During the period in which we were responsible for the governance of AQU Catalunya, from the beginning until 2013, we set ourselves the fundamental objective of teaching a principle that was, and still is, very important to us: that quality assurance and the processes that constitute it must be assumed as an intrinsic and primordial responsibility by the universities themselves, on the understanding that the Agency must be the body that helps and guides the universities. It must accompany them technically in the processes that guarantee a better education in our higher education institutions. The aim was for each institution to create its own mechanisms and specialised units with the support and coordination of AQU Catalunya.
During this period, an attempt was also made to ensure that the members of the Agency's Governing Board – rectors, presidents of the social councils, members of the Administration and academics of recognised prestige – would fully promote a programme of action and take up the challenge of improving the quality of our higher education system, utilising the potential of AQU Catalunya. This entailed a deepening of relations between the presidency and the management and the members of the Council, which resulted in a period of excellent collaboration and absolute unanimity in decision-making at each and every one of the sessions of the governing body.
One important process that was attempted, albeit without an appropriate outcome, was the drafting of a new law to regulate some inadequate aspects that had been detected after several years' operation, and also to allow for a regulatory improvement in relation to what was established in the founding law. Some of the issues to be improved, according to international recommendations, were the levels of relative autonomy with respect to the Government of Catalonia and others concerning function and external relations. A proposal for a new law was approved by the Agency's Governing Council and subsequently by the Inter-university Council of Catalonia, after a fruitful discussion. Unfortunately, in the end it could not be debated at that time in the Parliament of Catalonia, as the legislature was in its final stretch. The lack of political initiative on the part of the Catalan Government, which left this aspect as a non-priority item in its action programme, also played a role, and this delayed all the processes prior to its entry to the chamber. It was not until two years later, with a different government, that this initiative was taken up again with a new AQU Catalunya law, which was finally passed in 2015.
Many noteworthy actions were carried out during the period in which we had the honour and responsibility of directing the Agency. Firstly, efforts were made to optimise management and organisation, trying to ensure that processes and internal communication were improved and reached as efficient a level as possible.
During the period from 2008 to 2013 there was a dizzying increase in the number of verification processes for new bachelor's and master's degrees that were introduced in Catalan universities in these and subsequent years. This increase was fully taken on board by the AQU Catalunya technical team. Throughout the entire period, work progressively increased in this fundamental line of work, which to a large extent justifies the agencies' existence. This major task, however, had to be carried out without increasing human and financial resources.
Despite this dizzying increase in work, the Agency fulfilled completely and with dignity the verifications requested of us,
while at the same time carrying out its work in another important area: the also increasing pace of teacher accreditation procedures, carried out with a high degree of efficiency and effectiveness.
One of the fundamental elements that we considered necessary for the improvement of the assessment systems was to achieve maximum transparency, both in the processes and in the results, making public the most relevant indices and data obtained. An interesting instrument in this sense was the creation of the WINDDAT platform, which made public the main indicators of all the degree programmes of each of the universities.
During this period, a process which mobilised more than 300 Catalan academics, was also initiated to review the criteria and elements that should be used to assess scientific production in the Social Sciences. This work culminated in a large assembly in the hall of the University of Barcelona, where the conclusions of a whole year's work were presented. These were proposals with new criteria for the assessment of research in each of the main branches of the Social Sciences and Humanities, criteria that attempted to overcome the deficiencies that are still observed in these fields if standardised procedures are followed. The work was presented to the political authorities of Catalonia and the Spanish Government without their having a decisive influence on the teacher accreditation bodies.
During the period in question, the periodical assessment was carried out by ENQA of all accredited agencies in the countries that form part of the European Higher Education Area. In this assessment,
AQU Catalunya obtained an excellent score in almost all the sections that make up the subjects evaluated, and from that moment onwards it became one of the most highly rated European agencies engaged in the assessment of the quality of higher education.
In the last years of this period, the Agency suffered a significant reduction in its budget, which had a negative impact on one of its traditionally successful tasks: external training by means of seminars, meetings and activities aimed at university managers or academics interested in quality issues. It also had consequences in terms of editorial production policy, with a reduction in the number of research projects and studies that we published under the AQU Catalunya seal and which generated knowledge and doctrine on the activity and university quality assurance processes. These publications were and continue to be very well received and recognised in the university world, not only in Catalonia, but also in the rest of Spain.
Everything that was achieved during this period and everything that has continued to be achieved since then is due to the efforts of the technical team, made up of qualified young professionals with great drive and initiative. This team, which to a large extent continues to work for the Agency, was able to undertake the enormous amount of work involved in the multiplication of the number of assessment and accreditation processes through its work and the improvement of processes. The result of all this is that today AQU Catalunya is considered one of the most prestigious and solvent agencies on the higher education scene. It was a great honour for us to govern the institution during this period and a pleasure to work with the technical team and the members of the Governing Board.
Looking to the future, we can only hope that the work of the Agency will be accompanied by a better positioning of the universities within the political (and budgetary) priorities of the country. If this is the case, we will surely continue to enjoy a magnificent university system here for many years to come with the support of AQU Catalunya!