A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya

82

July 2016

The EUC web portal with the search engine that can be used to obtain information on the quality of any recognised Bachelor or Master's degree course at a university in Catalonia, was publicly launched this year on 1 June.

The idea to develop the EUC search engine came about because of the need, in line with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education (ESG), for the quality of degree programmes to be presented in a way that is easy to understand for all stakeholders, including school counsellors in secondary education, prospective university students and their families.
The response has been quite surprising, with more than 43,000 visits prior to my writing this editorial, which clearly shows how much interest there is in the quality of recognised higher education study programmes among the different stakeholder groups.

The EUC web portal, which can be accessed through mobile devices and in three languages, is structured according to various sections, the main ones being the home page; the search engine that offers an open search capability if one enters just the name of a given degree course as well as a closed search according to the type of programme (Bachelor or Master's), field of study or university. The tab on each course provides a description of the degree, the most recent quality assurance reports published with the corresponding certificates, quality labels and results for each item reviewed, in addition to the main indicators for each programme (admissions and enrolment, teaching staff, credit pass rate and drop-out rate, and graduate employment outcomes/placement).

What makes the portal interesting is that it is simple to use and different sources of information can be used to search for any degree course. These include:

• The descriptive data of the degree programme, which are taken from the Secretariat for Universities and Research's Catalan Register for Higher Education (Institutions, Degrees and Awards)/ROC.
• The quality assurance data are taken from the reports produced following review procedures by AQU Catalunya.
• The indicators are from two different sources:

1. o The indicators on admissions, enrolment and delivery are provided by the Uneix database system which has all of the information on the universities in Catalonia. Uneix is the result of a process launched jointly by the Secretariat for Universities and Research, the twelve universities in Catalonia and AQU Catalunya in 1999.
2. o The indicators on graduate employment outcomes are from the surveys of graduate employment outcomes in Catalonia coordinated by AQU Catalunya and carried out once every three years.

As one can imagine, the portal has only been made possible through the Agency's cooperation with and between all the public and private universities in Catalonia and the Secretariat for Universities and Research, together with the fact that the promotion of quality in higher education and the introduction of mechanisms for continuous improvement and enhancement have been centre-stage in the university system in Catalonia for twenty years now.

We are aware that the portal still has some way to go before all new developments are included, such as inter-university degree programmes appearing not just as degrees run at the coordinating university, but also at the other institutions where they are taught, as well as further enhancements requested by stakeholders. Nevertheless, we believe that the portal already in itself clearly sets a high standard for transparency, which is valuable not only for the academic community, but also society as a whole and the users of the EUC portal.

If you have time over the summer, and if you feel inclined, please visit the portal website and send us your comments and suggestions.

Wishing you all a good summer vacation!