Since the creation of AQU Catalunya as a consortium in 1998, teaching evaluation has been continuously present in its catalogue of activities. For example, in 2001, the Agency developed the General Framework for Evaluating Teaching Staff, which contained a reflection on how to approach teaching evaluation. Furthermore, the quality of the teaching dimension has systematically been part of institutional quality evaluations.
With the approval of the Organic Law on Universities (LOU, 2001), the contractual channel for teaching staff and the prior accreditation system were launched. In Catalonia, this model crystallised with the Universities Law of Catalonia (LUC, 2003) and the creation of the tenure-eligible lecturer, associate professor and full professor figures. In this context, only the initial accreditation of tenure-eligible lecturers included assessment of the teaching dimension, while the other two were based exclusively on research criteria. The assessment of teaching was therefore left to the discretion of the contracting university.
Over the course of more than twenty years, more than 15,000 individual assessments have been carried out. The vast majority of universities in the Catalan Higher Education System have accredited teaching evaluation manuals from the Agency.
However, since 2003, AQU Catalunya has led the teaching evaluation manual programme, which has allowed universities to establish institutional, systematic and formalised models for evaluating teaching activity. This programme soon evolved, after an initial experimental phase, and in 2008, public universities – in accordance with the approach agreed upon by the main stakeholders and drawing on their accumulated experience – adjusted the teaching evaluation manuals in preparation for a new certification. This manual certification involves recognition of the assessments carried out by the universities for the awarding of additional remuneration to teaching staff.
With the approval of Decree 405/2006, of 24 October, the programme entered a consolidation phase with consequences for the awarding of additional remuneration. Over the course of more than twenty years, thanks to the programme, more than 15,000 individual assessments have been carried out and the vast majority of universities in the Catalan Higher Education System have accredited teaching evaluation manuals from the Agency. Furthermore, the Agency has a specific committee that oversees the assessment of individual merits in teaching and management of teaching and research staff (both permanent and contracted) in order to allocate salary supplements, provide accreditation of systems and procedures for assessing the quality of universities in terms of teaching staff’s educational function, and issue reports that assess and evaluate individual merits.
It should be added that this experience was adopted by ANECA (2007) when launching the DOCENTIA programme at a state level. In this regard, AQU Catalunya and ANECA have a mutual recognition agreement.
The new accreditation criteria adapted to the LOSU
The approval of the Organic Law on the University System (LOSU, 2023) has involved a substantial change in the model for teaching staff accreditation. In the new regulatory framework, the teaching dimension must be present in the evaluation and, therefore, must be incorporated into the accreditations of all teaching staff figures. That is to say, teaching is subject to a specific assessment and cannot be compensated with other dimensions. This means that, in order to obtain an accreditation, one must pass both the research block and the teaching block. This approach represents a significant break with tradition in the Catalan Higher Education System, in which the priority used to be the research dimension.
The Research Assessment Commission (CAR), at the proposal of the University Teaching Policy Committee of the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia, has approved the minimum educational-activity thresholds required for accreditation, namely 4 years and 30 credits for the associate professor, and 10 years and 140 credits for the full professor, with the relevant exceptions provided for. Consequently, to obtain accreditation adapted to the LOSU, a minimum level of teaching activity must be accredited.
The new criteria also provide for specific mechanisms that make the quantitative teaching thresholds more flexible in the case of profiles dedicated to intensive research. In these cases, the Research Assessment Commission may issue an accreditation even if the established teaching thresholds are not met, provided that the applicant presents exceptional research merits.
In order to obtain an accreditation, one must pass both the research block and the teaching block. This approach represents a significant break with tradition in the Catalan Higher Education System, in which the priority used to be the research dimension.
In this context, it is important to highlight that quality agencies can recognise the teaching assessments conducted by universities that have accredited teaching assessment manuals. This is a good practice that generates economies of scale: universities evaluate teaching through accredited instruments and, subsequently, agencies can recognise these evaluations, avoiding the need for accreditation committees to reassess a dimension (teaching) that has been previously evaluated and is particularly complex to analyse outside the institutional context in which it is carried out.
In cases where applicants do not have teaching assessments carried out with an accredited manual, they must provide the corresponding evidence of their teaching activity (teaching narrative, certificates, survey results, among others), which will be directly assessed by the Research Assessment Commission.
As an example, since the implementation of the new accreditations adapted to the LOSU, the Research Assessment Commission has already recognised the teaching dimension for a significant percentage of accreditations of associate professors (with a minimum period of five years) and full professors (with at least two periods of five years).
Recognition of the teaching dimension in new accreditations of teaching staff (April–September 2025)
| | Total | Teaching dimension recognised through the manuals | Percentage of requests recognised |
| Associate professors | 86 | 21 | 24% |
| Full professors | 24 | 12 | 50% |
| Total | 110 | 33 | 30% |
A new era
Precisely because the teaching evaluation manuals are now acquiring this new function within the accreditation framework, AQU Catalunya is working on improving manual certification processes so that universities can have more advanced instruments to assess teaching staff.
This reform incorporates the recommendations of the Margalida Comas Programme and provides for a set of shared elements, at the proposal of the University Teaching Policy Commission of the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia.
The reviewing and updating of teaching evaluation manuals not only responds to the regulatory requirements arising from LOSU, but also represents a strategic opportunity to move towards an evaluation model that is more consistent with the principles of CoARA and the global reform of research evaluation.
Among the most relevant qualitative aspects that are intended to be enhanced are the adoption of advanced teaching assessment mechanisms such as classroom observations by colleagues, the development of teaching portfolios and more sophisticated strategies for collecting and analysing the student’s point of view.
In this context, the reviewing and updating of teaching evaluation manuals not only responds to the regulatory requirements arising from LOSU, but also represents a strategic opportunity to move towards an evaluation model that is more consistent with the principles of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) and the global reform of research evaluation. It is a model that reinforces the credibility of accreditation processes, promotes balanced recognition of all aspects of academic activity and contributes to strengthening the university system as a whole.
Currently, the Agency is working on the design of this new teaching activity evaluation guide, which is expected to be presented in 2026.
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