A bimonthly publication of AQU Catalunya

45

November 2009

The ENQA Board (the executive body of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) has expressed its satisfaction in relation to the progress made by the Catalan agency with regard to its recommendations. These concerned a series of enhancment proposals made by the ENQA international external review panel during the process which confirmed AQU Catalunya as a full member of the association (2007).

This news gives me the opportunity to share a reflexion concerning the role of AQU Catalunya and the perception that the scientific and academic community in Catalonia has about this.

The Agency has built a good reputation among its European and Spanish homonyms. Examples of this include milestone events such as it being a founder member of ENQA (2000) and its reconfirmation several years later, following a successful international external review, as a full member of the association (2007). It was also one of the first three European agencies to be registered with the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (2008).
Although I know that the Catalan scientific and academic community appraises these goals as being positive, I also have the impression that it sees them as removed from their routine work. For the time being, this is neither critical nor insuperable although there is a point in which reinforcement is necessary.

AQU Catalunya must continue to have the good sense to be present in all of the main European forums on quality assurance, which, in itself, ensures good practice in the way that its activities in the universities are carried out (and allows for the mutual recognition of decisions between agencies).

The Agency needs to establish the necessary links to enhance its recognition among the different groups that make up the higher education system in Catalonia. Over the next few years, the Agency’s leverage in Catalonia, in Spain and abroad will depend to a great degree on the recognition that it is given by the university community and society as a whole.