DOCENTIA: Support program for the evaluation of the quality of teaching activity of university professors

The DOCENTIA Programme consists of a set of guidelines and orientations for the development, by universities (and its certification by ANECA and the regional agencies), of a model for the evaluation of the quality of teaching, aimed at guaranteeing the training and competence of university professors, through an evaluation of their teaching activity, in order to promote their recognition and improvement. ANECA certifies these models through the DOCENTIA programme.

In the current order of the Spanish university system, the guarantee of the training and competence of professors rests with the universities and, consequently, they must develop procedures for the evaluation of their performance, as well as for their training and stimulation, guaranteeing their qualification and teaching competence. To promote this evaluation of teaching, ANECA launched in 2007, in close coordination with the regional evaluation agencies, the Support Programme for the Evaluation of the Teaching Activity of University Professors (DOCENTIA).

To support universities in designing their own mechanisms to manage the quality of teaching staff’s teaching activity and encourage their development and recognition, the DOCENTIA procedure refers to the recommendations for ensuring quality at higher education institutions, collected in the document Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (2015) which was approved by the Conference of Ministers signatories of the Bologna Declaration in May 2015. The procedure design has also taken into account the standards set by internationally recognised organisations in the field of personnel evaluation, such as The Personnel Evaluation Standards, developed by The Joint Committee of Standards for Educational Evaluation.

Currently, more than 90% of universities participate in this procedure, throughout its different phases.

Supporting documents and tools

For the evaluation of designs, monitoring of implementation and certification of evaluation procedures, the agencies participating in the DOCENTIA programme have developed the following documentation and tools based on the integration and updating of the previous programme documentation.

DOCENTIA Program Support Guide: 2025 update

Evaluation reports

You can access the results of the DOCENTIA programme for all universities and also the evaluation reports for universities in the ANECA environment at the link below.

Evaluation results and reports

Registration of certified entities in the program

The table shows the record of entities that have obtained a certificate for the implementation of their teaching activity assessment model in accordance with the DOCENTIA programme. The certificate has a validity period of six renewable years. Even so, during the period of validity, the planned annual monitoring activities must be passed.

RUCT Code	Nº UCR	Date of grant	Date of last renewal	Expiration date	Name of the University	Certification Agency
23	DOC13UAM/03	31/12/2013	08/02/2021	08/02/2027	Universidad Autónoma de Madrid	Fundación Madrid+d y ANECA
56	DOC13URJC/04	31/12/2013	31/12/2020	31/12/2026	Universidad Rey Juan Carlos	Fundación Madrid+d y ANECA
68	DOC13UFV/05	31/12/2013	31/12/2013	31/12/2025	Universidad Francisco de Vitoria	Fundación Madrid+d y ANECA
4	DOC14UB/06	15/10/2009/14	01/01/2022	01/01/2028	Universitat de Barcelona	AQU Catalunya y ANECA
22	DOC14UAB/07	15/10/2009/14	01/01/2022	01/01/2028	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona	AQU Catalunya y ANECA
43	DOC14UDG/08	15/10/2009/14	01/01/2022	01/01/2028	Universitat de Girona	AQU Catalunya y ANECA
44	DOC14UDL/09	15/10/2009/14	01/01/2022	01/01/2028	Universitat de Lleida	AQU Catalunya y ANECA
24	DOC14UPC/10	15/10/2009/14	01/01/2022	01/01/2028	Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya	AQU Catalunya y ANECA
39	DOC14UPF/11	15/10/2009/14	01/01/2022	01/01/2028	Universitat Pompeu Fabra	AQU Catalunya y ANECA
42	DOC14URV/12	15/10/2009/14	01/01/2022	01/01/2028	Universitat Rovira i Virgili	AQU Catalunya y ANECA
43	DOC15UJI/13	2/10/2015	22/06/2021	22/06/2027	Universitat Jaume I	AVAP y ANECA
52	DOC16UAN/15	26/07/2016	07/02/2023	07/02/2029	Universidad Antonio de Nebrija	Fundación Madrid+d y ANECA
62	DOC16UIC/16	22/09/2016	12/07/2023	12/07/2029	Universitat Internacional de Catalunya	AQU Catalunya y ANECA
41	DOC16URLL/17	22/09/2016	12/07/2023	12/07/2029	Universitat Ramon Llull	AQU Catalunya y ANECA
2	DOC18UEX/18	17/07/2018		17/07/2024	Universidad de Extremadura	ANECA
20	DOC19UPV-EHU/19	18/01/2019	24/02/2025	24/02/2031	Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea	UNIBASQ y ANECA
29	DOC19UAH/19	13/11/2019		13/11/2025	Universidad de Alcalá	Fundación Madrid+d y ANECA
26	DOC22ULPGC/22	22/02/2022	22/02/2024	22/02/2028	Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria	ACCUEE y ANECA
010	DOC23UCM/23	07/02/2023		07/02/2029	Universidad Complutense de Madrid	Fundación Madrid+d y ANECA

Process general guidelines

Interested universities must complete the application for participation in the teaching evaluation support programme (DOCENTIA) and send it to ANECA.

