2.665 / 5.000 First accreditation resolutions for applications submitted in accordance with RD 678/2023

The application of the new Organic Law of the University System (LOSU) in April 2023 meant the introduction of a new state accreditation system for access to university teaching bodies (University Professor and University Professor), a novelty that was developed by Royal Decree 678/2023, of July 18. Although the incorporation of this new system means moving towards a less bureaucratic accreditation procedure, and which will contribute to a higher quality evaluation in accordance with international standards, its full implementation and start-up has only been completed once the accreditation committees have completed the evaluation of the applications submitted until March 31, 2024 in accordance with RD 1312/2007.

From the very beginning, ANECA worked on the design of measures that would help speed up this complex transition, which also faced a historic record in the reception of applications: in March 2024 alone, 6,374 applications were received, almost the same number as those received in the whole of 2023 (6,730).

It is important to highlight that the administrative review of accreditation applications, as well as their evaluation, is done in compliance with the order established by the Administrative Procedure Law. Thus, as the accreditation committees have completed the evaluations of the previous system and progress has been made both in the administrative review by the technical staff of this program and in the training of the evaluators in the new evaluation philosophy (CoARA framework), the first collegiate sessions of the new accreditation system were held in February. Specifically, the first applications have been resolved in commissions 0 (Interdisciplinary), 8 (Health Specialties I), 12 (Electronic Engineering) and 28 (Modern Philologies).

The effort made by ANECA in this evaluation program has been extraordinary since, at the same time as the new accreditation system was being designed, more than twice as many applications were evaluated than in the previous year (3,856 accreditations in 2023 and 8,557 in 2024) at the same time as the resolution deadlines were reduced (from 16-17 months in 2023 to 9 in 2024).

ANECA maintains its commitment to applicants by adopting all necessary measures so that the flow of review and evaluation of applications acquires a constant pace and significantly decreasing deadlines in this year 2025.