Application Form for Accreditation Agencies Authorisation to award the EUR-ACE Label

Transcription

1 Application Form for Accreditation Agencies Authorisation to award the EUR-ACE Label I. Background 1. Please list below the address of the agency applying for authorisation, and the name, position, phone number and address of the person to whom any questions should be addressed: Address of the agency: Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación (ANECA) C/ Orense 11, 7ª planta Madrid España Contact person: Rafael Van Grieken Director direccion@aneca.es The present application is being presented by ANECA in agreement with the Spanish Institute of Engineering (IIE, Instituto de la Ingeniería de España, ENAEE member). 2. History and development of the agency (be sure to describe the founders of the agency and their motivation; the higher education context in which the agency operates; participation in the development of engineering-specific accreditation criteria; types of degree programmes accredited) Preliminary note: According to the external evaluation coordinated by ENQA, ANECA fulfils the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the EHEA. ANECA was subject to external assessment since its creation. We were externally reviewed in 2007 we were one of the first seven European agencies who did so and we were reviewed again in Besides, ANECA has 1

2 Professional activities ENAEE Application Form for Accreditation Agencies latest version coordinated the external review of other European quality assurance agencies (See Appendixes E79 and E80). ANECA belongs to the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education. ANECA was one of the first three agencies who were listed in the European Register since We have renewed the inclusion of ANECA in the register very recently (See Appendix E81). ANECA also meets the requirements of a number of international networks (INQAAHE, ENQA, ECA and RIACES) and, therefore, is widely recognised at an international level. Higher education context in which the agency operates The Spanish University System is regulated by the Organic Law on Universities (Law 6/2001, LOU). This law has been amended in 2007 by the Organic Law amending the LOU (Law 4/2007, LOMLOU) and a series of Royal Decrees for its implementation. The Spanish higher education system is widely decentralized: its overview and development are shared between the national government, the governments of the autonomous communities and the universities themselves. Spanish state law provides a framework for these three categories of actors and allows the autonomous communities to develop their own local regulatory framework on education. The State however regulates the conditions for obtaining, issuing and recognising academic and professional degrees, thus ensuring consistency and uniformity of the educational system across the country as a whole. The autonomous communities have the competencies for the creation, modification and closure of programmes at both public and private universities. Funding for the public universities comes from the autonomous communities. At the moment there are 79 universities in Spain, 29 of which are private institutions. Of the 50 public universities, 48 fall under the authority of the autonomous communities and two fall under the authority of the national Ministry of Education and Science. Of the 29 private universities, seven are associated with the Catholic Church. The traditional degree structure consisted of a long first degree (mostly called Licenciatura or Ingeniería Superior ), post-licenciatura specialisation courses (mostly called masters, but without a full academic status) and doctoral degrees based mostly on a thesis. Through the implementation of the Bologna Process, this traditional system of degrees has been transformed and is now structured into three cycles leading to the official degrees of Bachelor ( Grado ), Master and Doctorate. 240 ECTS Bachelor ECTS Master Doctoral Programmes 3-4 years The Spanish university system is coordinated by two main bodies: The General Conference on University Policy (Conferencia General de Política Universitaria) is the body coordinating national university policy. Its members are the national Minister for Education, Culture and Sport and the regional Ministers responsible for higher education. Its functions include the establishment and review of higher education policy. 2

3 The Council of Universities (Consejo de Universidades) has an advisory and coordinating role. Its membership is formed by the Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, and the rectors of public and private universities. Among its functions, the law grants the Council decision making competencies in relation to ex-ante and ex-post programme accreditation as well as for the formal accreditation of academic staff. Founders of the agency and their motivation ANECA is a State foundation created in 2002 by means of a Cabinet agreement. ANECA s mission statement (Article 32.1 of LOMLOU) is to contribute to improving the quality of the higher education system through the evaluation, certification and accreditation of university programmes, academic staff and institutional evaluations, as well as to report to the National Ministry and to the Council of Universities on the development of quality assessment procedures. It has also been commissioned with providing information about the quality of the university system and with maintaining a dialogue with stakeholders, including the social councils of the universities (Article 14.2 of LOMLOU). ANECA's activities cover the whole country and encompass the evaluation of individual academics, study programmes and various aspects of institutional performance. ANECA is the sole agency in Spain in charge of the individual evaluation of academic staff enjoying the status of state civil servants; it also carries out assessment assignments requested by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. In those Autonomous Communities that have set up their own quality assurance agency, ANECA shares two types of activities with these regional Agencies: the evaluation in three steps of individual study programmes (ex-ante verification, monitoring and ex post accreditation ), and the individual evaluation of noncivil servant academic staff. ANECA is also responsible for assessing university programmes and non-civil servant academic staff in those Spanish regions that do not have their own quality assurance agency. The main stages in the implementation of the Bologna Process in Spain are showed in Figure 1: Figure 1. Implementation of the Bologna Process in Spain Note: R.D. stands for Real Decreto (Royal Decree). RUCT stands for the Official Register of accredited study programmes. Participation in the development of engineering-specific accreditation criteria ANECA has been functioning as a comprehensive accreditation agency with authority throughout the Spanish national territory. Apart from the evaluation of individual academic staff (civil servants and non-civil servants), its main responsibility has been to evaluate and perform accreditation of study programmes in all disciplinary/professional areas at all levels. 3

