The Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (Agència per a la Qualitat del SistemaUniversitari de Catalunya/AQU Catalunya) is an internationally recognised public entity. Its mission is the quality assurance (QA) of higher education in Catalonia in accordance with international quality, academic and social standards, and to safeguard the interests of society in ensuring that higher education fulfils its potential.

The Agency’s activities are developed through:

• The defence of democratic and progressive values in higher education.
• The involvement of all social actors in service to the community.
• The work and commitment of people who are competent, motivated and satisfied with a job well done.
• External quality assurance procedures involving analysis, review and evaluation, certification, audit and accreditation.
• International benchmarks and a clear focus on innovation.
• The promotion of transparency and public availability in the university system and the actions of the Agency.

AQU Catalunya is an independent actor in the university system that works with higher education institutions across Catalonia to assure and enhance the quality of programmes of study, teaching and teaching staff, faculties and schools, for which institutions themselves are ultimately responsible. It works to make a decisive contribution as a knowledge builder at local, national and international levels and to facilitate the quality enhancement of higher education institutions in a global context.

1. To develop innovative actions that impact higher education and the university system in Catalonia

1. Implement and consolidate the institutional accreditation of faculties and schools using appropriate methodologies to meet specific objectives.
2. Give more predominance to and promote quality labels, which serve as recognition and to distinguish good practices at both programme and institutional level in fields that are strategic to the university system in Catalonia.
3. Improve the quality assurance specifications for e-learning programmes within the same framework as other programmes.
4. Make more intensive use of the results of programme accreditation procedures in the areas of university policy and higher education programming.
5. Draw up and publish the profiles that are successful in the assessment procedure for teaching staff prior to selection for recruitment as a guide to assessment for prospective applicants.
6. Promote the recognition by other QA agencies in Spain of the outcomes of the assessment of teaching staff contracted by AQU Catalunya.
7. Adapt all stages of quality assurance involving institutional and programme review, including teaching staff assessment, to online processing.
8. Publish new studies in the fields of social equity, on the one hand, and graduate destinations and the transition into employment, on the other.

2. Facilitate integrated access to quantitative and qualitative data for use in quality assurance and enhancement in the university system in Catalonia

1. Set up an "observatory of talent" in Catalonia in order to better understand in real time the skills that are required in the labour market and to better match the needs of employers with those of graduates and higher education institutions.
2. Set up a catalogue of indicators for the university system in Catalonia and a consultation mechanism to support QA procedures.
3. Complete the repository of quantitative and qualitative data for all levels of degree programme, for the development of both strategic and continuous improvement approaches and to analyse and generate new knowledge.
4. Update the various AQU Catalunya websites: the corporate website to ensure accessibility and the Agency's specific web portals (EUC/Estudis Universitaris de Catalunya) to help guide prospective students in the selection of degree courses and for greater transparency in the running of the university system in Catalonia, especially for teaching staff and stakeholders.
5. Consolidate the gathering of data for use in QA systems, in particular student satisfaction surveys.

3. Underpin the international position of both AQU Catalunya and the university system in Catalonia

1. Increase participation in forums and projects and give impetus to quality assurance activities, giving priority to Europe and Latin America.
2. Provide impetus for the assessment of internationalisation as an additional dimension of programme accreditation for degree programmes that comply with the standards.

4. Maintain the expertise of in-house staff and external experts and contributors to enhance their commitment to their work with the Agency and their ability to embrace change

1. Promote the continuous training of experts involved in the Agency's QA procedures to reinforce their understanding of the objectives of quality assurance and consistency in the application of QA criteria.
2. Enhance the level of training of students in higher education QA procedures.
3. Reinforce AQU Catalunya's staff training programme through the placement of staff with other QA agencies and meetings to discuss the way in which other agencies and external review programmes function.
4. Analyse the aspects and scope of social responsibility that is applicable to AQU Catalunya and address these.

5. Have at its disposal the necessary funding and adequate human resources and facilities to handle all planned activities

1. Press for the drawing up of the four-year contract programme with the Government of Catalonia/Generalitat de Catalunya and for it to match the Agency's human and physical resources with its needs, and give impetus to its adoption and implementation.
2. Balance the number of the Agency's activities with its available human and physical resources.