49

July 2010

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EDITORIAL

The strategic value of knowledge generation

Joaquim Prats Cuevas - President of AQU Catalunya

One of the strategic areas of AQU Catalunya's work is knowledge generation. The Agency has the mission to move forward through the new scenarios that are being delineated and to take the role of initiative in thoroughly enhancing the higher education system in Catalonia. And, in short, the Agency also has to provide relevant information on the running of the higher education system so that the strategic vision for the universities can be achieved.

It makes very little sense to talk about quality if there are no measureable variables. If we have no idea of what we have and there are no benchmarks, it will be difficult to know which direction to go in and even more so to improve the things as they are.

This edition of the on-line journal covers the results of five studies: two that deal with the analysis of graduate labour market outcomes and three on the quality of the higher education system.

AQU Catalunya is a pioneer in Europe in studies on graduate labour market outcomes. With more than 35,000 records, Catalonia has one of the most complete and representative data bases in Europe on the transition to work of university graduates. With three surveys —in 2001, 2005 and 2008— on graduate labour market outcomes and more than a dozen research projects carried out by different groups at Catalan universities, there is now a considerable body of knowledge that has been produced.

The two studies covered by this journal deal with the labour market outcomes of Humanities graduates six years after graduation and the quality of the labour market outcomes of female graduates three years after graduation, the latter being co-funded by the Institut Català de les Dones, the Catalan government-sponsored institute for female affairs. The results of both studies provide important information on the early career outcomes of these groups and help to demystify certain preconceived notions.

On the other hand, the universities and government authorities are becoming increasingly interested in academic performance and, in particular, the phenomenon of student drop-outs. The academic performance of the student body is considered to be a key indicator of an institution's quality. The viewpoint of quality as economic efficiency has undoubtedly led to the focus on academic success and it becoming a fundamental benchmark in the present-day evaluation of the quality of university education.

The studies dealt with in this journal were carried out by different research groups from the University of Barcelona, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Rovira i Virgili University that were selected through a competitive grant scheme run by AQU Catalunya in 2007. Using the available data, they analyse the phenomenon of university student drop-outs in Catalonia, the academic performance of first-year students at university, and the specific case of the academic performance of first-year Law students at the University of Barcelona. The information produced from the studies is systematised and accurate, the context of which is the international panorama, and will facilitate decision-making by the corresponding authorities in these areas.

Notwithstanding the fact that the current economic situation calls for greater caution regarding the distribution of allocated resources, the Agency will continue in its commitment to the strategic area of knowledge generation as a instrument that generates strategic value in the higher education system in Catalonia.

The Agency's endeavours in this sphere over the coming year will mainly involve the exploitation and analysis of the data from the fourth survey on the labour market outcomes of university graduates, the second doctorate graduate survey, and the study on the monitoring of the entry into work and the labour market outcomes of female graduates ten years after graduation.

The work of AQU Catalunya involves making accurate and reliable information available to the authorities for decision-making purposes regarding the universities and higher education, together with its appropriate dissemination to inform the scientific and academic community and raise the awareness in Catalan society. It is the sharing of knowledge that enables us to better deal with the challenges that we are faced with.

ENQA EQAR ISO

Generalitat de Catalunya

Via Laietana, 28, 5a planta 08003 Barcelona. Spain. Tel.: +34 93 268 89 50

© 2010 AQU Catalunya - Legal number B-21.910-2008