ShareAQU Catalunya meets with the Vice-Rectors for Quality and the Quality Assurance Units at higher education institutions in Catalonia
The Agency’s director, Jaume Valls Pasola, presented his report on the Agency’s latest projects, which include an update of the teaching assessment methodology and the development of new benchmarks, among others.
The Quality Assurance Units at higher education institutions in Catalonia and the Committee of Vice-Rectors for Quality in Catalan universities met on Thursday and Friday, respectively, at the headquarters of AQU Catalunya to discuss the Agency’s activities in areas that most affect them. During the sessions, after approving the minutes of the previous meeting, Jaume Valls Pasola, Director of AQU Catalunya, presented his report to those in attendance.
On this occasion, the Director’s Report focused on issues such as the status of the current assessment processes and the planning of the Agency’s external visits for 2026. Valls also explained the current status of the update to the teaching assessment methodology and provided new information on the development of benchmarks, notably for medicine, which has already been the subject of two working meetings. The director of AQU Catalunya then updated both groups on the forthcoming studies being carried out by the Agency: the Employer Survey, the Recent Graduate Satisfaction Survey and the Employment Outcomes Survey, which is still in its early stages. Lastly, Valls outlined the upcoming conferences to be held by AQU Catalunya, including one on the European Approach, which will take place online on 29 April and for which registration is still open here.
The meeting, the first of 2025, addressed, following the presentation of the Director’s Report, the draft royal decree amending Royal Decree 640/2021 of 27 July, on the creation, recognition and authorisation of universities and university centres and the institutional accreditation of university centres, and other related regulations. On this issue, AQU Catalunya has prepared a technical document that has been sent to the ministry responsible for universities and the Government of Catalonia’s Directorate-General for Universities..
Valls then presented the results of AQU Catalunya’s survey of the satisfaction levels of 10 quality assurance units at higher education institutions in Catalonia. Lastly, the director of the Agency presented the Framework for the Improvement of the Institutional Quality of the Catalan Higher Education System (QUALINS Framework), which will replace the VSMA Framework, which was first applied in 2010 and subsequently updated in 2016. The new QUALINS Framework is aligned with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG), promotes a culture of quality, and respects universities’ diversity and autonomy. You can find out more about the QUALINS Framework in the next AQU Catalunya newsletter, which will be available at the end of next week here.