A bimonthly publication of AQU Catalunya

57

November 2011

Royal Decree 99/2011, 28 January, concerning the regulation of recognised doctorate degrees, established a new regulatory framework that sets in place a new structure for doctoral programmes based on the guidelines of the European Higher Education Area and the recommendations of different European and international forums.

The most important aspects of doctoral studies set out in these documents are as follows:

• the structure and organisation of a doctorate;
• the skills (competences) to be acquired;
• the conditions of access and development of the research career in its initial stage;
• the fundamental role of supervision and guidance of the doctoral candidate;
• the setting of doctoral studies in a research environment that encourages communication and creativity;
• internationalisation and mobility;
• and the accreditation of quality as a reference for international recognition and attractiveness.
  

One of the new developments defined under the new regulations is the requirement that universities define their strategy concerning research and doctoral studies. This strategy should be articulated through doctoral programmes run in doctoral schools and research units, and as such lies at the base of the entire approach to doctoral studies. The purpose is to achieve the development of doctoral programmes that are of sufficiently high quality and internationalised so that the institution is placed in a well-prepared position regarding doctoral studies.

It is recommended that the strategy for research and doctoral studies should cover a period of at least six years, after which time all doctoral programmes have to undergo reaccreditation. This would also be an appropriate time for a review of the strategy on the basis of doctoral outcomes and the situation regarding the context of R&D and innovation.

In terms of their introduction, doctoral programmes have to be accredited (ex-ante assessment) by the Spanish Universities Council (Consejo de Universidades) and authorised by the Catalan authorities (Generalitat de Catalunya), pursuant to article 35.2 of Organic Law 6/2001, amended by Law 4/2007, concerning the universities. In this respect, the ex-ante assessment procedure is identical to the one used for Bachelor and Master's level qualifications.

In the ex-ante assessment process, programme proposals submitted by Catalan universities are sent from the Universities Council to AQU Catalunya for referral and the corresponding programme review report to be drawn up, which is compulsory and determinative. The Agency has produced a guidebook that is designed as an aid, on the one hand, to academic coordinators for producing new doctorate proposals and, on the other, to the institution itself for the internal review of a proposal. Furthermore, it also serves as the instrument used by the Agency to carry out the independent external review of new proposals for doctoral degrees. The structure of the guidebook conforms to the provisions (Appendix I) and evaluation criteria (Appendix II) set out in Royal Decree 99/2011.

The structure of the Guide to the formulation and ex-ante accreditation of proposals for recognised doctorate programmes thus conforms to the Ministry of Education's IT software programme for applications for the ex-ante assessment of a proposal. Its sequence is as follows:

• What is the purpose of the programme and why is it being proposed? Firstly, the definition of the degree needs to be established, regarding the aspects that both identify the proposal in administrative terms and justify interest in and the need for the programme, together with the anticipated course profile (intended learning outcomes).
• How will this be achieved? Achievement of the programme's learning outcomes will require the quality assurance of the following processes:
  • Student access and admission, which mark the starting point of doctoral studies, and the supervision and monitoring of doctoral candidates that, together with the delivery of the programme set out in the proposal, ensure students acquire the intended learning outcomes.
  • The planning of programme content in order for the competence profile (intended learning outcomes) to be achieved.
  • The necessary human, physical and support resources for the intended learning outcomes to be achieved.
  
  
• What are the anticipated outcomes and in what way are these guaranteed? i.e. the anticipated outcomes expressed in the quantitative values of indicators and quality assurance mechanisms for the monitoring, review and improvement of the recognised doctoral programme and associated procedures.

Current recognised doctoral programmes have until the 2013-2014 academic year to comply with the new regulations. To this end, AQU is currently setting in place the necessary mechanisms with the universities and the Directorate General for Universities to coordinate both the submitting and assessment of proposals.