4 This means that although ANECA is not specialized in, or restricted to the accreditation of engineering programmes, the Agency has a long standing experience with setting and applying standards in all areas, including Engineering Education. Engineering education in Spain presents a number of specific aspects with which ANECA and its partner organisation IIE are very familiar: - In Spain, the completion of an engineering degree confers full professional status to the degree holder; no further training or studies are required before the graduate can access the engineering profession; - Hence, engineering education in Spain is also shaped through the dialogue with professional bodies. Each academic level of engineering and each main area of specialization has its own requirements (set out in a governmental instruction) and its own professional organisation; these various are the members of the Instituto de la Ingeniería de España (Spanish Institute of Engineering, IIE), who is ANECA s partner organisation within the EUR-ACE framework; - Until the introduction of the Bologna reforms there were two levels of engineering degrees in Spain, that were run in parallel rather than as in stages: the degree of Ingeniero Superior that required 5 years of study provided at Escuelas Técnicas Superiores (Higher Engineering colleges), while the degree of Ingeniero Técnico required 3 years of studies at Escuelas Técnicas (Technical Engineering colleges). This structure has now been replaced by the Bologna degree structure, with Bachelor-level degrees and Master-level degrees; the first type of academic degree gives access to the Ingeniero Técnico profession, whereas the Master degrees allow the performance as Ingeniero Superior". - Engineering studies are a high prestige branch in Spanish Higher Education system; it attracts some of the best graduates of secondary education, which implies a certain level of selection (with significant differences according to the areas of specialization and the university concerned) among applicants. - The Institute of Engineering (IIE, Instituto de la Ingeniería de España, ENAEE member) takes part in different international organizations, such as the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), the European Federation of National Engineering Associations (FEANI), the Pan-American Union of Engineering Associations (UPADI) and the European Council of Associations of long cycle Engineers (CLAIU-EU), as well as the European Network for Accreditation of Engineering Education (ENAEE). Types of degree programmes accredited As far as accreditation of programmes is concerned, ANECA deals with the accreditation of programmes in all academic disciplines not only engineering programmes and at all levels (Bachelor, Master and Doctoral programmes). Programme accreditation in Spain is organized as a 3-step process: - an ex-ante evaluation (called Verification ) is compulsory before a new programme may be started; this procedure is similar to ex-ante accreditation in other countries, like Germany; once positively verified, programmes gain validity throughout the national territory and are entered into the official Register of degrees with validity throughout the Spanish territory ; - an annual follow-up procedure (called Monitoring ) throughout the time span for which the verification has been granted; - an ex-post accreditation (to which the word Accreditation is reserved), which corresponds actually to a re-accreditation in other national systems; The first formal accreditation decisions will be made from 2014 (i.e. 4 or 6 years after the first Verifications ). 4

5 In total ANECA has assessed through VERIFICA over study programmes (2,110 Bachelor, 2,860 Master and over 300 Doctoral programmes). 3. Motivation of the application ANECA applies to ENAEE to be authorized to award the EUR-ACE label to first and second cycle engineering programmes meeting ENAEE s standards. For this purpose ANECA has signed an agreement with the main representative body of the engineering profession in Spain, the Instituto de la Ingeniería de España (IIE). The content of this agreement is provided in Annex 2 ( Agreement between ANECA and the IIE for the EUR-ACE accreditation system (including letter to ENAEE President, Signed agreement between ANECA and IIE and draft of the Annex to the agreement between ANECA and IIE) ). The IIE considered of crucial importance the improvement of the academic engineering education, especially in the context of the Bologna process where the number of engineering schools and faculties has increased. Due to this reason, IIE had the initiative to find the way to offer the EUR-ACE label to the Spanish University System, in order to give answer to its interest on maintaining a high professional level of the engineers in Spain. This is why they contacted ANECA in order to sign an agreement for the EUR-ACE accreditation system in Spain. There are two main motivations underlying this application by ANECA in agreement with the IIE: - One is that both organisations see quality improvement as a core part of their mission and activities. ANECA s statutes emphasise that the Foundation s main objective is to contribute to improving the quality of higher education in Spain by means of evaluation, certification and accreditation activities. IIE s Articles of Association stresses the association s role in impulsing and underpinning progress in engineering education, putting it at the service of global development and the well-being of society. The importance of quality assurance and quality improvement for both partners is explicitly referred to in the partnership agreement between them. The collaboration between the quality assurance agency and the main representative body of the engineering profession will offer a unique opportunity for the improvement of engineering programmes, both from the academic and the professional viewpoint, through the application of the ENAEE s Principles. - The other main motivation of both partners is to provide to Spanish universities an organized and effective way to seek and obtain the EUR-ACE accreditation for their engineering programmes at Bachelor and Master level. Hitherto, no such way existed in Spain: IIE has been a member of ENAEE but without a full developed model for the implementation of EUR-ACE accreditation, while ANECA has been accrediting programmes in all disciplines, including engineering, but without being able to provide the EUR-ACE seal to those accredited programmes asking for it. This situation has placed Spanish engineering schools/faculties at a disadvantage with respect to their counterparts from several other European countries. It has also created a handicap for Spanish engineering students and graduates, who could not demonstrate to a host university or an employer in another country that their education/training was in line with the EUR-ACE standards. While engineering education has traditionally been one of the most attractive and successful strands of Spanish higher education, IIE and ANECA expect EUR-ACE accreditation to allow universities to demonstrate their quality outside Spain, for their own benefit and above all for the benefit of their students and graduates. Both partners have designed for Spain a two-tier system for the accreditation of engineering programmes, with national accreditation as a basic requirement and EUR-ACE accreditation for those programmes that meet in addition all the ENAEE 5

6 standards, i.e. positioning EUR-ACE as a seal of higher quality. This is also reflected in the name chosen for the procedure (ACREDITA Plus), which clearly conveys the message that EUR-ACE accreditation is something more than what is required at national level. Hence, ANECA and IIE are convinced that through their agreement and joint participation in the EUR-ACE scheme they will be able to better serve Spanish students, universities and employers. In due time the Spanish structure for EUR-ACE may also become attractive for engineering programmes offered in other countries, in particular Latin America. In this way, ANECA together with IIE expects to fill a vacuum for the full deployment of EUR-ACE and to make a significant contribution to the further development and promotion of EUR-ACE in Europe and the world. II. Accreditation Standards and Procedure Please provide information and evidence below (including, where possible, any existing documentation 1 in English) about how your agency meets each of the following criteria: Programme Outcomes 1. Provide detailed evidence how the output standards you use to judge the academic standard of accredited programmes comply with each of the six outcomes in Section 1 of the EUR-ACE Framework Standards for the Accreditation of Engineering Programmes. You may use as evidence English versions of existing publications provided that there is clear referencing to relevant sections. In order to show how ANECA s standards comply with each of the six learning outcomes defined in Section 1 of the EUR-ACE Framework Standards for the Accreditation of Engineering Programmes it is necessary to relate them to the accreditation procedures that ANECA currently uses and to those that will be used once ANECA is authorized to award the EURACE label. ENAEE standards compared to current accreditation through ACREDITA program ANECA s current accreditation procedures are deliberately competency-oriented. Competencies and learning outcomes are the main pillar of the Spanish national accreditation system in all disciplines and at all levels. In the case of degrees which qualify graduates for regulated occupations as is the case for engineering programmes the Ministry of Education and Science sets out through Ministerial Instructions the competencies that graduates should achieve at the time of graduating. These documents are published on the Ministry s website and concern the following areas of engineering: - At the Bachelor level: Engineering programmes dealing with the Ingeniero Técnico profession in Aeronautics, Agriculture, Forestry, Industrial engineering (i.e. mechanical, chemical, electrical and electronical engineering), Mining, Naval engineering, Civil engineering, Telecommunications and Topography; - At the Master level: Engineering programmes dealing with the Ingeniero Superior profession in Aeronautics, Agronomy, Structural engineering (Caminos, Canales y Puertos), Industrial engineering, Mining, Forestry engineering, Naval and Marine engineering and Telecommunications It is not possible and it would not be useful to provide an in-depth analysis of all of these Ministerial instructions. Therefore the Annex to this application provides a sample of these documents: one concerns the Bachelor level (Ingeniero técnico industrial, Technical 1 Please number the documents and mark their reference number under each paragraph. 6

7 Industrial Engineer) and the other concerns the Master level (Ingeniero industrial, Industrial Engineer). During the accreditation process as applied currently by ANECA, the evaluation panel assesses whether the skills/competencies defined for the study programme under review match those established in the corresponding Ministerial Instructions. For a detailed presentation of what evaluation panels are required to do in this respect when evaluating a particular programme, please check ANECA s Assessment Template (Appendix E44.1, VERIFICA Assessment Template for the accreditation ex-ante of official degrees (bachelormaster), page 6). The competencies that are set out for the various engineering professions in the Ministerial Instructions and are being used by ANECA s evaluation panels are close related to the Learning Outcomes set out in Section 1 of ENAEE s EUR-ACE Framework Standards for the Accreditation of Engineering Programmes. Since there are different Ministerial Instructions for different engineering areas and academic levels, it is neither possible nor useful to show a cross-reference table matching ANECA s requirements with ENAEE s; yet, a simple observation shows that ENAEE s six competency areas ( Knowledge and Understanding; Engineering Analysis; Engineering Design; Investigations; Engineering Practice, and Transferable Skills) are already widely reflected in the Ministerial Instructions and hence in ANECA s template for evaluation panels. From these observations it follows that current ANECA accreditation procedures for engineering programmes already substantially comply with ENAEE s standards, although it requires a proper analysis and organization for such purpose ENAEE standards in ACREDITA PLUS accreditation procedure for engineering programmes Even though ANECA s current procedures already take into account the Learning Outcomes required by ENAEE, the current procedure does not explicitly refer to these Learning Outcomes in any particular section of the application package submitted by universities. ANECA has already taken steps aimed at addressing this in its ACREDITA PLUS programme for engineering studies in collaboration with IIE to award the EUR-ACE label. Over the past months, ANECA has developed a new accreditation procedure called ACREDITA PLUS that will be applied for the accreditation of study programmes meeting the criteria of European/international quality seals like EURACE or EURO-INF. The following figure shows possible international seals that ACREDITA PLUS may consider: Figure. ACREDITA PLUS possible seals. 7

8 The ACREDITA PLUS initiative will be officially announced and published in October In order to emphasise the compliance with the ENAEE Standards, the application form for engineering programmes will be re-structured and will include a full section where applicant universities will be asked to demonstrate to what extent their programme responds to the Learning Outcomes set by ENAEE. In this way, universities engineering programmes seeking the EUR-ACE label on top of national accreditation will be formally assessed on the basis of ENAEE s standards, in the exact wording and in the format established by the Association. This two-tier system for the accreditation of engineering programmes, with national accreditation as a basic requirement and EUR-ACE accreditation for those programmes that meet in addition all the ENAEE standards, leads to the positioning of EUR-ACE as a seal of higher quality (please see figure in section Decision on accreditation of this application form). This is also reflected in the name chosen for the procedure (ACREDITA PLUS), which clearly conveys the message that EUR-ACE accreditation is something more than what is required at national level. For these reasons, ANECA can guarantee that within the ACREDITA PLUS framework its accreditation procedures for engineering programmes will fully comply with those established by ENAEE. Annex: - Annex 3: Ministerial Instructions (Industrial Engineer and Technical Industrial Engineer) Appendixes: - E44. Document on ANECA s evaluation programmes for higher education study programmes (E44.1, VERIFICA Assessment Template for the accreditation ex ante of official degrees (bachelor-master), page 6) Programme Organisation 2. How do you assess if the teaching programme is organised, managed and maintained in order to ensure that the Programme Outcomes are achieved? In this respect also, ANECA s standards for accreditation (which are published on ANECA s webpage) fully comply with the Guidelines for Programme Assessment and Programme Accreditation as set out in the EUR-ACE Framework Standards for the Accreditation of Engineering Programmes (Section 2). This conclusion is based on the following analysis: in order to check if ANECA s criteria comply with ENAEE requirements, ANECA prepared a comparison table that analyses the correspondence between ANECA s accreditation criteria and those required by ENAEE in the EUR-ACE Framework Standards for the Accreditation of Engineering Programmes (Table in Section 2.1.). Before analysing ANECA s accreditation criteria it is important to recall that ANECA s overall accreditation process is structured in three consecutive steps: 1) Ex-ante verification of a programme proposal submitted by a university prior to its approval, 2) Annual follow-up of the programme s implementation, and 3) Ex-post accreditation required after a few years of implementation (after four years in the case of a master degree and six years for bachelor and doctoral degrees), on the basis of the achievement of the programmes objectives. To carry out these procedures ANECA runs several evaluation programmes: VERIFICA deals with the ex-ante accreditation, MONITOR with the follow-up of verified programmes 8

9 and ACREDITA with the ex-post accreditation. Each of these programmes has its own criteria and rules that are all published on ANECA s webpage. ANECA has carried out a detailed comparison between ENAEE s Table in Section 2.1 of the EUR-ACE Framework Standards for the Accreditation of Engineering Programmes (shown as the lines of the table of comparison) with the VERIFICA, MONITOR and ACREDITA criteria (shown as the columns of the table). The methodology applied was as follows: - the first stage consisted in matching each ENAEE standard with the criteria used in each of ANECA s evaluation programmes (VERIFICA, MONITOR or ACREDITA). - The second stage consisted in checking whether the information required from universities for ANECA s criteria was sufficient for the assessment of all ENAEE standards. The results of these exercises are shown in the Comparative Table in Annex 1. Boxes in green (which are by far the most numerous) are for criteria for which the data required from applicants is fully sufficient; boxes in orange are for criteria for which partial answers are provided; the very few boxes in red signpost areas for which the current ANECA application does not gather data required to assess an ENAEE standard. This Comparative Table shows very clearly that ANECA s accreditation criteria for the sequence of VERIFICA, MONITOR and ACREDITA programmes include nearly all the specific information required in Section 2.1 of the EUR-ACE Framework Standards for the Accreditation of Engineering Programmes. There are only a few items (those that are highlighted in red in the Comparative table) that are missing in ANECA s current application forms, but will henceforward be required from those universities that seek the EUR-ACE label in addition to the national Spanish accreditation. Therefore the obvious conclusion is that ANECA fully complies with ENAEE s standards about programme organization and management. Annexes: - ANNEX 1 Comparative analysis of criteria ENAEE-ANECA Appendixes: - E44 Document on ANECA s evaluation programmes for higher education study programmes. - E82 ACREDITA Draft Documents: Framework, Self-assessment guide, external assessment guide. Accreditation Procedure 3. Describe how your accreditation procedures are developed, updated and publicised. ANECA has considerable experience in developing, updating and publicizing accreditation procedures for compulsory evaluation programmes (like VERIFICA, MONITOR, ACREDITA for study programmes, or PEP and ACADEMIA for teaching staff) as well as for voluntary ones (MENCION for high quality doctoral programmes, AUDIT for the certification of universities internal quality assurance system and DOCENTIA for the certification of the quality of teaching): Mandatory programmes: the objectives and goals are defined in generic terms in the Royal Decrees aimed at implementing the LOMLOU; ANECA s Board of Directors disaggregates these objectives and designs concrete evaluation procedures in line with the ESG; 9

10 Voluntary programmes: ANECA s Board of Directors defines independently their objectives and specifications, always making certain that they are in line with the European Standards and guidelines. In both cases, until 2009 the evaluation programmes were designed and developed by ANECA s Department of Innovation; subsequently, the Technical Committee reviewed them in order to add the necessary methodological and expert endorsement and the Board of Directors approved them for implementation. Since 2009 ANECA s new programmes are being designed by a specific Working group appointed by ANECA s management and comprising technical staff and external experts from academia; the ESG established by ENQA and the references provided by ECA and INQAAHE are used as explicit guidelines. All programmes go through a revision phase conducted by ANECA s Advisory Board and Board of Directors, in order to ascertain that the objectives and goals set out initially are indeed being taken into account and the proposed methodology is appropriate to meet the relevant needs. Based on the recommendations of the 2007 ENQA external review report and the Board of Trustees guidelines, all new programmes have to go through a pilot phase before their full implementation; its purpose is to test the adequacy of the proposed assessment procedures and to gain information aimed at improving the evaluation programmes. During 2011, the MONITOR programme went through a pilot phase before it was finally adopted as the main tool for the follow-up procedure of the implementation of study programmes after their verification. 14 universities participated and 95 bachelor and master degrees went through the pilot procedure, which led to the identification of numerous improvements relating to all aspects of the evaluation programme (organisation, communication, methodology, etc.). Similarly, ANECA used a pilot project to test the compatibility of its proposed ACREDITA programme for ex-post accreditation (from 2014) with the proposal to introduce a single accreditation procedure for joint degrees; more precisely, a joint Erasmus Mundus master degree in the TEAM II project coordinated by ECA ( ) and in its continuation through the JOQAR project ( ). Once the design of a new programme is completed and approved by the Board of Directors, ANECA provides extensive information on it (criteria, guidelines, manuals...) before its implementation; dissemination means used include ANECA s website, presentations to universities, forums, meetings and conferences. For the purpose of the EURACE accreditation system, based on the agreement of ANECA and the IIE (ANNEX 2: Agreement between ANECA and the IIE for EURACE accreditation system), a Technical committee will be created for the purpose of designing and developing the assessment programme. Additionally, a superior committee - called Joint Commission will be in charge of the strategic decisions related to the agreement between ANECA and IIE. Annex: - ANNEX 2: Agreement between ANECA and the IIE for EURACE accreditation system Appendixes: - E08 Royal Decree 1393/2007 (managing university courses). - E09 Royal Decree 861/2010 (amending RD 1393/2007). - E10 Royal Decree 99/2011 (regulating doctoral courses). - E43 Aims and purposes of the Programmes published on the ANECA website. - E44 Document on ANECA s evaluation programmes for higher education study programmes - E46 Documentation on international projects (TEAM II, JOQAR). - E62 ANECA forums and/or meetings. 10

