ShareThe Governing Board discusses how permanent teaching staff accreditations are being adjusted to comply with Higher Education system's Organic Law
In addition to concluding the 2023 fiscal year and overseeing the Agency's operations, the most recent meeting of the AQU Catalunya Governing Board was centred on the status of the adaptation of the permanent teaching staff accreditations at LOSU, which are already scheduled to go into effect.
The uppermost governing body of AQU Catalunya, the Governing Board, convened yesterday as usual. One of the meeting's main objectives was to inform and debate the status of accreditations for permanent teaching staff in line with the requirements provided by the Organic Law of the Higher Education System (LOSU), which was passed in April 2023. The Agency's director, Jaume Valls, reported on the denomination that AQU Catalunya will use for the issuance of new teaching accreditations, which incorporates the LOSU requirements while maintaining the current denomination provided for in the Catalan University Law:
- Accreditation for associate professors (accreditation of research under Law 1/2003).
- Accreditation for full professors (accreditation of advanced research under Law 1/2003).
The director of AQU Catalunya then presented the minimum common criteria agreement, which was approved by the Spanish Network of University Quality Agencies (REACU) on 20 February and is awaiting ratification at the next meeting, for the evaluation of the initial figure of permanent teaching staff. After that, the president of the Research Assessment Commission outlined how the assessment criteria to be taken into account by the Commission will be adapted, such as the application of article 69.2. of the LOSU, as well as the minimum common criteria agreed in the REACU. She also explained the preliminary work that has been carried out and the planned activities in the coming months so that by January 2025 the Research Assessment Commission will be ready to replace the accreditations of research and advanced research with the new accreditations.
A public hearing spanning fifteen days, from the end of July to the beginning of September, has been scheduled as one of the phases of this process in order to gather feedback from the university community. The members of the Governing Board expressed their opinion on this matter and made some suggestions that the President of the Commission compiled.
Closing 2023
The meeting, which was scheduled to conclude the Agency's fiscal year 2023, also approved the AQU Catalunya annual activities and corporate social responsibility report, the annual accounts and the inventory for 2023. In this regard, the annual reports of the work completed by the commissions were given by the Agency's director along with Maria Pau Ginebra, the president of the Research Evaluation Commission, and Neus Vidal, the president of the Appeals Commission. AQU Catalunya's president and Governing Board member, Francesc Xavier Grau, also gave a report during the meeting regarding his appearance before the Parliament of Catalonia's Commission for Research and Universities. During that meeting, he discussed the challenges the Agency will face going forward and the status of the process of issuing excellence credentials in research, development, and innovation.
Finally, the Governing Board meeting appointed new members for the Institutional and Programme Review Commission, the Research Assessment Committee and the Appeals Commission. Furthermore, the multi-year expenses contracted between December 2023 and March 2024, as well as the underwritten and signed agreements, were ratified and the Agency's work list was modified.