The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in Andorra (AQUA) has published a new thematic analysis focusing on the profiles and workload allocation of academic staff as defined in the curricula of state-recognised bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes accredited in Andorra.

This analysis forms part of the Agency’s ongoing work to generate useful knowledge for higher education institutions and to strengthen the coherence, transparency and quality of external quality assurance processes.

A key element of quality assurance

Academic staff are one of the central components of quality in higher education. For this reason, within programme evaluation processes, AQUA regularly assesses the adequacy of academic staff profiles and their sufficiency to ensure the achievement of the intended learning outcomes.

The thematic analysis is based on the evaluation reports produced by expert panels within the framework of external quality assurance processes and is aligned with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG), in particular ESG 1.5 (Teaching staff).

This standard requires higher education institutions to have clear policies and procedures in place to ensure that academic staff are competent and sufficient, and that they are provided with appropriate conditions to carry out their teaching, research and professional activities.

Objectives of the analysis

The main objective of this document is to describe the characteristics of academic staff as defined by Andorran private higher education institutions in their curricula and that have been positively assessed by AQUA.

Specifically, the analysis aims to:

• Provide an overall view of existing practices within the Andorran system.
• Identify good practices in the definition of staff profiles and workload models.
• Highlight the diversity of models depending on the type of programme and the nature of the institutions.
• Formulate recommendations to strengthen quality, coherence and transparency in relation to this evaluation criterion.

The document is intended to serve as a useful reference for both established institutions and newly created ones.

Main areas analysed

The analysis addresses, among other aspects:

• The minimum profile of academic staff, in relation to qualifications, teaching experience, and professional or research experience.
• Workload allocation models and their coherence with student numbers and teaching load.
• The relationship between teaching, research and professional practice, depending on the nature of the programmes.
• The planning and monitoring mechanisms for academic staff described in the curricula.

All of this is aimed at ensuring a high-quality learning experience, centred on learners, coherent with the educational objectives, and aligned with European standards.

Generating knowledge for continuous improvement

With this publication, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in Andorra (AQUA) reinforces its commitment to the continuous improvement of the Andorran higher education system, by providing institutions and stakeholders with a reflective tool grounded in the experience accumulated through external quality assurance processes, and by fulfilling ESG 3.4 (Thematic Analysis).

The full thematic analysis is available here.