A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya
The expectation is that the new accreditations for lecturers and full professors with an indefinite-term contract will be launched from the beginning of January 2025.
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It has been one year since the Organic Law on the University System (LOSU) was approved, and its deployment has been progressing. At the outset, two main topics affect teaching staff: teaching staff structures and accreditations. In regard to structures, the recent funding agreement with the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities should serve to advance in the recruitment needed to adapt university teaching staff structures so that they can comply with the Law. In terms of accreditations, an issue that obviously affects the agencies, progress has been made, both with regard to the accreditations of faculties and those of employed personnel. I will try to outline the situation as it stands today, and the direction in which we are heading.
The LOSU, and also Royal Decree 678/2023 of the 18th of July, which was published in the Official Spanish Gazette (BOE) on the 6th of September and regulates accreditations, makes it clear that the position of lecturer with an indefinite-term contract (professorat permanent laboral or PPL) is equivalent to that of professor (professorat titular d’universitat or PTU). The same applies to full university professors and full professors with indefinite-term contracts. The topic is relevant given that, in the context of the Spanish higher education system, in some autonomous communities the former figure of post-doctoral lecturer was considered a stage prior to the rank of professor. This was not the case in Catalonia, where the figure of associate professor (equivalent to the PCD) was clearly equated to that of professor. In this context, it is worth noting that Royal Decree 678/2023 states that both professors and lecturers with an indefinite-term contract can apply for full professor accreditation (CU).
That being said, where are we now? The National Assessment and Accreditation Agency (ANECA) has published the procedures and criteria for PTU and CU accreditation. The regional bodies must now adapt their accreditations for teaching staff so that they comply with the LOSU. The first step in this process was the approval of the "minimum common criteria" within a maximum period of one year, which was agreed last February at a meeting of the Spanish Network of Higher Education Quality Assurance Agencies (REACU). It is now up to the responsible body in each autonomous community to approve the new accreditations based on these criteria. During this process, ANECA will maintain the post-doctoral lecturer (contract) accreditation (PCD) until all the regional agencies have approved the new PPL accreditations. In any case, it is important to point out that, at the state level, the PPL (like its predecessor, the PCD) is not an accreditation approved by ANECA, but that the proposal for this accreditation depends on the Ministry of Universities and ANECA undertakes the assessment.
Clearly, this scenario is somewhat complex, both in terms of the calendar and the content that needs to be deployed. Indeed, ANECA's publication of the criteria for the evaluation of the six-year periods at the end of 2023 and the criteria for the accreditation of the teaching bodies (PTU and CU) highlights the scale of what is involved in adapting to the LOSU. Following the trends set by DORA (the San Francisco Declaration on Research Evaluation), CoARA (the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment) and other similar initiatives, the more weight given to qualitative assessment, the more recognition given to interdisciplinarity and local relevance, the role of open science, the incorporation where appropriate of professional merits, teaching indicators related to teaching quality assessment programs and a long list of other factors that we must bear in mind and adhere to.
In the case of Catalonia, the Research Assessment Commission (CAR) of AQU Catalunya is responsible for approving the LOSU-compliant criteria for lecturers and full professors with an indefinite-term contract. As soon as the minimum common criteria were established by REACU, the compliance work began. The chair of the CAR published the schedule for the compliance process at a meeting of the AQU Catalunya Governing Board on the 16th of April. The expectation is that the new accreditations for lecturers and full professors with an indefinite-term contract will be launched from the beginning of January 2025. In the meantime, the current research and advanced research accreditations that are associated with the positions of associate professor and full professor with an indefinite-term contract will remain in force with full legal guarantees in accordance with the provisions of the LOSU.