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Butlletí

A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya

88

January 2018

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EDITORIAL

The challenges for 2018

While keeping in mind the political context that, to a limited extent, is affecting AQU Catalunya, our intention is to carry through as far as possible with the Action Plan endorsed by the Agency's Governing Board for 2018.

Our main priority is the quality assurance procedures that are the Agency's core activities. In this regard, new developments to be introduced in 2018 are:
  • Ex-ante accreditation (validation): the timetable for reviews has been modified (April-November) to ensure that the provision of programmes that will be definitely offered is available and released by the start of the Education Fair (Saló de l’Ensenyament).
  • Accreditation: start of the accreditation of doctoral programmes, as well as bachelor degree programmes in the Performing and Visual Arts. This will involve work on producing reports based on the available indicators that are required in the programme accreditation procedures.
  • Quality assurance of teaching staff: introduction of the automatic notification of decisions for E-Notum assessment reports, which should speed up the procedure and subsequent communication.


AQU NEWS

ARTICLES

  • Via Universitària II
    Via Universitària is a new project by the Agency that was started in October. This is the second edition of a study and survey funded and conducted by the Xarxa Vicenç Vives (the Vives Network of Universities). AQU Catalunya participates in the technical supervision of the survey (design, monitoring of the fieldwork), as well as in the dissemination of the findings for the participating universities.

    The Via Universitària project is an online survey of all students enrolled in recognised degree courses at universities in Andorra, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia. Its aim is to study student admission, learning environments, expectations, and experience with educational innovation, all from the perspective of equity.


    Anna Prades Nebot - Project manager
  • Invitation to participate in the 2020 survey study of the employment outcomes of graduates fron universities in Catalonia
    On behalf of the public universities, as requested by their Social Councils, and the private universities in Catalonia, AQU Catalunya is to conduct the field work for the seventh survey study of the transition into employment of graduates (graduate employment outcomes) from these universities in the first quarter of 2020. The study consists of a survey of graduates who completed their university studies three years prior to the study and gathers information on their opinions about their employment situation (current status and quality of employment) and satisfaction regarding their studies. The analysis of approximately one hundred variables will be used to monitor and obtain evidence for use by university authorities in decision making and for programme enhancement. The value of the study lies in its comparability in terms of its cross-disciplinary nature (all programmes in the study are covered by the same survey) and length, with the time series extending up to sixteen years in the case of certain undergraduate programmes.
    Editorial Department - AQU Catalunya
 

OPINION

  • The Via Universitària programme: information for decision making regarding admissions policies and learning environments for degree courses.

    Francesc Xavier Grau i Vidal
    Vicepresident, Vives Network of Universities

    With the last ten years having been spent on committing to the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the social dimension of higher education is now a matter that requires an unimpeded focus across Europe. This dimension encompasses the socio-economic component that is university students, their living conditions and learning environments, the return that students get from the courses they take and their possibilities of being able to benefit from international mobility programmes, among other things. The social dimension of higher education therefore also refers to equity in terms of opportunities, social class, family support, required study time, social advancement, satisfaction with the institution and the time spent there and, overall, a wide range of quantitative and qualitative variables. These factors can only attest to the realities of any university system through the undertaking of systematic data-based, comparitive studies.

 

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