ShareAQU Catalunya Begins Its ESG Compliance Review
The self-assessment report, a key requirement for successfully completing the review, is currently undergoing consultation with a range of internal and external stakeholders.
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AQU Catalunya has begun the process of reviewing its compliance with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG). Like all higher education quality assurance agencies seeking recognition at the European level, the Agency must undergo an international external review every five years to demonstrate compliance with the ESG framework for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The review is coordinated by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA). Successfully completing this process enables agencies to be listed in the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR), a prerequisite for carrying out quality assurance activities in Catalonia.
This is the Agency’s fifth external review. AQU Catalunya successfully completed its first review in 2007, becoming one of the first three quality assurance agencies in Europe to achieve this recognition. This milestone enabled its registration in EQAR. In 2022, the Agency became the first to undergo the review through the Targeted Review model, a streamlined process available to external quality assurance agencies that have successfully passed the review on two consecutive occasions.
AQU Catalunya has already prepared the self-assessment report required for the review process. Before submitting it to the external review panel, the document is being circulated among a broad range of internal and external stakeholders so that they may review it and suggest improvements. These stakeholders include the Institutional and Programme Evaluation Committee (CAIP) and its specific committees, the Chair of the Research Evaluation Committee and its Specific Committee for the Evaluation of Teaching and Management Activities, the Appeals Committee, the Advisory Committee, vice-rectors responsible for quality at Catalan universities, university Quality Units, the Student Committee, all members of the Governing Council, the Department of Research and Universities, and the Directorate-General for Lifelong Learning.
Once feedback from all stakeholder groups has been collected, the Governing Council of AQU Catalunya is expected to approve the document at its July meeting. In addition to this requirement, the Agency will host an external review visit from 25 to 27 November.
The appointed review panel is composed of Padraig Walsh, independent consultant and former Chief Executive of Quality and Qualifications Ireland; Yvonne Overdevest, Senior Quality Assurance Policy Officer at the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders; Belén Floriano, Professor at Pablo de Olavide University in Seville; and Mark Dzoljic, Master’s student in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam.
The review process is expected to conclude in April 2027.