Butlletí

A bimonthly publication of AQU Catalunya

41

March 2009

EDITORIAL

Humanism and the 21st century university

For the last years there has been an opinion to which university has been described almost solely in economic terms: "competitive university, which must ensure supply meets market demand, efficient and effective, etc.". Such notions may lead one to think, dare I say it, that the only goal of universities is to train professionals according to market needs and nothing more. In specific fields of knowledge this simplification of the reality leads both lecturers and students to feel a certain degree of conflict since it is difficult for us to determine where we fit in within such a model.

AQU NEWS

• AQU Catalunya participates in the OECD-promoted AHELO study 27.02.2009
• The deadline extended for submitting documentation to the AUDIT programme (2009 call for applications)17.02.2009
• The AQU Catalunya programme on Training students in quality assurance in higher education, selected as an example of good practice for European universities16.02.2009
• Release of a new edition of the document, Internal Quality Assurance Systems - guidelines, definition and documentation11.02.2009
• The AQU Board of Management calls for established agreements governing the review of Bachelor and Master’s degree programmes by the Agency be put into effect28.01.2009
• AQU Catalunya sets the criteria for the assessment of collaborating lecturer15.01.2009
• AQU Catalunya certifies the UOC's teaching assessment handbook 13.01.2009
• Results of the 2008 call for the assessment of research work by public service university teaching and research staff 08.01.2009

ARTICLES

• Involving students in the improvement of university quality
  Recently, the European project launched by EUA, Quality Assurance for the Higher Education Change Agenda, has selected the courses promoted by AQU Catalunya on the participation of students in quality processes as a good practice in the field of student engagement, that is to say, students’ involvement in and commitment to their institutions. The reason for the selection of this initiative as a good practice is that the course programme is a creative action which responds to some needs which we universities and agencies have been observing lately.
  Albert Basart Capmany - Project Manager of AQU Catalunya

OPINION

• Notes on Student Participation: the Perspective of the Persons Involved
  

  Aleix Barrera Corominas and Anna Ginesta Fontserè
  Pedagogue and doctoral candidate in Educational Quality and Innovation (Autonomous University of Barcelona - UAB) and Pedagogue and doctoral candidate in Psychology of Education (University of Barcelona - UB)

  One of the current debates on the university is the role of students in decision-making processes and in the quality assurance mechanisms. In this respect, there are discordant voices in relation to the function which this collective is to carry out, what its responsibilities are to be, and what role is to be assigned to it.

AQU RECOMMENDS

• Student membership of audit and review teams. Learning from Nordic experience
• What Bologna is? (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación)