Accreditation of Spanish engineering programs, first experiences. The case of the Terrassa School of Engineering

• Main Authors: Mª Dolores Álvarez, Mireia Mata, Javeir Cañavate, Joaquim Marqués, Carme Espot, Santiago Forcada, Jordi Voltas, Núria Garrido, Jordi Sellarés, Alfred Gil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Politécnica de Valencia 2016-03-01
• Series: Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences
• Subjects: Internal Quality Assurance System; Programme assessment; Accreditation; European higher education area
• Online Access: http://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/MUSE/article/view/4683
• ISSN: 2341-2593

The implementation of the European Space for Higher Education has entailed new requirements for Spanish Higher Education Programs. Regulations (RD 1393, 2007) stablish that university programs, in order to have official validity, must be submitted to an external evaluation process before their official implementation, denominated Validation, and to an ex-post process or Accreditation. Terrassa School of Engineering (EET) was one of the first schools in Spain to adapt to the European Space for Higher Education, in the academic period 2009-10 and then, one of the first university institutions submitted to an accreditation process. In this communication, the important role of the Internal Quality Assurance System in the assessment of the school’s programs is exposed as well as the approach followed in the key steps of the process: Accreditation