The introduction of the gender perspective in quality assurance procedures
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. Eva Benito - Management assistant adviser, Quality Assurance Department
Gender and equity: some quick facts about gender differences in Catalan universities
Gender equality is one of the UN's Sustainable Development goals for 2030, and it goes without saying that this also involves higher education institutions in Catalonia.
Gender inequalities are the structural outcome of different social roles and forms of more or less explicit violence that raise objective and subjective barriers on the path to equality. A rethinking and diagnosis of these inequalities are key drivers on the path to gender equality, and this has already begun at many observatories, units and entities on numerous levels of the university system.
Josep Joan Moreso (AQU Catalunya's President) and Daniel Torrents (Senior advisor of Internationalisation and Knowledge Generation Department)
Benchmarking and the design of new degree programmes: Economics and Business and Management
The establishment of the "Framework for the ex-ante accreditation, monitoring, modification and ex-post accreditation of recognised degrees" (or VSMA framework) in 2010 allowed AQU Catalunya to coherently link together the four quality assurance procedures that, pursuant to legislation, are compulsory for all recognised degree courses, the aim being to establish a more closely aligned conceptual coherence between the different internal and external QA procedures and to enhance their efficacy. In the case of ex-ante accreditation (also referred to as programme validation), analysis of the suitability of the educational objectives (learning outcomes) for newly-introduced programmes has always been carried out with the assistance of experts and in accordance with both European guidelines (ESG) and the legal regulations, whereas the use of cross-discipline benchmarks, with the exception of certain courses with pre-defined guidelines, has been insufficiently formalised. Carme Edo and Albert Basart - Senior advisors, Quality Assurance Department