A bimonthly publication of AQU Catalunya

61

July 2012

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.

Conceptually speaking, the fact that AQU Catalunya was going to be subject to review created a non-resolute tension. On the one hand, the reasoning behind the hackneyed slogan Who controls the reviewer? used in present-day demands by students began to fall apart like a house of cards, whole on the other, some of us for the very first time began to hear talk of a strange word that in times of crisis was beginning to be spoken about in some faculties here, namely, accountability.

And while as students we are used to being accountable for the returns on our university education (to our parents, the companies who will eventually take us on as trainees, grant schemes, etc.), the majority of faculties are unfamiliar with transparency. And so it was that, overcome with curiosity, I spent the days prior to the interview going over and remembering my experience in the agency.

It was an easy and pleasant experience. In the two years that the Student Commission has been in existence, various different specific projects have been carried out that have had immediate results, ranging from a seminar on student representation in the universities in the EU to participation in degree quality assurance and validation programmes. What is more, the last e-mail I received from AQU in my inbox is a copy of the self-management report by the review panel requesting our collaboration in reporting on possible improvements.

In this regard, collaborating with the review panel was for me a service where the atmosphere was relaxed and the people wholeheartedly involved. If anything, I can say that accountability, far from becoming an obligation or an imposition for the agency, is seen as an opportunity for making improvements, with feedback being provided on the way that things are running. Furthermore, a variety of different questions were asked about the role of students within the agency.

It is true that there were also occasions for self-criticism and acceptance of the possible drawback that most of the activities are carried out under the premise of the good faith of the universities, which on various occasions had me feeling somewhat like a UN peacekeeper.

Nevertheless, I think the review panel went away from the interview with a clear enough picture of the role of students in AQU Cataluña. And while progress still needs to be made, integrating the potential of students is an excellent start to designing a better tomorrow.