ShareAQU Catalunya publishes the new procedure for the renewal of the institutional accreditation of higher education institutions
The document is currently in a pilot phase and will therefore be revised in the future based on the experiences gathered during its application.
AQU Catalunya has published the Renewal of the institutional accreditation of higher education centres procedure on its website. This new document sets out the procedure to be followed periodically by university centres offering official degrees that have already obtained institutional accreditation to guarantee their quality.
This assessment procedure, which was approved at the last meeting of the Institutional and Programme Review Commission (CAIP) in November 2023, is applicable to the assessment of university higher education centres, such as faculties, university schools, doctoral schools, university departments, centres attached to public and private universities, and centres that offer lifelong learning Master's degrees. Institutional accreditation renewal also covers Bachelor's, Master's, PhD and Master's degrees in lifelong learning. In addition, other study programmes can also be included, such as specialisation diplomas, expert diplomas and micro-credentials.
As stated in the procedure, the institution is responsible for the monitoring and continuous enhancement of its activities during the period of institutional accreditation. As a result, the monitoring process can become the basis for the next institutional accreditation. The follow-up is a mandatory process of the institution, the resulting reports being some of the main evidences in the accreditation process.
The assessment reports and external review visit reports resulting from the application of this procedure will be published on the AQU Catalunya Review reports portal and in the Database of External Quality Assurance Results of EQAR (European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education). As specified in the published procedure, AQU Catalunya issues the seals and certificates for each assessment process on the basis of the approval of the Agency's Governing Board.