A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya
Next Wednesday, February 5th, AQU Catalunya will publish the new accreditation criteria for academic staff, which are more diverse and contextualized to each field of knowledge. Additionally, they introduce elements of qualitative assessment of teaching and research merits and, if applicable, knowledge transfer.
This article brings to a close a series of three news items in which we have presented the process of adapting the Agency's Research Assessment Commission (CAR) to the changes that the Organic Law on the Catalan Higher System (LOSU) has brought about in terms of academic staff accreditation. In the initial article we set out the key changes that the LOSU incorporates into the processes of accreditation of teaching staff with respect to the Catalan Universities Act (LUC). In the second we explained the process that the CAR has followed to adapt its criteria, and finally, here we are presenting the main characteristics of the new accreditation criteria.
Before going into specific details about the new criteria, it is worth highlighting that the evaluation of the academic activity of researchers has been the subject of a debate, initially academic, on the need to improve the method of assessment by incorporating other aspects beyond those relating to research. Thus, initiatives such as the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), the Leiden Manifesto and the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) address the need to move towards more holistic or multidimensional models. The LOSU has incorporated these debates into its logic, and calls on accreditation agencies to modify the processes for the prior accreditation of academic staff.
It should be noted that the CAR shares the view that the evaluation of the activity of teaching and research staff needs to be approached in a different way. For this reason, in line with all these initiatives, in addition to research activities, teaching, knowledge transfer and professional experience outside academic institutions are incorporated into academic staff accreditation. The criteria and typology used and the types of contributions to be evaluated are expanded and made more plural, and are contextualised in each field of knowledge. Elements of qualitative assessment of teaching and research merits, and where appropriate, knowledge transfer are introduced. And finally, the Research Assessment explicitly recognises local relevance, linguistic pluralism, open access to data and scientific publications, and interdisciplinarity. However, it should be borne in mind that the CAR must respond to a legacy mandate which is accreditation, a concept that involves of ascertaining whether or not an applicant’s research activity reaches the level required to receive the corresponding accreditation in order to be able to access the selection processes - the competitions - that correspond to higher education institutions, which are the ones that approve calls for academic staff, define the experience, speciality and desired competence required, ensuring the selection of the people who best fit the profiles advertised.
Thus, since the approval of the LOSU, the CAR has been working intensely on adapting the criteria for accreditation of teaching staff in order to respond to the commitment made to our rectors to be able to begin the "new regime" of accreditations at the beginning of 2025.
The road leading to agreement on these new proposed criteria has been long and intense. What we can say is that the document has been thoroughly debated and reviewed down to the last detail; in fact, there have been 18 versions of the document. It is worth highlighting the public consultation process along the way- on version 12 of the text - that we carried out in September. Following this consultation, the sections related to knowledge and technology transfer and professional activity, and the weighting of teaching activity were thoroughly revised. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who, individually or collectively, have sent us almost two hundred contributions. In order to draw up the final proposal, as well as the contributions received via public consultation, the CAR took into account current legislation, the criteria for research accreditation and for advanced research previously established by the CAR and their results.
According to the application schedule, it is expected that February will be the last month in which the currently valid research and advanced research accreditations can be requested, and that during the month of March the procedures and applications will be adapted to the new criteria meaning that the call with the new criteria will open in April.
Firstly, it should be explained that the CAR has established some general criteria that will be common to all the committees and specific criteria for each of the fields of knowledge.
Regarding the general criteria, the assessment is based on three key areas: research and transfer, university teaching and scientific and managerial leadership (only in the case of full professors). Here one of the main novelties with respect to the "old regime" established by the LUC appears, which is the incorporation of the teaching aspect into the logic of accreditations. Until now, AQU Catalunya accreditations had been exclusively for research (associate professor) and advanced research (full professor) positions.
The criteria incorporate the new scoring scales. Accreditation will be favourable if a minimum of 50 points are obtained in each of the categories. This is important because in order to obtain the new accreditations it will be necessary to independently fulfil each of the criteria assessed, and 'trade offs' between criteria cannot be made.
