ShareGender equality
AQU Catalunya has always been committed to gender equality. As a result of the Agency's commitment to gender between men and women, a wide range of initiatives have been carried out over the years to improve women's status in the Agency's organisational areas and to contribute to the same goal in its areas of action.
In the interest of transparency, the following is an overview of the Agency's actions on equality and gender mainstreaming since 2008.
Good governance
- Gender parity in the composition of the assessment commissions. The commissions are an essential body of AQU Catalunya, as they represent the assessment structure of the Agency. Two of the three assessment commissions are chaired by women. They are the Appeals Comission and the Research Assessment Commission. Both commissions, together with the Institutional and Program Review Commission, are equal in their internal composition. Furthermore, there is also a notable presence of women on the specific commissions, as three of them —the Arts and Humanities, Health and Medical Sciences and Institutional Assessment comissions— are chaired by women.
- Gender parity in the appointment of experts. For years, AQU Catalunya has guaranteed gender parity in the appointment of experts who collaborate with the Agency in the various assessment processes and activities. In 2023, the proportion is 47% female experts to 53% male experts.
- Participation in the Inter-university Council of Catalonia’s Women and Science Committee. AQU Catalunya actively participates in the Inter-university Council of Catalonia’s Women and Science Committee, whose main objective is to promote the development of equality and gender perspective policies in the field of higher education and research in the Catalan Higher Education System. In other words, the commission ensures the effective equality of women and men in teaching and research careers as well as among administrative and service staff.
- Incorporation of the chosen name and gender field in forms. As part of what AQU Catalunya considers as good, ethical and fair governance, and in compliance with the related regulations, the Agency has also incorporated the possibility of including the chosen name of transgender people who register using the registration form. In addition, the gender field has also been incorporated so that people who define themselves as non-binary can embody their reality.
Assessment processes
- Informe sobre les actuacions dutes a terme per la CAR en matèria de perspectiva de gènere 2024-2025 (2026). The Research Assessment Commission (CAR, from its Catalan initials) has been progressively incorporating a gender perspective into all its activities since the approval, in 2015, of Act 17/2015 on the effective equality of women and men. The improvement actions undertaken by the CAR in this area are set out in a report published in 2026, which identifies AQU Catalunya’s affiliation with the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) as catalysts for its actions on gender equality. The report lists a total of eight actions, among which particular emphasis is placed on the adaptation of the criteria for permanent contracted academic staff positions (associate professors and full professors), which have expressly incorporated consideration of diverse professional career paths resulting from the reconciliation of family and professional life, and on the agreement adopted by the Research Assessment Commission on measures to ensure equality and work–life balance in the assessment of teaching and research staff.
- La incorporació de la perspectiva de gènere en els processos d’avaluació de titulacions i de programes (2026). The Institutional and Programme Review Commission (CAIP, from its Catalan initials) has been progressively incorporating a gender perspective into all its activities since the approval, in 2015, of Act 17/2015 on the effective equality of women and men. The actions carried out in this regard are set out in a specific report published in 2026, which presents the various initiatives of the CAIP to comply with the requirement to act with a gender perspective within the scope of its competencies. Notable examples include the development and approval, in 2018, of the General Framework for the Incorporation of a Gender Perspective in University Teaching, the introduction of a gender perspective into the institutional and programme evaluation methodologies of the CAIP in accordance with current legislation, and the approval during 2025 of the Framework for Enhancing the Institutional Quality of the Catalan Higher Education System (QUALINS Framework), aligned with new international trends and, therefore, aimed at building an inclusive European Higher Education Area that ensures gender equality.
- Agreement on measures to ensure equality CAR (2025). The Research Assessment Commission (CAR, from its Catalan initials) of AQU Catalunya approved, in 2024, an agreement on measures to ensure equality and work–life balance in the evaluation of teaching and research staff. The aim of this agreement is to guarantee equality and the reconciliation of family and professional life in the evaluation or accreditation procedures for teaching and research staff, both civil servants and contracted personnel, which fall within the remit of the CAR. The agreement specifies, among other aspects, that in relation to the procedures for accrediting the merits of associate professors and full professors, special circumstances arising from maternity and paternity leave, career breaks, sick leave, or any other justified personal circumstance that has resulted in an irregular research and teaching trajectory will be taken into consideration.
- Analysis of the age of applicants for teaching staff accreditation (2023). The gender perspective that AQU Catalunya applies to its studies has led the Agency to check, among other things, what is the reality of men and women in various scenarios in the context of higher education in Catalonia. At the end of 2023, the analysis of the age of applicants for teaching staff accreditation showed this reality broken down by gender. The study concluded that women, despite submitting the application for a favourable reader's report earlier than men, obtain the advanced research report one year later.
- Analysis of gender perspective in teaching staff accreditation (2022). As a result of the study on the research period assessment carried out in 2019, which ruled out gender discrimination in this field, AQU Catalunya decided to broaden the focus of the analysis in a new report by addressing other assessments and incorporating a contextual view, which is essential in order to be able to interpret them correctly. The document, called Gender perspective in AQU Catalunya teaching staff accreditation, is structured in two blocks. The first analyses the context of the teaching staff at Catalan universities which is broken down by gender. The second section analyses the assessments of AQU Catalunya's teaching staff accreditation processes on the basis of the profiles of the applications and the so-called success rate.
- Analysis of the gender perspective in the research period assessment (2019). AQU Catalunya, commissioned by the inter-university Council of Catalonia’s Women and Science Committee, produced the report in 2019 Research periods and gender: Research periods of non-civil servant teaching staff assessed by AQU Catalunya. Drawing on 6,987 files of recruited PDI assessed by AQU Catalunya up to 2019, the text reflects the Agency's best practices in assessment processes and concludes that there is no direct or indirect discrimination on the basis of gender in the assessment of applications received. The study specifically identified differences between men and women in the speed of reaching the periods and in the number of periods reached. However, the study concluded that the area of knowledge is likely to be much more influential than gender on the average number of years needed to reach the section.