The phases that the development of the DOCENTIA Programme includes are the following:

Phase I: DESIGN. The university designs the teaching activity evaluation manual according to the DOCENTIA model and sends it to the corresponding Agency for evaluation.
Phase II: EXTERNAL EVALUATION OF THE DESIGNS. Its purpose is to recognise compliance with the specifications and criteria of the DOCENTIA model.
Phase III: MONITORING OF THE IMPLEMENTATION. Universities whose designs have been positively evaluated begin the implementation and send an annual report to the Agency.
Phase IV: CERTIFICATION AND MONITORING OF THE CERTIFICATION. Once the design has been fully implemented and the monitoring phase has been successfully completed, universities may opt for certification of their evaluation procedures. Once the implementation has been certified, the university must send an annual certification monitoring report.
Phase V: CERTIFICATION RENEWAL. Once the certification validity period has been reached, if the last monitoring report is favourable.

The certification of a model under the DOCENTIA programme is valid for 6 years. During the first five years, the university will send annual certification monitoring reports and, in the sixth year, it will send a certification renewal report (see appendix A.VI). Application for participation in DOCENTIA.

Download Documento Application to DOCENTIA (103,02 kB)

Implications for other programmes

The certification of the implementation of the teaching activity evaluation design (DOCENTIA) will have consequences for the application of other evaluation programmes.

In the renewal of degree accreditation. During the DOCENTIA certification process, we reflect on the evaluation of the different aspects of the Teaching Quality Assessment System implemented in the centre. This assessment is reflected in the evaluation report and its content will be taken into account in the process for the renewal of the accreditation of the institution's degrees (ACREDITA ). Specifically, this can be read in the Framework Document: Evaluation for the renewal of accreditation for official University bachelor's and master's degrees (pp.51 -53). In this way, the guidelines of the ACREDITA programme that appear in ANNEX 3 of the framework document of the aforementioned programme will not be subject to evaluation by the commissions during the visit undertaken for the accreditation renewal of the centre's degrees.
In the Academia programme. As indicated in the evaluation criteria, applicants must have positive evaluations of teaching activity accredited by quality programmes such as DOCENTIA.
In the AUDIT programme. The certification of the DOCENTIA programme will exempt the institution from the evaluation of criterion 4 related to academic staff, in the certification of the implementation of the AUDIT programme.

Program Commissions

The DOCENTIA Program has several committees responsible for various aspects of its operation.

Programme Monitoring Committee

This commission is responsible for overseeing the Programme and its functions include periodically reviewing the model and the established procedure to apply the necessary improvements resulting from the implementation of the model, as well as responding to the demands of the agents involved. It is made up of a presidency and a secretariat proposed by ANECA and a representation of each of the autonomous agencies involved in the DOCENTIA Programme.

Commission for the evaluation of the Design, Monitoring and Certification of the DOCENTIA Programme models

The mission of this panel is to evaluate the documentation that universities prepare to meet the needs of each phase of the Program. In the case of the evaluation of certification and certification renewal, they will also carry out on-site visits to certify the correct implementation of the model proposed by the university.

Name	Profile
Ana Isabel Fernández Sainz (U. del País Vasco/EHU)	Chairperson
Miguel Santamaría Lancho (U. Nacional de Educación a Distancia)	Academic member
Javier Paricio Royo (U. de Zaragoza)	Academic member
Paula Carolina Lozano Duarte (U. Pública de Navarra)	Student member
Elvira Juárez Casalengua (ANECA)	Secretary

Committee for the evaluation of the AUDIT and DOCENTIA programmes

The Commission for the evaluation of the AUDIT and DOCENTIA programmes is responsible for the evaluation functions of the AUDIT and DOCENTIA programmes of ANECA.

Name	Profile
José Luis Aznarte Mellado (ANECA)	Chair
Javier Bará Temes (U. Politécnica de Cataluña)	Academic member
Cristina Guilarte Martín-Calero (U. de Valladolid)	Academic member
Elvira Juárez Casalengua/José Antonio Pérez de la Calle (ANECA)	Secretary

ANECA has established a procedure for queries by email: docentia@aneca.es