Pablo Oñate Rubalcaba participated virtually in the study visit organized by the QFORTE project. Pablo is Professor of Political Science and Administration at the University of Valencia, as well as a member of the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA).

The intervention was mainly aimed at the presentation of ANECA through the Spanish higher education system, the evaluation activities it performs and its objectives. The international attendees were introduced to the structure of the Spanish university system and the evolution of the Bologna Plan.

Within ANECA’s evaluation activities, Oñate described the three processes of the accreditation program in Spain:

1. Project, definition of the expected learning outcomes.

2. Implementation, curriculum advancement.

3. Accountability, evaluation of the learning outcomes.

Apart from national accreditation Spanish universities are given the opportunity to obtain an international seal of approval in concrete scientific fields. Oñate also mentioned the advantages of the process, which include taking a step forward in the accreditation of degrees and avoiding the multiplication of processes to obtain national accreditations and international seals.

Here is a video of the whole presentation of Pablo Oñate Rubalcaba.

Posted by Juan M. Corchado

Juan Manuel Corchado (15 May 1971, Salamanca, Spain) is Professor at the University of Salamanca. He has been Vice-Rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and Director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. Elected as Dean of the Faculty of Science twice, he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of the West of Scotland. He leads the renowned BISITE (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) Research Group, created in 2000. Director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub and President of the AIR Institute, J. M. Corchado is also Visiting Professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology since January 2015, Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL). J. M. Corchado has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology at the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He currently combines all his activity with the direction of Master programmes in Security, Digital Animation, Mobile Telephony, Information Systems Management, Internet of Things, Social Media, 3D Design and Printing, Blockchain, Z System, Industry 4.0, Agile Project Management, and Smart Cities & Intelligent Buildings, at the University of Salamanca and his work as editor-in-chief of the journals ADCAIJ (Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal), OJCST (Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology) or Electronics MDPI (Computer Science & Engineering section). J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Sentiment Analysis. He has recently been included in the board of trustees of the AstraZeneca Foundation, along with other health professionals and researchers recognised for bringing scientific knowledge closer to society.