11 - E63 Minutes of meetings (Advisory Board, Technical Committee). - E64 Meta-evaluations of Programmes (MONITOR). - E67 Reports submitted to the Board of Trustees. 4. Demonstrate that the procedures for program assessment and accreditation published as a standard fully comply with the procedures for programme assessment and programme accreditation as set out in the EUR-ACE Framework Standards for the Accreditation of Engineering Programmes (Section 3). All procedures for programme assessment and accreditation are published on ANECA s Website ( With respect to engineering programmes, they fully comply with ENAEE s standards: 4.1. Application by a Higher Education Institution (HEI) Universities must submit a self-evaluation report and additional relevant documentation at least two months before the visit of the accreditation team. All questions/items shown in the table in Section 2.1 of the EUR-ACE Framework Standards for the Accreditation of Engineering Programmes are also part of ANECA s accreditation procedure. As mentioned in previous sections of this application, this procedure is based on three consecutive milestones: 1. Ex-ante accreditation ( verification ) of a programme proposal submitted by a university prior to its approval; 2. Follow-up through annual reviews of the programme implementation; and 3. Ex-post accreditation required after a programme has been implemented (after four years in the case of master degrees and six years for bachelor and doctoral degrees). These three steps correspond respectively to the VERIFICA, MONITOR and ACREDITA programmes. As mentioned in Section II.2 of this application, ANECA has compared ENAEE s table in Section 2.1 of the EUR-ACE Framework Standards for the Accreditation of Engineering Programmes with the requirements of the sequence of VERIFICA, MONITOR and ACREDITA programmes (Cf. ANNEX 1. Comparative analysis of criteria ENAEE- ANECA). The result of this comparison is that ANECA s accreditation procedure (VERIFICA+MONITOR+ACREDITA) includes all questions/items listed ENAEE s table, with the exception of very few items that are not central in the evaluation process but will be required henceforward from all universities seeking the EUR-ACE label Guidelines for the Procedure of Programme Assessment Composition of accreditation teams: ANECA s panel for the ex post accreditation consist of five members: - an academic with experience in VERIFICA and/or MONITOR programmes, who acts as president of the panel - another academic from the specific field of the programme being assessed - a professional from the specific field of the programme being assessed - a student with expertise in assessment procedures - a secretary who is an ANECA staff member. For the award of the EUR-ACE accreditation, the professional member will be appointed upon nomination by the Instituto de la Ingeniería de España (IIE), in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the IIE and ANECA (Cf. ANNEX 2: Agreement between ANECA and the IIE for EURACE accreditation system). All members of the panel are trained for the conduction of the accreditation process on a one day training course. A code of ethics governs the relationship between the experts and their work within the framework of ANECA, and ensures the absence of any conflict of interest; it must be signed by the experts before they begin providing their services to the Agency. 11

12 Duration of the accreditation visit ANECA s site visits for national ex-post accreditation normally last between two days and two days and a half; they will last between two days and a half and three days in the case of engineering education programmes seeking the EURACE label Structure of the accreditation visit The accreditation visit includes: - preliminary meeting of the panel team - meeting with head of department / university; - meeting with academic staff; - meeting with support staff; - meeting with students; - meeting with former students; - meeting with employers / industry / professional engineering organisations representatives; - visit of facilities (libraries, laboratories, etc.); - review of project work, final papers and other assessed work (with regards to their standard); and - modes of assessment as well as to the learning achievements of the students; - feedback of the panel at the end of the visit Guidelines for the Procedure of Programme Accreditation Validation of the panel s report by the accreditation agency/commission The panel prepares a report proposal that is submitted to the HEI to check for factual errors; if any, these are taken into account by the panel. The panel also includes recommendations in the proposed accreditation report Decision on accreditation The panel s report proposal is then submitted to the Knowledge Area Assessment Committee (Comisión de Evaluación de Rama, CER), which analyses the compliance with the criteria for the knowledge area (including, in the case of Engineering, with the specific Ministerial Instructions). Subsequently, the Report Issuing Committee (Comisión de Emisión de Informes, CEI) studies the assessment proposal submitted by the various CER in order to ensure consistency and coherence between the various areas and harmonise the interpretation and application of the accreditation criteria. ANECA has 3 Report Issuing Committees, one for each level (bachelor, master and doctoral degrees). These Committees involve the chairpersons of all CERs. The last step in the process is the decision about national accreditation that is taken by the Council of Universities, based on the assessment report of ANECA. The accreditation has a validity of six years in the case of Bachelors and four years in the case of Masters. After this period all programmes will need to apply for reaccreditation. With regard to engineering programmes applying for the EURACE label, the future procedure is planned to be as follows: once the normal procedure is completed and only if the programme gets a positive national accreditation, all necessary information (self-evaluation report, panel report, national accreditation decision, support documents, etc.) will be submitted to the EURACE Accreditation Commission. This body will be responsible for the final decision about the award (or denial) of the EUR-ACE label and its communication to the applicant HEI. 12