Regarding the research and transfer aspect, the CAR has made a proposal assess research activity on the one hand, and knowledge and technology transfer and professional activity on the other. The assessment of research activity includes the evaluation of research results (mainly scientific publications), participation in competitive projects, research stays and internationalisation. This assessment does not involve major changes with respect to the CAR tradition. Thus, the message that quality prevails over quantity in terms of contributions is underlined.
In contrast, the CAR has substantially modified its approach to the assessment of knowledge and technology transfer, and professional activity. Thus, beyond patents, it also recognises transfer contracts and agreements that formalise the exchange of experiences, skills or research results between institutions, companies or individuals, as well as utility models and other legal agreements that regulate the transfer of technological knowledge, software and hardware, product design, innovations, etc. Also included are activities that promote the dissemination and scientific culture, reflection on the role of science, technology and innovation in today's society - publications, conferences, exhibitions, audiovisuals, collaboration with the media, legislative advice, lectures on laws and other activities with social, artistic and cultural value for example - and promote the openness and inclusiveness of science and innovation.
In terms of professional experience, preference will be given to professional activity that is directly related to the applicant's field of specialisation, and that has not been carried out simultaneously with their full-time activity at the university. The incorporation of this element should make it easier to accredit more diverse academic profiles, and in turn help to increase the number of accredited individuals in those fields with fewer people - defined by the CAR as 'unique fields' - such as nursing and some branches of education.
University teaching is the other "big novelty" and the most significant change in the new criteria. Indeed, aspects of teaching "quantity" are incorporated, but above all of teaching "quality". Teaching experience, teaching innovation and the results of university assessments are included, and priority is given to diversity of subjects, teaching in different languages, and the supervision of academic work (bachelor's and master's degree final projects).
As a general rule, applicants must provide positive evaluations of their teaching carried out by their universities as evidence of the quality of the teaching assignment carried out using a teaching evaluation manual certified by AQU Catalonia, or by a similar programme run by the other member agencies of the Spanish Network of higher education quality assurance agencies (REACU), DOCENTIA being one example of such a programme. Those whose teaching careers have evolved in universities within the Catalan university system (SUC) must first request an assessment of their teaching merits from their respective universities, and provide the certification/resolution issued as a result of this evaluation.
This is where a significant change arises in the context of the Catalan university system, and that is the fact that current teaching assessments - primarily geared towards evaluation over a five-year period - take on a new dimension. Here, joint action will be necessary on the part of all agents - government, universities and the Agency itself - to give new impetus to the teaching assessment manuals of Catalan universities.
The other aspect of assessment corresponds to scientific and managerial leadership, which applies solely to full professors. Here, activities such as the supervision of research groups, academic management, the supervision of theses by young researchers and recognition by scientific organisations are valued.
The guiding principles of the CAR's accreditation activity will continue to be those of transparency, impartiality and academic rigour, non-discrimination and confidentiality, and compliance with current regulations and professional ethics.
Regarding acceptance requirements, apart from having a doctorate, there is an important new development with regard to postdoctoral academic mobility: a minimum stay of nine months in institutions other than the institution where the thesis was presented, in which research or teaching activities and, where appropriate, knowledge transfer and exchange activities must be carried out, is established as a requirement.
Teaching experience is also required. In the case of associate professors, this is 4 years of full-time teaching experience (or equivalent) and 30 ECTS credits taught, and in the case of professors, 10 years of experience and 140 ECTS credits taught. It should also be made clear that the criteria include exceptions to the minimum teaching activity requirement for those who can demonstrate exceptional research results.
Other important aspects that must be taken into account at this new stage of accreditation are, for example, the incorporation of the "activity narrative". Apart from the traditional quantitative and bibliometric information, applicants can include a qualitative account of their contributions in order to contextualise their relevance. It is also worth noting that equal opportunities are guaranteed by adjusting requirements based on personal circumstances (such as maternity/paternity leave) for diverse career paths.
Finally, this last year has been intense due to the implementation of new accreditations. Certain aspects are still in the process of being adapted, such as the format of the CVs to be submitted by candidates. In this regard, we have begun to work on carrying out an assessment that is as straightforward as possible, as required by the LOSU, making use of information from institutional repositories.
The new criteria are now in place. We must now hope that they will contribute to maintaining the standards of academic quality that our university system should aspire to. The Agency, and all the academic and advisory staff and members that make up the CAR are committed to this.