To place all this in context, one should bear in mind that one hundred and twenty-three (123) individual site visits will be made this year in Catalonia for the purposes of programme accreditation, and next year this will increase to 210. I value this procedure very highly and it has been really useful in improving the quality management systems of degree programmes, amongst other things. As a procedure, however, it has likely reached saturation point and, in spite of efforts by both reviewees and reviewers, it would seem to me that there is evidently still room for improvement. The individual quality assurance of each degree course clearly leads to programme improvement though I also believe that joint review and evaluation within the context of a faculty or school would also allow for this with much lower costs and efforts. Just a decrease in number of site visits to a learning provider would reduce one considerable part of the procedure.
This type of faculty review forms part of what is referred to in Royal Decree 420/2015 as institutional reaccreditation. In short, this legislation lays down that a learning provider (an HEI faculty or school) with accreditation on at least half of all the recognised programmes it delivers and certification of its system of internal quality assurance (IQAs) will automatically receive institutional accreditation. The next visit subsequently takes place five years later and encompasses the entire faculty or school, which means that, for the first time, an authentic institutional accreditation of the learning provider will then be carried out.
The legislation also lays down that QA methodologies developed by agencies for institutional reaccreditation must comply with the protocol established by the General Conference on University Policy, on recommendation of the Ministry for Education, Culture and Sport. One can only imagine what is going on here from the fact that, five years on, the Conference has still not drawn up any protocol and neither would it appear to be in any hurry to do so. To date, we have received no information on this matter.
By contrast, it is absolutely urgent to establish how learning providers will be reviewed and evaluated in a few years time since this also conditions the policies of learning providers. That is why AQU Catalunya has decided to establish its own protocol in accordance with the European Standards (ESG), in expectation that state guidelines will do the same. It wouldn't in fact make any sense for them not to do so although we are aware that there may be some surprises in store for us in the future. Nevertheless, with an issue that is of such importance and urgency for the higher education system in Catalonia we cannot just stop and wait for entire national system to decide when the time is right.
So last June we completed a framework proposal for institutional accreditation. This was made publicly available and we received 167 comments from the universities and other groups. These were all analysed one by one and around 60% were accepted. It is now very likely that, before the end of the year, we will once and for all have the methodology to review and evaluate each learning provider as a single entity. It will then be approved and made available to faculties and schools so they can align their policies with aspects that will subsequently undergo quality assurance procedures.
I am convinced that this new methodology will help to reduce both costs and the number of procedures for all those concerned. We also trust that, between all of us, it has been designed fit-for-purpose and offers maximum guarantees for the accreditation and continuous quality enhancement of study programmes delivered at Catalan universities.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have been working on this methodology, which will very likely be used for the quality assurance of learning providers over the next 10 years, and in particular those of you who have helped us to improve it with your feedback and comments.