13 The following figure illustrates the process: The EURACE Accreditation Commission will include the following members: - 50% of academics nominated by ANECA - 50% of professionals proposed by the Instituto de la Ingeniería de España (IIE) in accordance with ANECA-IIE agreement (Cf. ANNEX 2: Agreement between ANECA and the IIE for EURACE accreditation system); one of these will act as Chair of the Commission. Up to 20% of members will be experts from outside Spain ideally members of other ENAEE authorised agencies. Additionally, a person from ANECA staff will act as secretary of the Commission. In total, EURACE Accreditation Commission will consist of 16 experts, maximum Publication The list of accredited programmes is easily available to the public. ANECA has developed a search engine called "What to study and where" that is available on its website 2. It has been designed to help users (students, employers and society at large) find information on all bachelor and master degrees (as well as doctoral degrees in the future) that have been positively reviewed. Information made available includes the programmes main features and the evaluation reports. Annexes: - ANNEX 1 Comparative analysis of criteria ENAEE-ANECA - ANNEX 2 Agreement between ANECA and the IIE for EURACE accreditation system Appendixes: - E34 Search engine What to study and where? ( - E44 Document on ANECA s evaluation programmes for higher education study programmes. - E48 Evaluation Programmes reports posted on the website. - E49 Assessment report templates. - E50 Code of Ethics for experts. - E52 Documentation on the training of experts. - E82 ACREDITA Draft Documents: Framework, Self-assessment guide, external assessment guide, page

14 5. Document which of the processes listed below the agency normally uses. Please mark down and document which of the processes your agency is using. a. a self-assessment or equivalent procedure by the subject of the accreditation process; b. an external assessment by a group of experts, including, as appropriate, (a) student member(s), and site visits as decided by the agency; c. publication of a report, including any judgments, recommendations or other formal outcomes; d. a follow-up procedure to review actions taken by the subject of the accreditation process in the light of any recommendations contained in the report; e. any other processes and procedures. ANECA uses the following processes in the accreditation of programmes on a regular basis: a self-assessment procedure by the programme object of the accreditation process; an external assessment by a group of experts, including, as appropriate, a student member, and a site visit; publication of a report, including any judgments and recommendations; a follow-up procedure to review actions taken by the programme object of the accreditation process in the light of any recommendations contained in the report; As it has been already explained, all bachelor, master and doctoral degrees must pass an accreditation process based on three consecutive milestones: 4) Ex-ante accreditation of a programme proposal submitted by a university prior to its approval, 5) Follow-up annual revision of the programme implementation, and 6) Ex-post accreditation required after a programme has been implemented (after four years in the case of a master degree and six years for bachelor and doctoral degrees). The ex-ante procedure ( Verification ) analyses those aspects that, in advance, may guarantee the feasibility and quality of the proposed study programme. It is based on an analysis of the degree proposal prepared by the university. The follow-up review focuses on an assessment of the implementation of the programme, on the basis of evidence that the degree is being offered in accordance with the prior specifications for it and the commitments taken by the university during the ex-ante procedure and that all recommendations made by ANECA are being taken into account. Finally, the ex-post accreditation procedure is based on evidence that students have completed the programme successfully and the degree offers quality and is viable in the future; the ex-post accreditation requires a self-assessment report by the university and a site-visit by the team of experts; the purpose of the procedure is to ensure that the study programme has been conducted in agreement with to the project that was presented and approved ex-ante. All panels performing an accreditation visit include a student. The same committee will perform the three steps of the assessment process (accreditation ex-ante, follow-up and accreditation ex-post) for each degree in order to ensure consistency throughout the process. All assessment reports include recommendations for improvement and are published on the Agency's website, in the "What to study and where" search engine. The search engine provides information (including the reports and the recommendations for improvement) on all degrees that have received a positive ex-ante accreditation ( verification ). It is currently available in Spanish. ANECA is currently working on the addition of an English version. Appendixes: E32 ANECA website ( E44 Document on ANECA s evaluation programmes for higher education study programmes. 14

15 E63 Minutes of meetings. E82 ACREDITA Draft Documents: Framework, Self-assessment guide, external assessment guide. 6. Explain how accreditation decisions are reached and which committee(s) participate(s) in the decision making process. (Note: Minutes of the committee(s) should be available to the visiting panel during its visit.) All evaluation programmes operated by ANECA include measures aimed at ensuring consistency in the application of the standards/criteria. In programme evaluation, the consistency of the decisions made is ensured thanks to the work of two types of committees: o CER (Knowledge Area Assessment Committee), which proposes the assessment of study programmes or of any changes and analyses its compliance with the criteria. In total there are 18 committees for bachelor, master and doctoral degrees. o CEI (Report Issuing Committee), which checks the assessment proposals submitted by the various Knowledge Area Committees in order to ensure the consistency and coherence between the assessment reports prepared by them and to harmonise the application of the criteria. The Agency has 3 Report Issuing Committees, one for each level (bachelor, master and doctoral degrees). Each CEI comprises the chairpersons of the various Knowledge Area Assessment Committees active at the degree level in question. ANECA arranges cross-cutting meetings with the chairpersons of the evaluation panels with a view to providing suggestions for improvement and ensuring that standards are applied consistently across programmes and disciplines. Final accreditation reports are always agreed and issued by the relevant assessment committee, thus ensuring the consistency of final assessments. As it was already explained in section of this application form, with regard to engineering programmes applying for the EURACE label, the future procedure is planned to be as follows: once the normal procedure is completed and only if the programme gets a positive national accreditation (if they have asked, as well, for the national accreditation), all necessary information (self-evaluation report, panel report, national accreditation decision, support documents, etc.) will be submitted to the EURACE Accreditation Commission. This body will be responsible for the final decision about the award (or denial) of the EUR- ACE label and its communication to the applicant HEI. The figure in section of this application form illustrates the process. Additionally, for programmes of other countries (specially from Latin America) or programmes that would not like to ask for national accreditation together with the EUR-ACE seal, the process will follow the chart below: Appendixes: E20 Structure and function of assessment committees. 15

