ShareAQU Catalunya publishes its first Butlletí of 2024
The publication features an opinion piece on the level of internationalisation of Catalan universities, an article on the complex academic trajectories of university students and, inter alia, a review of the findings of the Employability in Programme Development project.
AQU Catalunya begins 2024 by publishing a new edition of its quarterly newsletter, which compiles the Agency's most important activities over the last few months and focuses on a range of current issues in the world of university quality assurance in Catalonia and in the Spanish and international context. This new issue of the Butlletí, which has been published today and can be found here, opens with an opinion piece by AQU Catalunya president Francesc Xavier Grau, focusing on the level of internationalisation of Catalan universities.
In addition to highlighting the high level of internationalisation of the Catalan Higher Education System, Grau refers to the definition proposed by Dr Hans de Wit, Director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, at the last European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF), which was held in Aveiro, Portugal, in November. The president quotes, "The internationalisation of higher education is defined as the intentional process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions and delivery of post-secondary education, in order to enhance the quality of education and research for all students and staff and to make a meaningful contribution to society”.
Secondly, the Butlletí features an article by José Luis Mateos González, a senior technologist in the Internationalisation and Knowledge Generation Department of AQU Catalunya, which provides an in-depth insight into the experience of the Employability in Programme Development. Over the course of three years, AQU Catalunya and several European universities have attempted to bring university education and training closer to the needs of the labour market.
The following article in the Butlletí deals with a wide-ranging analysis of the complex trajectories of students in the Catalan Higher Education System. The text, written by Carina Álvarez Ramos, UNEIX coordinator, and Raquel Barandalla Herrero, UNEIX statistical technician, reviews the work carried out by the eight organisations from four different countries that have taken part in this project, funded by the European Union through Erasmus+. Collectively, the project aims to understand the different typologies of academic trajectories that students follow once they enter university. The report also indicates that the project seeks to broaden the concept of success, as it positively values the completion of the specific study that the student starts at university, as well as the fact that the student completes any other university study.
Finally, the Bulletin includes an opinion piece by sociology PhD Rosario Scandurra on the potential of employability initiatives for recent university graduates to join the job market. Many universities have specialist teams of experts in professional development and employment to attempt to improve the job prospects of their graduates in the labour market.