Due to the EHEA framework, and some recent changes in Spanish regulations, Spanish Higher Education Institutions must ensure the fulfilment of the goals related to their different degree programmes, in a context of continuous improvement. As a result of this, universities should have formally established policies and internal quality assurance systems, contained in a publicly available statement.
In this context, the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain (ANECA) in cooperation with two other regional agencies, AQU and ACSUG, have developed the AUDIT programme. The purpose of this initiative, which is addressed to all the university colleges and faculties that offer university education, is to provide guidance in designing internal quality assurance systems integrating all the activities implemented up until the present time related to degree programmes quality assurance. Even though these orientations are addressed to university colleges and faculties, some relevant elements are of a transversal nature and belong to the university institution as a whole (i.e. issues referred to the hiring of academic staff, material resources and general services, etc.).
With this objective, a number of documents have been prepared:
- Guidelines, definition and documentation.
- Guide to the design of internal quality assurance systems in higher education.
- Tools/Diagnosis in implementing internal quality assurance systems in higher education.
Apart from providing guidance at the design stage, the AUDIT programme seeks to become a tool that contributes to the recognition of internal quality assurance systems designed by the university institutions. This programme will, therefore, include a design evaluation process, whose criteria and procedures will be explained in the document entitled: “Guide for the evaluation of the design of Internal Quality Assurance Systems”.
In a third stage, the AUDIT programme will enable to conclude with the certification process of the implemented IQAS. The corresponding procedure will be explained in a future document (“Guide for the certification of internal quality assurance systems”). This document will be available shortly at this web.
The aspects included in the AUDIT programme are part of the requirements of the VERIFICA program, which deals with the legal requirements for the authorization and official register of new undergraduate and Master’s degrees. This way, efforts are aligned and universities will find it easier to take part in the verification processes of the new degrees.