16 E21 Assessment committees published on the website. E43 Aims and purposes of the Programmes published on the ANECA website. E44 Document on ANECA s evaluation programmes for higher education study programmes. E52 Documentation on the training of experts. E80 External review report 2012 pag If the agency makes formal accreditation decisions, or judgments which have formal consequences, demonstrate that it has an appeals system. All evaluation programmes operated by ANECA include formal, predetermined mechanisms for claims or appeals. The Agency has an Appeal Committee that resolves any appeals regarding assessments. In 2012 ANECA brought together the work of the various complaints and appeal committees from the different programmes into a new merged Committee of Guarantees and Programmes. This Committee is responsible for all appeals and claims relating to study programme evaluations (as well as to the assessment of individual non-civil servant academic staff). With regard to engineering programmes applying for the EURACE label, the agreement between IIE and ANECA shows that an appeals system will be created for the purpose of ACREDITA PLUS programme. Annex: - ANNEX 2: Agreement between ANECA and the IIE for EURACE accreditation system Appendixes: E24 Documentation regarding the Appeal Committee/ Assurance and Programmes Committee. E80 External review report 2012 pag.31 III. Institutional Information 3 Please provide information and evidence below (including, where possible, any existing documentation in English) about how your agency meets each of the following criteria: Official status 8. What is the legal basis for your accreditation role, and how do you demonstrate compliance? ANECA is a public Foundation created in 2002 by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport with the approval of the Council of Ministers, pursuant to the 2001 Organic Law on Universities (LOU). The subsequent Law amending the LOU (the LOMLOU) provides the framework through which ANECA is officially recognised as a National Agency with responsibilities for the external quality assurance of the Spanish university system. It defines its status, functions and competency framework. The LOMLOU was subsequently implemented on the basis of a series of Royal Decrees that define in more detail the applicable rules and criteria. In order to achieve its purposes, in accordance with Article 32.1 of the LOMLOU, ANECA must carry out its activity in accordance with the principles of technical and scientific 3 Based on the European Standards and Guidelines for External Accreditation Agencies adopted by the Bergen Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education, May 2005, which in turn is based on the ENQA Report Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area, 2005, 16

17 competence, legality and legal certainty, independence and transparency, on the basis of standard performance criteria governing similar agencies in the international arena. ANECA also meets the requirements of a number of international networks (INQAAHE, ENQA, ECA and RIACES 4 ) and, therefore, is widely recognised at the international level. The Instituto de la Ingeniería de España IIE (Engineering Institute of Spain), founded on January 15th 1905, is the Spanish legal federation of the following 9 official long-cycle engineering Spanish associations: Aeronautical Engineers Association of Spain; National Agronomist Engineers Association; Spanish Civil Engineers Association; Federation of Industrial Engineer Associations of Spain; National Association of I.C.A.I. Engineers; National Mining Engineers Association; Forestry Engineers Association; Naval and Oceanic Engineers Association of Spain; Spanish Association of Telecommunications Engineers. Through these nine Associations, the Engineering Institute of Spain brings together more than 100,000 long cycle engineers from the various specialities, who carry out their activities in the different Autonomous Regions of the Nation, in the private as well as the public sectors. The IIE is a private and totally independent not-for-profit Association declared as Public Usefulness Entity under the Spanish legislation, its Governing Bodies are: the Council of Representatives, the Board of Directors and the President; being H.M. the King Juan-Carlos I its honorary president. In order to carry out their activities, the Institute has created different Consultative Committees; working groups made up of Engineers from all the Associations who are coordinated by the Board of Directors and the General Secretariat of the Institute. Appendixes: E01 Organic Law 6/2001 on Universities (Art. 32). E02 Organic Law 4/2007, amending Organic Law 6/2001 on Universities (Art.32.2). E03 Resolution of the Council of Ministers dated 19 July 2002 establishing the Spanish Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation. E04 Order ECD/2368/2002, by which the so-called "Spanish Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation Foundation" is entered in the register of foundations. E05 ANECA statutes (May, 2011). E72 Membership in International Networks due to its official status in Spain: full membership in ENQA, INQAAHE, EQAR, ECA and RIACES. E73 INQAAHE s evaluation of ANECA (July, 2009): Report on compliance with INQAAHE guidelines of good practice. E74 ECA evaluation of ANECA (April, 2008): Report on compliance with the ECA Code of Good Practices. E75 EQAR communiqué. Activities 9. Is the undertaking of accreditation processes at programme level part of the core functions of your agency? The Agency's activities are set out in the LOU (Articles 31 and 35), the LOMLOU (Article 32) and the various regulations (in particular Royal Decrees) for the implementation of these Laws, as well as in ANECA's Statutes, which state that the Agency performs evaluation, certification and accreditation activities. The compulsory accreditation of study programmes and academic staff are entrusted to ANECA by legal mandate, while the evaluation of various aspects at institutional level were developed at ANECA's own initiative as noncompulsory programmes aimed at supporting the development of a quality culture and underpinning the main accreditation programmes. 4 Ibero-American Network for Quality Accreditation in Higher Education 17

