Royal Decree on state accreditation for access to university teaching bodies approved
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19/07/2023
The Council of Ministers held on 18 July approved, at the proposal of the Ministry of Universities, the Royal Decree regulating state accreditation for access to university teaching bodies and the system of competitive examinations for access to positions in these bodies. This initiative responds to the need to adapt the accreditation and competition procedures to the Organic Law 2/2023, of 22 March, on the University System (LOSU), as well as to the evolution of the evaluation of teaching and research activity at international level.
Accreditation is a prerequisite for applying for competitions, in which ANECA assesses whether the merits and competences of candidates exceed the threshold of experience and quality required to be able to apply for such competitions.
The new Royal Decree improves the quality of the assessment by including a greater plurality of methods, criteria and assessed contributions, in order to adapt the assessment to the existing diversity of academic careers. To this end, qualitative methods will be applied, supported by a responsible use of quantitative indicators, in line with international assessment frameworks.
The accreditation procedure is also simplified, as the assessment of merit will be based on a short curriculum vitae containing a selection of the most relevant contributions of the candidate's teaching and research career. Moreover, it will no longer be necessary to provide documentary certification of the totality of the merits put forward.
The Royal Decree contributes to open science, as the use of institutional and thematic open access repositories will be required to facilitate the procedure and guarantee that the results of publicly funded science are publicly and freely accessible.
ANECA will also have greater flexibility to increase the number of evaluation commissions, as well as their membership, to adapt to changes in demand flows and reduce resolution times.
Co-responsibility
The new Royal Decree encourages co-responsibility and ownership by the university community of the system by which it is evaluated: a participatory process is introduced to define the evaluation criteria and the minimum requirements for accreditation; 50% of the members of the accreditation commissions will be selected by drawing lots among the teaching and research staff who are obliged to participate (guarantee of representativeness), and the other 50% by direct appointment, to facilitate the incorporation of specific and prestigious profiles; and periodic processes of participation and evaluation of the accreditation procedure are envisaged to promote continuous improvement.
The new Royal Decree is the result of a working group set up in January 2023, with the participation of representatives of the universities, the Autonomous Communities, the university quality agencies, the Council of State University Students (CEUNE) and the majority trade unions UGT, CSIF and CC.OO.
The approval of this Royal Decree strengthens the capacity of the university system to achieve high levels of quality, both in teaching and in research, knowledge transfer and exchange, in accordance with internationally recognised standards.