ShareAQU Catalunya publishes the annual report from the chair of the COAPEL
The document, which reports on the activities carried out by the Agency’s Appeals Commission, indicates that a total of 312 appeals were processed in 2024.
AQU Catalunya has today published the annual report from the chair of the Appeals Commission (COAPEL). In the document, the current chair, Neus Vidal Martínez, a full professor at the University of Barcelona, summarises the activities of this AQU Catalunya commission in 2024. Over the past year, the COAPEL held nine meetings—eight of them remotely and one in person—to review a total of 312 appeals. Regarding the nature of the Commission’s meetings, five focused exclusively on appeals from the university teaching sector and four combined appeals from that sector with appeals from the university degree sector.
A total of 56 individuals from outside AQU Catalunya reviewed the appeals submitted to the COAPEL: 39 men and 17 women. Furthermore, as indicated in the report, 39 of these individuals came from Catalonia, while 17 came from other areas of Spain. Of the 312 appeals submitted, the COAPEL dismissed 257 and upheld 55, i.e. 21% of those submitted. Of the appeals upheld, 15 relate to tenure-eligible lecturer reports, 12 to research accreditations, 6 to advanced research accreditations and 22 to the assessments of the research activity of staff employed by public and private universities.
Furthermore, as shown in the report, the majority of the appeals submitted came from the field of Social Sciences (125). Ranked from highest to lowest, the fields of knowledge generating the most appeals were Engineering and Architecture (67), Humanities (44), Medical and Health Sciences (39), Sciences (22) and Life Sciences (15).
As the report points out, in 2024, individuals whose appeals were not upheld by the COAPEL had the option of taking their cases to the administrative courts, which a total of six people did. Of the appeals pending judicial resolution dating prior to 2024, two were upheld last year, and one was dismissed. There are currently a total of eight appeals filed over several years pending judgement.
The Appeals Commission is responsible for resolving appeals filed against the decisions taken by the Research Assessment Commission, the Institutional and Programme Review Commission, their specific commissions, and the other certification and accreditation commissions referred to in Article 11 of Law 15/2015 of 21 July, on the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency. The COAPEL can carry out two types of reviews: review reports and appeal resolutions.