ShareThe Pere Tarrés Faculty of Social Education and Social Work, the first university centre in Catalonia to renew its institutional accreditation
Following an external visit, AQU Catalunya issued a positive report for the accreditation of the Pere Tarrés Faculty of Social Education and Social Work at Universitat Ramon Llull.
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The Pere Tarrés Faculty of Social Education and Social Work has been the first university centre in Catalonia to renew its institutional accreditation. The faculty, which is part of Ramon Llull University, was accredited for the first time in 2018 and before six years passed from the time of initial accreditation it had to undergo the process of renewing this status. Their pioneering case within the Catalan higher education system was already part of a conference organised by AQU Catalunya. Currently, there are around sixty institutionally accredited centres in Catalonia, which will have to follow the same assessment process as the Pere Tarrés Faculty once the initial institutional accreditation period expires.
The accreditation process
AQU Catalunya's duties include the issuing of institutional accreditation reports on university centres to validate, through external visits, their suitability to carry out their educational activities. Royal Decree 640/2021, of 27 July, sets out the main requirements to be met by university centres in order to obtain initial institutional accreditation. These include renewing the accreditation of at least half of their degree programmes and having the internal quality assurance system (IQAS) implementation certification.
Once these two requirements are met, the centre is considered an institutionally accredited centre. This gives it more autonomy in assuring the quality of its educational programme thanks to its proven effectiveness demonstrated by the processes it has implemented to ensure improvement.
Renewal
Before the centre reaches six years after obtaining the initial accreditation, it must undergo an external visit that accredits its correct operation based on the fulfilment of the Guidelines for the Institutional Accreditation of University Centres, approved in July 2021. After the visit, AQU Catalunya's Institutional and Programme Review Commission (CAIP) issues a positive report that allows the centre's accreditation to be renewed.
During the evaluation, the External Assessment Committee analyses the centre's policies and strategy; the design, approval and deployment of educational programmes; student admission, progression, recognition and certification; teaching staff; student-centred learning, teaching and assessment; learning resources and student support; IQAS implementation and academic results; and public information on educational programmes. All accredited centres in Catalonia will have to renew their accreditation periodically before six years have passed since the last accreditation.
Both the accreditation report and the external visit report issued by AQU Catalunya can be found on the EUC Informes website:
AQU Catalunya submits the accreditation reports to the Council of Universities, whose decision-making body is responsible for the accreditation process. AQU Catalunya publishes the accreditation results and issues the accreditation seal and certification for the centre in question, both of which are available on the EUC Estudis website, where all the information on the quality of recognised university degree programmes in Catalonia can be found.