The organisation, structure and role of the QAS

The Quality Assurance System (QAS) of degree courses from UCM’s Faculty of Geography and History are articulated around a double organisational structure that encompasses the Sub-Committees of Academic Quality (Degree, MA, PhD) and a (plenary) Academic Quality Committee.

 

The centre’s Academic Quality Committee is tasked with analysing and assessing information and issues dealt with inside the Sub-Committees, with the aim of putting forward measures necessary for review and improvement.

 

Furthermore, the Vice Deanship of Degree Courses and Academic Quality Evaluations, aided by the course Coordinators, is in charge of guaranteeing and overseeing the interaction and transfer of information between the Academic Quality Sub-Committees and the specific Coordination and Monitoring Committees on each of the courses taught in the Faculty of Geography and History and regarding all aspects that may affect quality assurance.   

 

The set-up of the QAS and all issues directly or indirectly related to the quality of teaching are addressed and managed inside a triple action framework:

1) Meetings of the Coordination and Monitoring Committee. Specifically dealing with issues related to the control and evaluation of quality, distinguishing between coordination-related issues.

2) Meetings between the Dean and/or Vice Deans and course Coordinators.

3) Plenary meetings of the Academic Quality Committee from the Faculty of Geography and History.

 

The Complaints and Objections System

Complaints and objections related to any aspect of the MA course can be processed by submitting an official file to the Dean and presenting it either in the Faculty’s Registry or by filling out a specific form available on the Faculty of Geography and History’s website. For any specific suggestions, students, professors or administration and service staff can send an email  to the  course Coordinator, and more general suggestions to the Vice Deanship of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies can be submitted by the same means. Once the complaints or suggestions have been received, Coordinators will inform the interested party, within 20 days of receipt, of the actions to be carried out and, if applicable, the final resolution adopted by the competent bodies.

 

Suggestions/complaints received through these channels will be considered and resolved, depending on their nature, by the course Coordinator and the Vice Deanship of MA Studies and Academic Quality Evaluation and, with regard to complaints, by the MA’s Academic Quality Sub-Committee.

 

This Sub-Committee is in charge of evaluating complaints and objections received in terms of the indicators to consider in detecting any weak areas of the course and potential actions of improvement.

 

The resulting report will be presented and debated at the plenary meetings of the Academic Quality Committee from the Faculty of Geography and History.

 

Further information on the Complaints and Objections Procedure of the Faculty of Geography and History is available (in Spanish) HERE.