In Catalonia, this situation is aggravated by fiscal deficits (excessively negative fiscal balance with the State and excessive levels of fraud and underground economy), which further compromise the availability of public resources. In these difficult circumstances, Catalonia must face the question of how to prepare the country for the future and improve the life prospects of future generations.
The decisive answer is given by the Catalan Agreement on the Knowledge Society: strengthen research, technological development and innovation. Through this, high-quality jobs, long-term employment and sustainable economic growth can be created, along with democratic strengthening linked to social development. Catalonia must be able to evolve from the group of European countries considered moderately innovative towards those that are today leaders in innovation.
To help achieve this goal, a coordinated and broadly agreed policy approach has been achieved in the form of a law: Law 9/2022, of 21 December, on Science, or the Catalan Science Act (LCC). Education, at all levels, and the capacity to generate new knowledge in all areas are the basis of the knowledge society. And the part of this basis that combines education and research is the university system. The main tasks of universities in society are, precisely, to provide high-quality academic education and carry out scientific research at the frontiers of knowledge, on which to base the development of fairer, more sustainable societies with higher shares of welfare.
Therefore, the basic units on which the increase in society’s level of knowledge is built are the same ones on which knowledge is structured in its universities: university departments. Knowledge does not evolve in closed compartments, but rather with high interdisciplinary interaction. However, disciplinary organisation is essential given the complexity of the evolution of knowledge, its great diversity and specificity. And the basic organisation of this knowledge in all the universities in the world is constituted by equivalent departments and units. Therefore, university departments are also the basic units on which a country’s scientific policy can be built.
For this reason, the LCC envisages, precisely, the University Strategic Plan for Research Excellence, which “recognises the effort, the involvement and the institutional will of the university to significantly enhance the internationalisation and the quality of the research of the departments, research groups, university research institutes and affiliated centres undertaking research, and also their interconnection and internal and external scientific collaboration, to the greatest extent”.
In Article 34 of the LCC, the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU Catalunya) is entrusted with the design, management and execution of all external reviews to obtain credentials for equivalent departments and units, including the approval of objective, known, measurable and internationally recognised indicators.
So, this is a very sensitive new assignment with great potential impact on the university system, which we hope will also have great significance for our country. AQU Catalunya is prepared to take it on with full responsibility, thanks to twenty years’ experience in assessing the research activity of university teaching staff, and also thanks to up-close knowledge of the experiences of other university systems that have already initiated institutional research assessment, with proven positive results in the improvement of its system.
We are facing a collective project devised to be relevant in the development of our knowledge system and, therefore, of Catalonia. It involves all the universities in the country, both public and private, and all areas of science. I am sure that, as was the case with the LCC itself, all affected parties will be keenly interested and involved. We hope to see the first results very soon.
