Broad university representation at the presentation of the Agency's Integral Quality Awards and the Quality Label for Academic Publishing

More than 200 figures, including rectors, vice-rectors, deans, the director of the FECYT, the president of the UNE; presidents and representatives of the Spanish General Council of Informatics Engineering (CCII), the General Council of the Professional Association of Technical Computer Engineers (CONCITI), the National Conference of Deans of Medical Schools of Spain (CNDFME), the European Chemistry Thematic Network (ECTN); also directors of the units of quality, foresight and continuous improvement; of quality and planning; of social and university projection; of studies, quality and accreditation; managers of academic and professional programmes, met on 11 October at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid at the Ceremony for the awarding of ANECA's Integral Quality Recognitions and the Quality Label for Academic Publishing, within the framework of the 5th Ibero-American Meeting organised by the Agency.

José Manuel Pingarrón Carrazón, Secretary General for Universities, stressed the importance of awarding these international quality Labels of excellence to the teaching of Spanish university system. Referring in particular to the Medicine programme, he pointed out that "it signifies how vitally important it is to have health professionals with first-class training and training which is guaranteed through our quality agencies". Pingarrón congratulated ANECA for its commitment and work in favour of institutional accreditation and the improvement of the internal quality assurance systems of the institutions, and stressed that it is important "to recognise the effort made by the universities to make these quality assurance processes more and more appropriate, simpler to implement and, at the same time, guarantors of the training we are giving to our students".

On this day, 97 awards were presented to 33 universities, 30 from Spain and 3 from Mexico. Mercedes Siles Molina referred to the EUR-ACE in Engineering and EURO-INF in Computer Science, which were launched in 2013; the EUROLABEL in Chemistry, which began its journey in ANECA in 2018. "The three recognise the good work and commitment to quality and the projection of the studies of the centres that receive them today". Likewise, the Quality Label for Academic Publishing has been awarded to collections of monographs, a distinction that has formed part of the Agency's recognition since 2015", he said and continued, highlighting the WFME (World Federation for Medical Education) label, which was awarded for the first time and is "a distinction that we began working on almost two years ago, so that graduates from universities that meet our quality standards and those of the WFME, and receive it, can practice medicine in the United States, which will be compulsory from 2024". 

The president of CRUE Spanish Universities, Juan Romo Urroz, in relation to the international recognitions, wanted to state that they are "the best possible guarantee for employers because their certification is synonymous with a guarantee of training in accordance with the most demanding international standards" and stressed the importance of being integrated into a European and international reference model. 

The commemorative day took place with the presentation of the ANECA quality awards granted in the 2021 call, preceded by a report that collected the results in its different versions of quality and academic edition, presented by Ana Isabel Bonilla Calero, head of the International Quality Labels Programme of the Agency, in collaboration with Alfonso Vallés Sales, head of the Education and Institutions Division of ANECA.

The awards were given in the following categories: 

• International Quality Labels (IQL) EURACE for Engineering
• Quality Labels (IQL) EUROINF for Computer Science
• International Quality Labels (IQL) EUROLABEL for Chemistry
• International Quality Labels (IQL) for Medicine
• International Quality Label ENPHI for Remote and Hybrid Learning
• International Label of Approval for Academic Publishing Quality (CEA/APQ)

The awards were presented by Mercedes Siles Molina; Imma Aguilar Nàcher, director of FECYT; María Isabel Cabrera García, president of UNE; Asunción López López, manager of ANECA; Alfonso Vallés Sales, coordinator of the EQuAM Programme; Fernando Suárez Lorenzo, President of the Spanish General Council of Informatics Engineering (CCII); Eduardo Peris Millán, President of the General Council of the Professional Association of Technical Computer Engineers (CONCITI); Sanjiv Prashar, President of ECTN; and Lourdes Lledó García, representative of CNDMED.