SAIQU certification of the Faculty
It aims to reduce the evaluation process by focusing on the center's Internal Quality Assurance System (SAIQU) and on some of the degrees organized by each center.
In accordance with Royal Decree 640/2021, of July 27th (Spanish version), to obtain institutional accreditation the centers must have renewed the accreditation of at least half of their official degrees, half of their official master's degrees and half of their official doctorate degrees and have their SAIQU/SIGQ implementation certified. From that moment on, all the studies will be automatically get accredited on that date, and for a 6 year period.
The renewal of this institutional accreditation will no longer be done on the basis of each of its degrees, but will be done from an institutional perspective, evaluating the adequacy of the quality assurance of the degrees it imparts and their results .
For more information go to the AQU Catalunya page
In the event of a favorable resolution of institutional accreditation, all the official bachelor’s and master’s degrees of the center will incorporate as the date of renewal of accreditation in the RUCT, the same date of institutional accreditation:
- synchronization of the degree accreditation calendar and the center's institutional accreditation calendar.
- the institutional accreditation of the center will entail the automatic accreditation of the center's degrees.
Visits:
The Faculty of Earth Sciences will receive on November 30 and December 1, 2023 the External Evaluation Committee (CAE) to carry out a visit to certify the implementation of the Internal Quality Assurance System (SAIQU-Earth Sciences) . The first day of the visit will be dedicated to analysing the six dimensions that form the SAIQU-UB model (1. Review and improvement of the SGIC; 2. Design, review and improvement of academic training programs; 3. Teaching-learning and student support ; 4. Academic staff; 5. Material resources and services; 6. Public information and give accounts to the different interested groups) with an interview with the people responsible for the Specific Quality Processes (PEQs) that are linked to each of the dimensions. On the second day, the CAE will interview the different interest groups: Department heads, teaching staff, students, graduates and representative members of the Faculty's Quality and Academic Innovation Committees. The specific agenda can be consulted here (Spanish version) .
On this day there will also be an open audience space so that those who wish to attend and who have not been summoned to any of the previous sessions can attend. As an additional mechanism to the open audience, AQU Catalunya makes available the corporate email certificacio@aqu.cat, so that interested people can share their comments in case they cannot participate in person. Likewise, at the end of the day, the Committee will also meet with the people responsible for the quality technical team of the UB and the transversal SAIQU.
The Faculty of Earth Sciences already received a previous visit on September 12th, 2023 with the president, Alfonso Carlos Davalillo, and secretary, Andrew Tunnicliffe, of the CAE to determine if it was appropriate to continue with the certification process from the documentation presented, as well as the information collected during the interview. The visit covered aspects such as: the Quality Policy, the Master Plan: strategy and objectives, the Command Chart and monitoring of indicators, the Review and improvement of SAIQU (Improvement Plan), Information Management, document management, coordination of center processes with UB transversal processes and accountability to the various interest groups and the University. As a result of that visit, the CAE considered that the Faculty has the necessary information to address the evaluation of the implementation for SAIQU certification.
SAIQU certification is a requirement to obtain institutional accreditation. The objective of the evaluation for the certification of the Internal Quality Assurance System (SIGQ) is to check that the system is implemented and deployed in the center responsible for the teaching of degrees under the scope of the SIGQ, and that it is suitable for the assurance of its quality.
Processes:
External Evaluation Committee (CAE) (Catalan version).
Program of the 1st visit (Spanish version).
Program of the 2nd visit. November 30 and December 1 (Spanish version).
During the face-to-face session that will take place on December 1, an open hearing is planned from 1:15 to 1:45 p.m., so that those who wish to attend and who have not been summoned to the previous sessions can attend.
