ShareCOAPEL closes 2023 with 5 degree and 218 teaching staff appeals resolved
The AQU Catalunya Appeals Commission (COAPEL) published its 2023 report, which includes all the data on its activities over the last financial year.
The AQU Catalunya Appeals Commission published its report for 2023, which sets out all of its activities over the past year. The most significant aspects of the data included in this document are the four appeals and one review report against the negative validation of a degree, and the 218 appeals resolved by the committee regarding the teaching staff. COAPEL's activity is also important because only two appeals were lodged in 2023 through administrative litigation. In addition, two other contentious appeals from previous years were resolved, with two rulings in favour of AQU Catalunya.
As far as degree programmes are concerned, the outcome of the five aforementioned appeals processes was as follows: three appeals against the rejection of three higher education degrees (two Master's degrees and one PhD), one negative report on the review of a negative validation and one partially upheld appeal of an ex ante assessment of an Erasmus degree. In addition, an appeal was lodged at the end of 2023 against the rating of a report of non-accreditation of a degree, an appeal against the rating of the accreditation report of two degrees and another appeal against the rating of three degrees. These cases will be resolved in 2024.
In relation to the 218 appeals lodged by teaching staff in 2023 with COAPEL, it is worth noting that they represent only one third of the 764 negative assessments issued by AQU Catalunya in 2023, a year in which the Agency received a total of 4,403 applications from teaching staff. 41 of the appeals received by COAPEL were considered by the commission, representing 19% of the total number of appeals. The majority of the appeals presented (70) come from the assessment of research activity. According to areas of knowledge, 34% of the appeals submitted were from Social Sciences, 23% from Engineering and Architecture, 18% from Medical and Health Sciences, 16% from Humanities, 6% from Life Sciences and 3% from Sciences.
The contentious-administrative appeals filed are mostly based on formal issues relating to the lack of sufficient motivation of the assessments and, less frequently, on substantive issues that consider the sufficiency of research merits as a reason for the appeal to be upheld and positive assessments to be issued. In 2023, two contentious-administrative appeals were filed. In addition, during that year, the courts issued two dismissal rulings corresponding to appeals from previous years. There are currently five appeals pending judgement.
Established in 2015 and currently chaired by Dr. Neus Martínez Vidal, COAPEL met eight times in 2023. To carry out its activity, the commission had a group of 42 external expert reviewers dedicated to claims from the teaching staff department and another group of 8 external experts to review allegations presented in appeals related to degree programme assessment.