All the degree programmes to apply for these Catalan University System Quality Agency (AQU Catalunya) accreditations, except for one which was asked to make changes to its curriculum, passed the assessment and earned the labels.

Six master’s programmes (in Public Health, Political Philosophy, Research in Sociology and Demography, Research in Political Science, Economics and Finance and Specialized Economic Analysis, the latter two offered by the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (Barcelona GSE)) participated in both calls and earned both labels, whilst the other six degrees earned one or the other label.

Specifically, the master’s programme in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics earned the internationalization label, whilst the bachelor’s programme in Human Biology and the master’s programmes in Clinical Laboratory Analysis, Biomedical Research, Bioinformatics for Health Sciences and Current Democracies: Nationalism, Federalism and Multiculturalism earned the interaction between research and teaching label.

The large majority of the degree programmes earned labels with a ‘quality’ mention. These included the master’s programmes in Biomedical Research, Bioinformatics for Health Sciences, Research in Sociology and Demography, Research in Political Science and Current Democracies, as well as the two programmes offered by Barcelona GSE. The only possible outcomes for the internationalization label were ‘compliant’ (without any further qualification) and ‘non-compliant’.

The external evaluators underscored the familiar research environment of the master’s programmes linked to the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, which allows all students to participate in research activities in research groups, and the clear focus on acquiring research skills of the master’s programmes in the field of political science.

Other UPF degree programmes have already applied for these labels in the second call, but have yet to be evaluated, and still more will do so in future. Programmes may apply to AQU Catalunya for the additional labels once they have successfully undergone the compulsory accreditation programme, a gradual process which many of the University’s different bachelor’s and master’s programmes are still completing.

Requirements to earn the two quality labels

According to AQU Catalunya, the internationalization label is awarded when ‘the study programme has a clear international orientation, is geared towards fostering the internationalization of students, promotes the international activities of teaching staff and is backed by a supportive environment that ensures good results’.

The agency awards the interaction between research and teaching label when ‘the institution actively encourages the incorporation of research conducted by teaching staff in the respective discipline into study programmes with a view to enhancing student learning and outcomes’.

Additional dimensions and compulsory accreditation

The internationalization and interaction between research and teaching labels are two of the three additional dimensions of the assessment of bachelor’s and master’s programmes performed by AQU Catalunya (the third dimension is professional development and employment outcomes, or employability, a label that the bachelor’s programme in Labour Relations earned last year).

These dimensions fall within the optional assessment processes performed by the quality agency, which universities can apply to undergo voluntarily, in any of the specific internal dimensions in which they excel.

This is in addition to the compulsory assessment process, which the bachelor’s and master’s programmes offered by UPF and its affiliated centres are currently undergoing (the PhD programmes are expected to be assessed in 2018). The compulsory assessments are part of the degree accreditation programme launched by AQU Catalunya in 2014, which all universities in the Catalan university system are currently undertaking.