AQU Catalunya meets with the Quality assurance units at higher education institutions in Catalonia
The Agency presented a Director's Report to the quality technicians of the Catalan universities, informing them of benchmarks, the updating of the teaching assessment methodology and the forthcoming studies that will be carried out in the near future. The strategy for the micro-credentials accreditation was also discussed, in addition to other issues.
As it does periodically, AQU Catalunya summoned the representatives of the University QA Units of the Catalan public and private universities. This online meeting was to present to those attending the issues included in the director's report, with which the Agency's director, Jaume Valls Pasola, regularly updates the QA Units on the internal activities that are being carried out.
Firstly, the Director's Report provided an overview of the Agency's assessment activities throughout 2023, as well as those that are currently underway and those that AQU Catalunya plans to carry out in the near future. In addition, the Director's Report drew attention to the debate that took place at the meeting held at the Agency on 7 March to discuss the new VSMA Framework. This included a reference at the previous meeting to the need to simplify the assessment processes.
Subsequently, the report also discussed in the QA Units the referential documents currently being published by the Agency, which are made available by AQU to universities to guide them in the design and assessment of new degree programmes. Finally, the report introduced the attendees to the bases for the updating of the teaching assessment methodology, the forthcoming studies on which the Agency will focus, and the upcoming conferences.
In addition to the Director's Report, Esther Huertas, head of quality assurance at AQU Catalunya, also addressed the status of the implementation of Royal Decree 822/2021, which establishes the organisation of university education and the procedure for quality assurance. The first conclusions were then outlined on the pilot processes being carried out to monitor and renew centre institutional accreditation. Lastly, a discussion on the strategy for micro-accreditation took place.