Aimed at improving the University's quality, institutional assessment is a key part of the Quality Policy and the Internal Quality Assurance System. Both use a continuous improvement cycle based on four phases: plan, do, assess and act accordingly and, thus, improve.
These institutional assessments allow us to:
- Assure quality for accountability
- Assure quality for improvement
Since its foundation, the UOC has received the following awards and accolades in recognition of its quality.
International assessments
Furthermore, some of the UOC's programmes have received the following international and sector-based certifications.
UNWTO.TedQual Certification
The Bachelor's Degree in Tourism and the Master's Degree in Tourist Destination Strategy and Sustainable Management recently received TedQual certification, the only international certification in teaching and training awarded by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations specialist agency.
The UOC is the first 100% online university in the world to obtain this voluntary certification, which, by following minimum quality standards for tourism teaching, seeks to provide permanent improvements to tourism training and research programmes, primarily to achieve sustainable development in this sector. This certification is valid until 2022.
Assessment before the EHEA
Before roll-out of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the UOC took part in the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency's (AQU Catalunya) Pro-QU programme, which assessed a number of programmes and the institution.
Assessment in the EHEA
In accordance with the EHEA, the official programme accreditation process was begun in 2015 in order to give continuity to the University's external assessment. The table below lists the different milestones attained by the UOC in its quality management over the years.
| 2000-2001 | Assessment of officially recognized degrees by the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU Catalunya): official "licenciatura" degree in Humanities and official "licenciatura" degree in Catalan Language and Literature |
| 2002-2003 | Assessment of officially recognized degrees by AQU Catalunya: official "licenciatura" degree in Information Science (2nd cycle) |
| 2004 | Assessment of the EFQM model (500+) |
| 2005 | Cross-disciplinary assessment by the European University Association (EUA) |
| 2005-2006 | Assessment by AQU Catalunya of the library service |
| 2006-2007 | Institutional assessment by AQU Catalunya |
| 2006-2007 | Assessment by AQU Catalunya of the following degrees: official "licenciatura" degree in Psychology, official "licenciatura" degree in Educational Psychology, official "licenciatura" degree in Law and official "licenciatura" degree in Political Science |
| 2007-2008 | Assessment by AQU Catalunya of the following degrees: official "ingeniería técnica" degree in Business Informatics, official "ingeniería técnica" degree in Systems Informatics, official "ingeniería técnica" degree in Computer Engineering, official "diplomatura" degree in Business Studies, and official "licenciatura" degree in Market Research and Techniques |
| 2007 | Certification by AQU Catalunya of the Internal Quality Assurance System Manual according to the AUDIT-AQU Catalunya model for the Faculty of Law and Political Science |
| 2008 | Certification by AQU Catalunya of the Teaching Assessment Manual |
| 2009 | Certification by AQU Catalunya of the Internal Quality Assurance System Manual according to the AUDIT-AQU Catalunya model for all of the UOC's faculties |
| 2010 | Institutional assessment by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) |
| 2012 | Euro-Inf certification. International Euro-Inf accreditation of six formative programmes (three bachelor’s degrees and three university master's degrees) given by the UOC's Faculty of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications, awarded by the European Quality Assurance Network for Informatics Education (EQUANIE) |
| 2014 | TedQual Certification for the Bachelor's Degree in Tourism and the Master's Degree in Tourist Destination Strategy and Sustainable Management. This is the only international certification in education and training awarded by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations' specialized agency |
| 2015 | External assessment of the official programmes for their accreditation by AQU Catalunya. Five bachelor’s degrees and four university master's degrees were accredited |
| 2016 | External assessment of the official programmes for their accreditation by AQU Catalunya. Five bachelor’s degrees and five university master's degrees were accredited |
| 2017 | External assessment of the official programmes for their accreditation by AQU Catalunya. Five bachelor’s degrees and seven university master's degrees were accredited |
| 2018 | External assessment of the official programmes for their accreditation by AQU Catalunya. One university master's degree was accredited |
| 2019 | External assessment of the official programmes for their accreditation by AQU Catalunya. Thirteen university master's degrees and three doctoral programmes were accredited |
| 2020 | External assessment of the official programmes for their accreditation by AQU Catalunya. One bachelor’s degree and six university master's degrees were accredited |
| 2021 |
External assessment of the official programmes for their accreditation by AQU Catalunya. Three bachelor’s degrees and seven university master's degrees were accredited. External assessment of the Internal Quality Assurance System for its certification by AQU Catalunya. UOC's IQAS was certified. |
| 2022 | UOC becomes an Institutional Accredited Center by the University Council (Consejo de Universidades) |