ShareProfessor Antoni Serra Ramoneda, first president of AQU Catalunya, has passed away
The professor held the presidency of the Agència per a la Qualitat del Sistema Universitari de Catalunya between 1997 and 2008 and led its process of creation and consolidation.
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AQU Catalunya is in mourning. Yesterday, Professor Antoni Serra Ramoneda passed away at the age of 92. Throughout a life and professional career marked by a strong commitment to the country and to the university system, he held numerous positions of great responsibility, most notably his eleven-year term as president of AQU Catalunya, a position he occupied from 1997 to 2008.
As the first president of AQU Catalunya, Serra Ramoneda played a key role in the creation and consolidation of the Agency. His leadership, based on the ability to integrate diverse perspectives and to build shared paths, laid the foundations of what is now the Catalan quality assurance model.
Deeply committed to the university system, he firmly championed transparency and the value of data as essential tools for continuous improvement and accountability. Thanks to his dialoguing nature and strong convictions, the publication of key information —such as graduate employment data— was promoted, making a decisive contribution to strengthening trust, quality, and credibility within the Catalan university system.
Some of the milestones achieved by the Agency during his tenure, many of which remain in place today, include:
- Establishment of the Consortium for the Agency for the Quality of the University System of Catalonia (1997).
- Registration with the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (1998).
- Founding member of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education — ENQA (2000).
- Launch of the first graduate employment survey for graduates of Catalan universities (2001).
- Transformation of the consortium into a public-law entity of the Government of Catalonia through the approval of Act 1/2003, of 19 February, on Universities of Catalonia (2003).
- Founding member of the Spanish Network of University Quality Agencies — REACU (2006).
- Registration of AQU Catalunya in the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education — EQAR (2008).
His intellectual and institutional legacy will endure in the Agency’s work and in the memory of all those who had the opportunity to share in his guidance and commitment.
AQU Catalunya extends its deepest condolences to his family, his friends, and the entire community of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
May he rest in peace.