A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya
The General Directorate of Universities (DGU) sees this reform as an opportunity to boost academic careers and expand universities’ capacity to attract new profiles.
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The implementation of the Organic Law on the University System (LOSU) introduced transformations in the regulation of university teaching staff, especially in the early stages of their academic career. Among the most significant changes is the elimination of the prior accreditation requirement to access a contract as a tenure-eligible lecturer, which had been a feature of the previous framework established by the Organic Law on Universities (LOU). With this amendment, the aim is to streamline the incorporation of young talent, reduce administrative burdens in access and bring the Spanish system closer to more flexible international practices, while maintaining its defining quality guarantees.
The General Directorate of Universities (DGU) sees this reform as an opportunity to boost academic careers and expand universities’ capacity to attract new profiles. However, it also identifies inherent challenges that require a coordinated institutional response. The removal of initial accreditation opens the door to more agile, inclusive recruitment processes, but at the same time, it may increase the risk that part of the teaching staff does not achieve, within the maximum period of six years, the merits required for subsequent accreditation, to be either a lecturer or an associate professor.
This risk has two main dimensions. Firstly, it affects the personal and professional trajectory of the new teaching staff: those individuals who do not obtain accreditation before the end of the contract may be forced to refocus their professional career, with the work, life and emotional impact that this entails. Secondly, it has an institutional impact: universities dedicate resources, time and effort to the initial training of new teaching staff, and the fact that some may not reach the planned objectives means less efficiency in the use of public resources.
Eliminating prior accreditation means support must be strengthened from the very beginning, through clearer, more systematic and structured monitoring processes. The temporary limitation of the contract (a maximum of six years) helps to organise professional careers, but there must be a guarantee that throughout this period, expectations, criteria and goals are well defined, understandable, perfectly aligned with the accreditation requirements and known to all the parties involved.
In this context, the formative evaluation after three years becomes a strategic mechanism. Far from being conceived as a bureaucratic procedure, it must be understood as an essential tool to reduce uncertainty and ensure that the figure of the tenure-eligible lecturer acts as a bridge towards stability. This assessment, carried out through internal university mechanisms or via AQU Catalunya, helps to detect whether teaching staff are making enough progress in terms of teaching, research and transfer in order to achieve future accreditation.
For this reason, the General Directorate of Universities recommends establishing evaluation criteria consistent with the accreditation of stable positions thereafter; developing guides and promoting mentoring, tutoring and professional development programmes specifically aimed at early-career teaching staff. The objective is twofold: to offer a clear, prospective pathway for teaching staff, and to equip universities with rigorous and transparent instruments for evaluating and supporting teaching and research staff.
For young teaching staff, intermediate assessment represents a key turning point: it provides objective information, precise guidance and an evaluation in line with the accreditation standards. For universities, it constitutes a tool for anticipating and correcting possible deviations and making well-founded decisions regarding support and human resources planning. When correctly implemented, the intermediate assessment becomes essential for ensuring that this initial flexibility does not lead to an insurmountable barrier, but rather to an orderly, fair and efficient pathway towards the accreditation of permanent figures in the university system.