Latest News
-
23 April 2024
ACCUA receives the visit of ENQA review panel for the renewal of its registration in EQAR and its membership in the European association
The panel of international experts held meetings with Agency staff and stakeholders from April 23 to 26
As the competent body in Andalusia for the quality assurance of higher education activities, ACCUA is undergoing an external review coordinated by ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) to assess the development of its activities in accordance with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG) in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).
This external review, which is mandatory every five years for all entities with ACCUA's competencies, focuses on performance in the evaluation and accreditation activities within the scope of the ESG, namely, the evaluation of official study programmes and higher education institutions.
The review panel has interviewed the agency's governing and management bodies, its Technical Committee, its technical and administrative staff from its offices in Córdoba and Seville, collaborating personnel for the coordination of functional areas, expert evaluators, students, representatives of the governing bodies of Andalusian universities as well as their internal quality assurance units, and representatives from the labor market.
In the closing session, the panel highlighted the commitment of ACCUA's staff, the support provided to evaluation committees, the increased participation of students in committees and governing bodies of the entity, and the positive assessment made by Andalusian universities regarding the transition that the new Agency is undergoing. It also anticipated areas for improvement including increasing stakeholder participation, planning thematic analysis, and expanding the scope of training and information activities.
With the information contained in the self-assessment report and that obtained during the visit, the panel will issue an assessment report on the degree of compliance with ESG, which will be used by the ENQA Committee to issue a verdict on the renewal of ACCUA's membership and by EQAR for the renewal of registration in the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education. The evaluation report will be issued next summer, and the process is expected to conclude in early 2025.
The composition of the review panel and more information about the process can be obtained at:
https://www.enqa.eu/review-database/external-review-of-accua-2024/
Read more ... -
17 April 2024
ACCUA has participated in the ENQA Forum held on April 17, 18 and 19 in Hannover, Germany
The Director of ACCUA, Mr. Antonio Cubero Atienza, and the Coordinator of the International Functional Area, Mr. José Luis Ortega, attended the ENQA Forum held on April 17 to 19 in Hannover (Germany).
In addition to the ENQA 2024 General Assembly being held during it, several sessions have taken place where the temporal aspects and cycles of quality assurance have been addressed, as well as the expectations of continuous improvement over time and the evolution of the quality assurance policies in the EHEA and the EU.
Additionally, several work sessions have been organized where they have been informed about the latest advances in quality control and the recent work of ENQA: quality assurance of transnational education, the agency's approaches to follow-up and appeals/complaints and ongoing developments on microcredential quality control.
Likewise, the latest news has been presented in relation to the package presented by the European Council on the implementation of the European Degree and its relationship with university quality assurance systems. Since the rest of the Spanish quality agencies belonging to REACU attended the event, they took the opportunity to share and share what was discussed in this forum.
More information about the event and access to presentations at: https://www.enqa.eu/events/2024-enqa-members-forum-17-19-april-2024-hanover-germany
Read more ... -
20 March 2024
I Jornada de Calidad en Centros Académicos de la Universidad de Granada.
El Director de ACCUA participa en la I Jornada de Calidad en Centros Académicos de la Universidad de Granada, celebrado el pasado 20 de marzo de 2024.
La participación se concretó en una ponencia sobre la certificación de los Sistemas de Garantía de Calidad de los Centros. En ella, el Director de ACCUA desarrolló la actual tendencia hacia la Acreditación Institucional, tanto desde la perspectiva legal, como conceptualmente en la dinámica de asunción de responsabilidad de calidad universitaria por los Centros. Ello supone un cambio de paradigma, desde el mayoritario aún de acreditación de títulos (VERIFICA, Seguimiento, Modificaciones, Reacreditaciones), a la certificación de Centros, en los que es el propio Centro el que se erige en garante de la calidad de los títulos que tutela, existiendo un control expost por parte de la Agencia, cada 6 años, con posibles seguimientos intermedios, del funcionamiento adecuado del sistema certificado. El Programa de ACCUA que actualmente desarrolla este procedimiento es el Programa IMPLANTA, seguido del procedimiento de Acreditación Institucional establecido legalmente
Read more ... -
12 March 2024
Sesión Informativa Programa IMPLANTA
ACCUA convocó el pasado día 12 de marzo de 2024 a los responsables del programa IMPLANTA de cada universidad andaluza para participar en una sesión informativa no presencial en la que desde la agencia se informó sobre las novedades de la nueva fecha de apertura de este programa para el año 2024. Con vistas a establecer un programa temporal de desarrollo de las solicitudes más eficiente, se comunicó la intención de la Agencia de retrasar unos meses la apertura de la nueva convocatoria del programa. Ante la petición de alguna universidad de considerar alguna otra opción, se están considerando las posibles opciones y en las próximas semanas se anunciará la fecha definitiva.
Read more ... -
13-14 February 2024
III Crue-Teaching Conference
The III Crue-Teaching Conference, held at the University of Deusto on February 13 and 14, has provided a space to share good practices and debate criteria and protocols for the renewal of the institutional accreditation of Centers, the impact of artificial intelligence in teaching, learning and evaluation systems, university microcredentials, or teaching methodologies and evaluation systems in degrees in virtual mode, bringing together more than 150 attendees, responsible for academic organization, teaching, teaching innovation or quality assurance in Spanish universities, among others.
The Director was part of the round table "Institutional accreditation: monitoring and renewal" together with José Luis Aznarte Mellado from the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation, Jaume Valls Pasola, Director of AQU Catalunya and Eva Fernández de Labastida, from the Agency Quality of the Basque University System. The different positions of quality agencies on the future institutional accreditation renewal processes launched in different autonomous communities were shared and debated, and reflection was made on current models and how progress could be made in the future. During the round table, questions were posed to the heads of the agencies present by the moderator, and the importance of adopting agreements in REACU on this topic that make the application of this renewal more homogeneous was highlighted. Likewise, the attending academic leaders posed questions to the table that enriched the debate and allowed a better glimpse of future lines.
Read more ...