Juan José Tarí
Chairman of the external review panel for the IQAs certification pilot project and University of Alicante
Certification of a faculty's internal quality assurance system (IQAs) goes one step further than the accreditation of study programmes and the AUDIT programme. Faculties have worked hard on designing their QA systems and are currently putting great effort into the accreditation of their study programmes. Those that wish to go one step further can take the pathway of continuous improvement through certification of their IQAs implementation (ex-post IQAs certification).
This programme is currently a pilot project run by AQU that enables faculties to undergo IQAs certification. Certification is at faculty level and not programme level, as is the case with programme accreditation. The certification procedure is based on AQU Catalunya's Guide to the Certification of IQAs Implementation, which identifies six dimensions:
Dimension 1. IQAs review and enhancement
Dimension 2. Programme design, review and enhancement
Dimension 3. Learning support and student guidance systems
Dimension 4. Academic staff
Dimension 5. Physical resources and services
Dimension 6. Public information
Each dimension includes a series of standards, with the emphasis in each dimension on the final standards based on the information gathered on the IQAs, study programmes, learning support systems, teaching resources, physical resources and services, and public information.