18 These activities are carried out through an extensive range of evaluation/accreditation programmes that are summarized in the following table. Table 1. Evaluation Programmes developed by the agency. ANECA assessment processes VERIFICA Objectives Accreditation ex-ante Programmes MONITOR ACREDITA ACREDITA PLUS MENCION Follow-up Ex-post accreditation Subject-specific accreditation with international standards Certification of the excellence of doctoral studies Academic Staff PEP Assessment of non-civil servant academic staff ACADEMIA Accreditation of civil servant academic staff Institutional-level approach AUDIT Certification of universities' IQAS DOCENTIA Certification of the quality of teaching For a detail analysis of each assessment programme, please visit After 11 years of activity, ANECA will continue to review and improve the evaluation programmes described above in order to adapt them to changes in context and, therefore, to guarantee their sustainability. Appendixes: E01 Organic Law 6/2001 on Universities (Art. 31 & 35). E02 Organic Law 4/2007 on Universities (Art. 32). E05 ANECA Statutes (May, 2011). E06 RD 1052/2002, laying down the procedure for obtaining ANECA assessment and certification, for the purpose of recruiting academic and research staff. E07 Resolution dated 18 February, 2005, by the Directorate General of Universities (State Gazette of March 4), amending certain aspects governing the procedure for submitting applications and the assessment criteria set forth in the Resolutions of 17 October, 2002 and 24 June, E08 RD 1393/2007, establishing the organisation of university courses. E09 RD 861/2010, amending Royal Decree 1393/2007,establishing the organisation of university courses. E10 RD 99/2011 regulating official doctoral studies. E11 RD 1312/2007 establishing national accreditation requirements to access to university academic staff. E12 Resolution dated 7 October by the Directorate General of Universities, which establishes the procedure for submitting applications and the assessment criteria for non PhD assistant lecturers as regulated by Royal Decree 989/2008. E43 Aims and purposes of the Programmes published on the ANECA website. E47 Agreements with other institutions. E55 ANECA Process Map. E56 Activity Reports E57 Action Plans

19 Resources 10. What resources does your agency have at its disposal to carry out its accreditation process(es)? What provisions have you made for the development of the processes and procedures? Human Resources: Staff Evaluation activities, which commenced in late 2008, called for a gradual increase in the workforce (table 2), which currently consists of 84 people. The staff has adequate and sufficient training and capacity to perform their functions. More specifically 40% of staff holds an advanced degree. The staff is young (60% below 40 years of age), and there is a balanced proportion of women (56%) and men (44%) (figure 2). Table 2. Evolution of the number of people working at the Agency. Workforce Managers Staff Total Figure 2. Distribution of ANECA staff by position and age (Feb. 2012) A job classification system has been developed in recent years; it includes the positions and professional categories as well as the competencies, skills and knowledge required in each one. The Agency prepares an annual staff development plan, which is assessed and followed-up until completion. Given the current budgetary constraints, the Agency will endeavour to adapt the training plan to the new requirements. Experts and consultants There are 43 assessment committees (table 3), consisting mainly of renowned academics. Their main function is to conduct external evaluations. The assessment committees are organised by degree level (Bachelor, Master, Doctorate) and knowledge areas (Science, Health Sciences, Social Sciences and Law, Engineering and Architecture and Arts and Humanities). However, in some cases, for reasons of efficiency and timeliness, they can be merged. 19

20 Table 3. Number of assessment committee experts per assessment process. (Data from April 2012). Assessment process Total experts Number of committees Programmes Programme evaluation (Verifica, Monitor, Acredita, Acredita+, Mención) MENCION 49 5 Academic Staff Assessment of academic staff PEP Accreditation of academic staff ACADEMIA Institutionallevel approach AUDIT 5 1 DOCENTIA 14 3 Total During 2012, a total of 269 experts were involved in Programme evaluation processes and 268 in the accreditation of academic staff; in addition, some 1,600 experts were working on the ACADEMIA programme and 25 experts were involved in institutional assessment procedures. The institutional and programme evaluation committees also employ 28 professional experts and 16 students. In addition, these committees employ international experts, although their renewal or integration is not always easy because of the requirements related to their language skills and time availability. There are also consultants who provide assistance in developing evaluation models and methodological guidelines, follow-up evaluation programmes or provide counselling in specific areas. More specifically, two international experts are providing advice on the Spanish Qualifications Framework for Higher Education (MECES) and on international activities. Within the national context ANECA has been collaborating with four experts who are providing advice on academic staff evaluation and on the DOCENTIA, AUDIT, VERIFICA and MONITOR Programmes. Additionally, 4 experts (2 European and 2 from Latin America) are members of ANECA s Advisory Board. ANECA has a comprehensive and updated database of experts. National experts as well as international ones are selected by the Agency following rigorous standards set out in the selection procedures of each evaluation programme. They are also offered specific training in accordance with the needs of each evaluation programme. As far as IIE is concerned, it is worth mentioning that in order to carry out their activities, the IIE has created several Technical Committees and Task Forces; working groups made up of Engineers from all the Associations who are coordinated by the Board of Directors and the General Secretariat of the Institute. Currently, 250 Engineers from all the branches work in these groups as an integral part of the following areas: Internal committees International Engineering education Continue training Legislative development Statutes Publications 20