Butlletí

A bimonthly publication of AQU Catalunya

40

January 2009

EDITORIAL

The Bologna process beyond 2010 (Pending the declaration by the Ministers responsible for higher education in Louvain-la-Neuve, 2009)

Implementation of the process of building the EHEA, or what is known as the Bologna process, which was set in motion in 1999 with the aims of harmonising university studies in Europe and making them comparable and compatible, will reach its culmination in 2010, with the participation of forty-six countries. This however will merely imply fulfilment of the anticipated aims, which have been extended and enhanced since 1999 through the successive biannual communiqués of the Ministers responsible for higher education in Lisbon, Berlin, Bergen and London, and on 28 and 29 April of this year in Louvain-la-Neuve.

AQU NEWS

• Results of the 2008 call for the assessment of tenure-track lecturers29.12.2008
• Evaluation of the Universidad de Guadalajara (Mexico)18.12.2008
• Call for applications to the 2009 AUDIT programme 16.12.2008
• AQU Catalunya included in the European Quality Assurance Register09.12.2008
• Third European Quality Assurance Forum 01.12.2008
• Meeting of the ENQA Board 25.11.2008
• AQU Catalunya publishes its new Code of ethics 24.11.2008
• Results of the first study on the labour market/employment outcomes of holders of a doctorate degree from Catalan universities14.11.2008

ARTICLES

• First study on the labour market outcomes of doctorate degree holders from catalan universities
  Studies on the labour market outcomes of graduates from Catalan universities, coordinated by AQU Catalunya, have come about through the Agency's collaboration with the universities' social councils to obtain figures and benchmarks on the quality of student employment.
  Editorial staff - AQU Catalunya
• New ISO: 9001: 2008
  Quality implementation is a strategic decision for the continuous enhancement of AQU Catalunya’s activities and to enable it to adapt to the changes taking place in the university system in Catalonia.
  Núria Comet Señal - Responsible for internal quality

OPINION

• Comments on the results of the survey of doctorate degree holders in the 2003 and 2004 cohorts in Catalonia
  

  Xavier Massó Pérez
  Head of the Doctorate Degree Office, UPC

  The results of the student surveys carried out in the Mirror programme, a joint project carried out in Catalonia, Sweden, Finland and Ireland, were released in the September 2006 bulletin. Just over two years later, the results of the survey of doctorate degree holders in the 2003 and 2004 cohorts in Catalonia are now being released, which, as to be expected, in overall terms coincide in certain aspects.
  
  The first element that coincides in the results of both surveys is the high level of satisfaction with third cycle activities being carried out in Catalan universities, especially with the teaching staff in directing and supervisory activities. On the other hand, an outstanding feature in both surveys and one of the weakest aspects was the courses and their relevance to research being undertaken by PhD students.

AQU RECOMMENDS

• Access to the labour market of Ph.D. graduates of the Catalan universities
• Internal Quality Assurance and the European Standards and Guidelines