- General framework for incorporating the gender perspective in higher education teaching (2018). AQU Catalunya has been a pioneer in the development of methodological materials with the aim of contributing to the incorporation of the gender perspective in university teaching given that it approved in 2018 the General framework for incorporating the gender perspective in higher education teaching. This document sets out guidelines and recommendations for effectively mainstreaming a gender equality perspective in all areas of higher education teaching and shows that the gender perspective must be a cross-cutting element in training programmes, as it is a fundamental aspect of the quality of the education provided within the Catalan university system.
- Assessment of degree programmes and institutions. AQU Catalunya has been systematically incorporating criteria for the cross-cutting assessment of the gender perspective in the set of Assessment guidebooks, both those linked to the assessment processes of recognised degrees (validation and accreditation) and the institutional accreditation process of centres. In this way, a specific response is given to Act 17/2015 on effective equality between men and women, and to Act 17/2020, of December 22, on the right of women to eradicate gender violence. Gender mainstreaming in the assessment processes of degrees and institutions also contributes to university institutions responding to the mandates in this area included in the different university regulations and legislation (RD 822/2021, LOSU, LCC).
- Teaching evaluation. The Research Assessment Commission is committed to adopting assessment measures in order to ensure the principles of equality and equal opportunities for all applicants. This is especially the case in situations related to maternity or paternity leave, leave of absence to care for children, to care for dependent first-degree family members and/or due to gender-based violence. A section has been included in the curriculum for the assessment of six-year periods and in the accreditation of tenure-eligible lecturers, associate lecturers and full professors, in which the person concerned can list the personal circumstances that may have interrupted their scientific career so that the specific assessment commissions can take this into consideration when assessing them.
Studies
- Gender and employment outcomes (2020). In 2020, with the support of the Catalan Women's Institute and the Inter-university Council of Catalonia, AQU Catalunya carried out a study entitled Women's Employment Outcomes Twenty Years after Finishing University which, as its name suggests, explores how men and women have evolved differently in the labour market since graduation. The study points out that women graduating in 2001 are more likely to be in part-time employment and have lower gross annual earnings. According to the study's findings, this is due to the impact of motherhood on working life, which can lead to a reduction in women's working hours and pay and subsequently harm their chances of reaching positions of responsibility. Following on from the 2008 and 2011 studies, the report was presented at a conference attended by more than 250 people and has been viewed more than 500 times on YouTube.
- Gender and employment outcomes (2011). With the support of the Catalan Women's Institute, AQU Catalunya carried out a study in 2011 focusing on the analysis of the data obtained in the AQU employability survey conducted that same year on the graduating class of 2001. The study reflects the employment status of this group of graduates ten years after graduation. The document, called Gènere Gender and employment outcomes. Gender and graduate labour market outcomes, observed a systematically favourable trend for men, as for example in the percentage of the graduate population that holds positions with responsibility for people, or in the percentage of the graduate population that has been promoted. The study also detected in this survey is a certain level of gender-based segregation in the labour market between males and females with the same degree. In other words, there is a higher percentage of females in areas of economic activity that reconcile professional, private and family life, for example, education.
- Gender and employment outcomes (2008). AQU Catalunya carried out a study in 2008 on Gender and graduate labour market outcomes who had completed their studies in 2005. Through the study Gender and graduate labour market outcomes, it pointed out that the degree, rather than gender, is the key factor affecting the labour market transition process and the quality of employability. This means that there are no significant differences in job quality between males and females who had taken the same degree, and the variable that best explains the quality of entry into the job market is the degree taken.
Internal organisation
- Agreement on measures LGTBIQ+ (2025). AQU Catalunya, like all public administrations, must comply with a series of fundamental principles such as equality and non-discrimination. For this reason, in 2025 the Agreement between Staff and Management for the Incorporation of Measures for the Equality and Non-Discrimination of LGTBIQ+ People at AQU Catalunya 2025–2027 was proposed and approved in an assembly. The measures set out in the agreement apply to all individuals working at AQU Catalunya, regardless of the type of contract that links them to the Agency.
- AQU Catalunya Equality Plan 2024-2027. In 2024, AQU Catalunya published its first Equality Plan, which will be applicable for a four-year period, from this year to 2027. The aim of this document is to respond to the concerns of the Agency's staff in terms of equality and the gender perspective, and to promote actions during its period of validity that promote the effective equality of women and men and non-discrimination of LGBTIQ+ people. The plan was drawn up through a Negotiating Committee made up of representatives of AQU Catalunya's staff and management and an expert in the field of equality.
- Protocol for the prevention and handling of sexual and gender-based harassment (2020). On an internal level, the Protocol for the prevention and handling of sexual and gender-based harassment was also presented to people joining the Agency, as provided for in the Welcome and Induction Plan. The protocol dates back to 2020 and includes a series of actions to protect potential victims and to guide them when lodging complaints, both internally and externally. AQU Catalunya's commitment to zero tolerance is demonstrated by the existence of the protocol and its internal disclosure.
- Staff training plan. The continuous training of AQU Catalunya staff in matters of equality and gender perspective is provided by the Agency both in internal sessions and in externally organised courses. Throughout 2023, seven people from the Agency have been trained in equality and gender perspective in six courses totalling 42 teaching hours. The gender perspective has also been included in the training satisfaction questionnaires given to the Agency's staff.