A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya

92

January 2019

The approval of the General Framework for incorporating the gender perspective in higher education teaching by AQU Catalunya's Institutional and Programme Review Committee (CAIP) in December paved the way for compliance with article 28 of Act 17/2015, 21 July, on effective equality between men and women, which requires the gender perspective to be included in the curriculum of all first degree and postgraduate degree programmes, together with studies on the contribution of women throughout history in all fields of knowledge and in both academic and research activities. The framework document clarifies the more important concepts and dimensions and provides a guide to the different diagnostic elements with assessment indicators that affect both the approach to programmes and the way they are delivered.

The application of the gender perspective to all first degree and master's programmes in the five main subject areas necessarily implies a change in the approach to the methodological guides connected with the VSMA cycle of ex-ante accreditation, monitoring, modification and ex-post accreditation. It is now in the Agency's hands to review and adjust the various quality assurance procedures in order to incorporate the proposed set of indicators and diagnostic elements set out in the General Framework and thereby become fully capable of acting as an instrument for the promotion and assurance of quality in higher education and the university system in Catalonia.

Assessment of the gender perspective will be based on the situation of each programme. In the design of all new programmes, the gender perspective will need to be incorporated at the time of ex-ante accreditation. All other programmes will need to gradually incorporate the gender perspective through the corresponding quality assurance procedures (monitoring, modification and ex-post accreditation). Every assessment standard relates to the proposed indicators, which includes ones that are general in that focus on the context of each programme delivered in the faculty, indicators that are specific to the programme as set out in the course of studies, as well as indicators for student satisfaction. For example, offering training to teaching staff and research workers on gender perspective may affect the quality criterion of the programme of studies, whereas the involvement of teaching and research staff in gender perspective training is associated with the suitability of teaching staff criterion.

Both AQU staff and the experts on the committees and review panels will need to be trained in order for quality assurance of the gender perspective to be conducted properly, and they will need to be familiar with the concepts that comprise the conceptual framework of gender mainstreaming and understand their relevance for teaching in higher education.

There is still a long way to go until the gender perspective covers the entire university community. Now that a start has been made with a document that lays down guidelines and offers recommendations, the next step will be to learn and discuss how to introduce and assess the changes that will make it possible to effectively incorporate the gender perspective across teaching as a whole in higher education.