 12 bachelor’s degree programmes and one master’s degree programme with about 3,000 full-time and 500 part-time students.

CIHE will need to submit a progress report and an audited financial report to the Education Bureau annually to ensure its teaching quality and financial sustainability.

CAAVQ will review the reports and provide them with independent expert advice.