ShareAQU Catalunya trains some forty members of the external evaluation committees (CAEs) that will carry out the 2025 institutional accreditation visits
The Agency has set up 10 external assessment committees this year, which today received the training required to carry out external accreditation visits at AQU Catalunya’s headquarters.
Today, at the Agency’s headquarters, AQU Catalunya trained some forty members of the External Assessment Committees (“CAEs”) that are to carry out the external visits planned by AQU Catalunya this year. In total, 10 external visits will be carried out over the course of 2025 to renew the institutional accreditation of 10 Catalan university institutions. Apart from the pilot visit, which took place in 2023, these 10 visits are the first to be made under the renewed institutional accreditation system.
The training session began at 10 am, with a welcome address by the director of AQU Catalunya, Jaume Valls Pasola. This was followed by a presentation from the Head of the Quality Assurance Department, Esther Huertas Hidalgo, who explained the current trends in institutional accreditation in the European Higher Education Area. Afterwards, the coordinator of the Quality Assurance Department, Albert Basart Capmany, introduced the participants to the institutional accreditation in the Catalan Higher Education System.
After a short break, in which the members of the CAEs were able to get to know each other, the Quality Assurance Department project managers Esther Adot Giménez and Caterina Cazalla Lorite explained how the institutional accreditation methodology should be applied. Albert Basart then outlined the evidence that should be collected for the evaluation during the visits. Finally, a third Quality Assurance Department project manager, Concepción Herruzo Fonayet, described in depth the procedure for the renewal of institutional accreditation.
The training of the evaluators who form part of the CAEs is essential for the effective functioning of the higher education evaluation process, and it is especially important during this initial phase of institutional accreditation renewals, as the teams will be using a methodology with which we have limited prior experience.