Butlletí

A bimonthly publication of AQU Catalunya

48

May 2010

EDITORIAL

Do rankings measure the quality of teaching?

Sometimes when I'm in class I use a magic wand. Not to do the things they do in Harry Potter, but for virtual experiments that help me to explain things, for example, the Archimedes principle. Let's leave the discoveries of the Greek scientist for another day, however, and I'll tell you about what happened to me today returning from Madrid on the high-speed train, when I used my wand to improve the position of Catalan universities in world rankings.

I did four experiments. First, with a wave of my magic wand, no student would fail any exams in the academic year, i.e., they would pass all of their enrolled credits. Surprisingly, this didn't improve the position of any Catalan university in the rankings!

AQU NEWS

• Results of the feedback survey on the University Education and Employment workshop29.04.2010
• AQU Catalunya participates in the conference Joint Programmes: Too many cooks in the kitchen?22.04.2010
• AQU Catalunya sets up the Student Commission15.04.2010
• Results of the second call for applications in 2009 for the accreditation of research and advanced research12.04.2010
• The AQU Board of Management approves the modifications to the Agency's Activities Plan for 201008.04.2010
• Renewal of the CLiC (Tenure-track and Collaborating Teaching Staff) Committee01.04.2010
• Research assessment in the Humanities and Social Sciences30.03.2010
• University education in times of crisis25.03.2010
• The higher the university education, the better the job24.03.2010
• The Catalan universities as instruments of mobility and social equity24.03.2010
• Degree-job match and the influence of family status, academic background and gender: key issues in the latest studies on the labour market outcomes of Catalan graduates04.03.2010

ARTICLES

• Experimental programme for monitoring the quality of university degree programmes in Catalonia: the basis for an adaptable, effective and efficient quality assurance mechanism
  I'd like to start off this article by referring to the Dearing Report on the future of higher education in the UK, which was published in 1997, and in particular the recommendation that it makes regarding the importance of clear and explicit information for students so they can make appropriate decisions regarding the studies they wish to take.
  Josep Grifoll Saurí - Head of Quality Assessment department
• Myths and realities of the labour market outcomes of university graduates
  AQU Catalunya has had several studies carried out that have been based on the results of the various surveys. As a result, considerable knowledge has been acquired over the last ten years that breaks with certain socially established myths. Two of the most recent studies that have been presented are Catalan universities as a factor of equity and professional mobility and The match between university education and graduate labour market outcomes (education-job match).
  AQU Catalunya

OPINION

• The value of participation in the learning process
  

  Alfonso Martin Gallego
  Member of the AQU Student Committee

  Under the pretext of encouraging student participation, the AQU Catalunya Student Committee has just been set up. And I’m proud about it, yet I’m puzzled. In fact, I feel obliged to say pretext because I increasingly question whether there is really any student participation. In this regard, the psychologist Ariadna Salva Aige is carrying out a commendable project, within the framework of the Ramon Llull University’s Students Council, to determine the causes why students don’t get involved in representational bodies. Her initial question of whether students appreciate the value of participation in their learning process should be the point where we begin.

AQU RECOMMENDS

• Creativity and Diversity: Challenges for quality assurance beyond 2010