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Butlletí

A bimonthly publication of AQU Catalunya

61

July 2012

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EDITORIAL

Initial reactions to the international external review of AQU Catalunya by ENQA

At three o'clock on the dot on 29 March, as scheduled in the timetable of meetings, the international external panel that was reviewing AQU Catalunya for the renewal of its membership to ENQA and the EQAR register completed its site visit to the Agency. As has been explained over this last year, it is highly important for AQU Catalunya to successfully undergo this review, as it was with the previous review in 2007, because it is a prerequisite for carrying out validation (ex-ante accreditation) of recognised university degree programmes.

During the two-day long review, interviews were held with around fifty people including the president and members of the Agency's Board of Management; officials from the Secretariat for Universities and Research; chairs and members of the Agency's quality assurance commissions for degree programmes and teaching; programme and institution reviewers; heads of university quality units; members of the Students Advisory Committee (CAE); and the management and staff of AQU Catalunya.


AQU NEWS

ARTICLES

  • Time to assess the impact of quality assurance on European higher education
    There is at the present time a need for quality assurance agencies and other related bodies (such as ENQA, EUA and ESU) to assess the usefulness of policy consisting of the external review and evaluation of quality in higher education (HE), in the sense that HE is a service. It is a service that is highly complex and sophisticated; it is considered by society to be a public good, even though it has certain characteristics of a private good; and it is offered by a large number of state-run universities in Europe.
    Josep Grifoll Saurí - Head of Quality Assessment department of AQU Catalunya
  • European education projects
    Education and training are an essential part of the Europe 2020 Strategy. Adopted by the European Union to address the current economic and financial crisis, the plan aims to transform Europe into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy by 2020.
    Àngel Jiménez Aranda - Manager of AQU Catalunya
 

OPINION

  • Accountability: an opportunity for improvement or does it just makes matters worse?

    Alfonso Martín Gallego
    Member of the AQU Student Commission

    On 29 May I had the opportunity to participate in the round of interviews programmed by the ENQA external review panel within the context of the international review of AQU Cataluña. As a member of the AQU Student Commission and a collaborator of the AUDIT 2010 programme, I was given the opportunity to clarify student participation in the agency.

    As a matter of fact, when Josep Antón Ferré informed us in the Student Commission's late spring session that AQU Cataluña was going to be reviewed and that the review panel also wanted to meet us I felt like a co-author and responsible. After all, students are so involved in the agency's projects that, as a result of our advice, priority is given to certain actions, meaning that it is also partially our responsibility.

 

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© 2012 AQU Catalunya - Legal number B-21.910-2008