A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya
These guides can play a prominent role as tools that will help us move towards a future where the universities in our system can carry out their validation processes with maximum independence and autonomy.
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European quality assurance models are generally based on ex-post accreditation and there are almost no examples of models like ours, which provides for ex-ante assessment or the validation of degrees as a step prior to their implementation. In this context, the Framework for the validation (ex-ante assessment), monitoring, modification and accreditation of recognised degrees (VSMA), designed in 2016 by the Agency, proposed using benchmarks to facilitate the design of new training programs and reduce the intensity or effort we channel into the initial validation of degrees as a strategy to align ourselves with other European models.
Following this line, AQU Catalunya has started a process of reflection, with the participation of universities and other stakeholders, on the development of a new Assessment Framework, which foresees and strengthens the use of benchmarks in the design of new degrees or the process of adapting existing study programs to the new regulatory Framework.
Within the new Framework, benchmarks can play a prominent role as tools that will help us move towards a future where the universities in our system can carry out their validation processes with maximum independence and autonomy. Until we reach that point, however, the benchmarks can guide university institutions in designing and deploying their study programs and aid assessment committees in their assessment processes.
Another factor to consider is the approval of Royal Decree 822/2021, which incorporates a change to the definition of degree learning profiles, replacing competencies with learning outcomes and requiring study programs to be adapted to the new model. It seems, therefore, an opportune moment for the Agency to develop tools to support universities through this transition, and this is precisely what the benchmarks and the documents in the “Focus: Tools for university quality“ collection set out to do. With regard to the benchmarks, the Agency’s intention is to promote them for degrees in all areas of knowledge.
One of the challenges in this adaptation process will be the issue of degrees linked to regulated professions, which are subject to compliance with European directives and/or ministerial orders. The profiles of these degrees are defined through objectives and competencies and they must ensure regulatory compliance by design. That said, it could be a good opportunity to update their training profiles to bring them into line with academic and scientific developments and the needs of today’s society. For this reason, in 2023, the Agency developed two benchmarks linked to regulated professions, one in the field of Health Sciences and one in the field of Engineering and Architecture.
For Health Sciences, we devised a benchmark for the degree in Nursing that takes into account the CIN order and the European directive that regulates it, but also the new challenges facing the health sector and their implications for the training of future nursing professionals. The resulting document and the working group that defined it can be consulted at the following link: Benchmark for Nursing.
For Engineering and Architecture, we developed a benchmark that covers a significant number of qualifications: the benchmark for industrial engineering and, specifically, for degrees that qualify students to enter the regulated professions of technical engineer, technical industrial engineer or industrial engineer, as well as for the degree in Engineering in Industrial Technologies. The resulting document and the working group that defined it can be consulted at the following link: Benchmark for Industrial Engineering.
These benchmarks, in which the learning outcomes are defined from the student’s perspective in terms of knowledge, skills and competencies, are statements of what the student is expected to know, understand or be able to demonstrate at the end of a learning period. At the same time, the learning outcomes must allow for a coherently structured curriculum, aligning training objectives, learning outcomes, content, and teaching and assessment strategies whilst simultaneously providing clarity, precision and transparency in the design of the curriculum, teaching practice and assessment.
Lastly, we must remember that in no case are the benchmarks intended as prescriptive documents. Instead, their main objective is to guide and facilitate the design of training programs for university institutions.
Here at the Agency, we feel that the reflection work undertaken in the context of preparing the benchmarks has been both thorough and satisfactory, and we believe it will contribute to guaranteeing and facilitating the ex-ante degree assessment processes. We hope, therefore, that universities will find them useful during the process of designing and continuously improving their training programs.