A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya

97

April 2020

AQU Catalunya's Governing Board has endorsed the Agency's Action Plan for 2020 [ca], which will give impetus to the following activities:

• Institutional quality: We will continue to manage programmes of study through the VSMA framework, with the ex-ante accreditation (validation) of 65 new degree programmes, the modification of 200 programmes and 95 site visits involving the accreditation of 210 programmes; with regard to institutional review, we anticipate the review of 22 faculties and schools, 19 for certification of the Internal Quality Assurance System (IQAs) and 7 for the assessment of core IQAs aspects, and the institutional accreditation of all compliant applications; the assessment methodology for institutional reaccreditation is expected to be approved and, if possible, we will produce two newsubject benchmark statements for ex-ante accreditation.

• The quality assurance of teaching (teaching staff assessment): We again envisage the processing and assessment of around 2,000 applications covering all of the categories of teaching staff and around 730 applications for the assessment and accreditation of merits in research, as well as continuing to provide support for the Serra Húnter Programme. E-Notum, the e-notification system for the processing of teaching staff assessment dossiers, is to be introduced and we will complete the third round of accreditation of the teaching assessment handbooks used in the public universities in Catalonia, which was planned last year.

• Knowledge generation and transfer: We will carry out the Seventh graduate employment outcomes survey study and present the findings of the project; the Catalan Talent Observatory is to be set up, which will identify the trend of skills requirements in the labour market; we will continue to present the sectoral findings of the employers survey (of graduate employability) and start the new edition of the survey; we will be working on the satisfaction survey of recent graduates; the EUC and WINDDAT web portals will be combined into one platform; work will be carried out on two new cross-sectional reports on the state of recognised programmes of study and we will continue to publish the profile of teaching staff that successfully undergo accreditation, this year in the categories of senior lecturer and professor.

• Internationalisation: The Agency's involvement in all international projectsalready started will continue and we will continue to follow up and monitor all institutions offering foreign degrees and programmes of study in Catalonia and those accredited abroad by AQU Catalunya, according to resource availability.

• Strategic management: The Strategic Plan for 2019-2022 [ca], will be implemented and continued impetus given to the Agency's Action Plan concerning the external review of AQU Catalunya in compliance with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area, and approval will be sought for the contract programme with the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya). The number of members on the Appeals Committee is to be increased with new members from outside the university system in Catalonia, and work will start on the production of the new AQU Catalunya website.

• Internal organisation: Aspects of social corporate responsibility and sustainable development are to be included in the Agency's reports and internal activities. We will continue to introduce and implement management applications that provide support for the Agency's review, assessment and knowledge generation and transfer procedures. In the area of economic management, we will continue to consolidate the application of the Government of Catalonia's General Public Chart of Accounts. The registered offices of AQU Catalunya are also to be relocated and transferred.

 Strategic Plan for 2019-2022 [ca].