Quality assurance systems in higher education institutions

Abstract

The concern of the universities for the institutional quality and changes in Spanish legislation have been the starting point for the design and implementation of quality assurance systems (QAS) in higher education institutions, through the AUDIT Program. AUDIT has been designed, following the guidelines of ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) with the aim of covering all dimensions and interest groups involved in the learning process, by the “Axencia para a Calidade do Sistema Universitario de Galicia” (ACSUG), the “Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación” (ANECA) and the “Agència per a la Qualitat del Sistema Universitari de Catalunya” (AQU Catalunya), subsequently joined the “Euskal Unibertsitate Sistemaren Kalitate Agentzia” (UNIBASQ). Officially is presented to universities in 2007 to provide guidelines for the design, development and implementation of the QAS and implement procedures of recognition of the design and certification of the implementation. Very remarkable is the high degree of participation of universities in AUDIT. Between 2007 and 2013 participated in the evaluation of the design of the QAS 62 Spanish universities (80,5%). Currently, the certification of the implementation has begun.