A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya
Jaume Valls Pasola, director of AQU Catalunya
Since its publication at the end of September, Royal Decree 822/2021 has turned the working systems and priorities of universities upside down in terms of quality management and processes. Teachers in the classroom have noticed no immediate effect so far; nor have the students. But university management teams know that change is very relevant from many points of view, and that this will gradually be felt in the front office.
More than a decade has passed since the process of adapting university degree programmes to the European Higher Education Area was completed in Spain, an adaptation linked to regulatory changes that established validation (or ex-ante accreditation) as a key element within the set of quality assurance processes of these new degree programmes.
As a result of the passing of Royal Decree 822/2021 of 28 September, establishing the organisation of university education and the quality assurance procedure, a paradigm shift has taken place in terms of the definition of the educational profile of university degree programmes. This is a very positive change, involving the setting of learning objectives, the graduation profile and, especially, the learning outcomes that students are expected to achieve.
One of Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott’s most remarkable poems is titled “A Map of Europe”, which arose from his contemplation of the peeling wall of his bedroom: “Like Leonardo’s idea / Where landscapes open on a waterdrop / Or dragons crouch in stains, / My flaking wall, in the bright air, / Maps Europe with its veins”.
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