Approval of the Standards and criteria for the institutional accreditation of university centres
A meeting of AQU Catalunya's Institutional and Programme Review Committee was held today to endorse, amongst other things, the Standards and criteria for the institutional accreditation of university centres. This is a further steps towards the strategic engagement of AQU's Governing Board's with the progressive replacement of programme accreditation for the institutional accreditation of individual HE providers.
The Agency's Governing Board approved a Commitment by AQU Catalunya to provide for institutional accreditation in July 2020, on the basis of which an institutional accreditation Plan for 2022-2024 is to be agreed upon jointly with the universities in Catalonia and a campaign launched to raise awareness and implement tools to support the process of institutional accreditation.
At the present time, there are 11 HE providers with institutional accreditation out of a total number of 202 HE providers, including affiliated and partner schools and institutes, that deliver recognised degree programmes in Catalonia. Another 15 HE providers are in the process of certifying their internal quality assurance systems (IQAs) in order to obtain institutional accreditation.
In the meeting, the Committee also endorsed the following: Annex II. Additional aspects in the accreditation of first/bachelor's degrees in Medicine; the Guide to ex-ante accreditation for joint programmes using the European approach; and amendment of the Guide to the accreditation of recognised doctoral/PhD programmes.