Quality Assurance System

1. The SGIC of the UPM

The Internal Quality Assurance System (SGIC) is articulated at the Polytechnic University of Madrid at the Center level. The current QMS of the ETSIT is the result of the review and improvement of the initial QMS, whose design was certified by ANECA in 2010, taking into account the modifications and the new approach of the QMS-UPM 2.1. It is currently in the implementation phase. Currently, the Center is undergoing an internal pre-audit to prepare for participation in the Certification phase of the Implementation of the QMS (SISCAL program) whose call is managed by the Madri+d Knowledge Foundation and whose evaluation protocol contemplates the basic requirements for a QMS for university centers, in accordance with the Criteria and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and with the certification established by the General Conference of University Policy.

2. Body responsible for the SGIC

In the Quality Manual of the Center’s QMS, modified at the School Meeting of 9-21-2018, the agents most directly involved in the control and development of the QMS appear: a Center Quality Manager and a Quality Commission. It is indicated that, in general and for all the Center’s titles, the person responsible for the QMS is the Director of the School, who delegates his functions in relation to this issue to the Quality Manager. To carry out its mission, it receives support and advice from the members of the Quality Unit. On the other hand, to articulate the participation of interest groups in decision-making related to Quality, there is a Quality Commission.

The ETSIT Quality Commission is the body responsible for coordinating the design, implementation, development and monitoring of the IMS, which encompasses all the official titles that are the responsibility of the Center, also acting as one of the internal communication vehicles of the policy, objectives, plans, programs, responsibilities and achievements of this system.

The Quality Commission of the School is made up of the Director of the ETSIT-UPM, who holds the presidency, the Deputy Director of Studies, the Head of Quality and Accreditation, those responsible for the Coordination of the Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees taught at the School, the Head of Doctoral and Postgraduate Studies, the Center Administrator, a member of the Administration and Services Staff (designated by the Director of the School), a student proposed by the Board of ETSIT delegates and a Support Technician (member of the Quality Unit), who will act as Secretary. That is, there is a Body responsible for the SGIC in which the main interest groups involved in the Doctoral Program are represented.

3. Functions of the Body responsible for the SGIC

To face the renewal of the accreditation of the Doctorate Programs, the University has incorporated some specific processes into the generic QMS of the UPM that help guarantee the quality of said Programs. These procedures have been developed taking into account the regulations in force, both external and internal, related to this level of academic studies, which the UPM Programs already complied with, and the requirements included in the Guide for the renewal of the accreditation of official doctoral teachings published by the Madri+d Foundation for Knowledge.

The ETSIT Quality Commission meets at least semiannually, after being convened by its Secretary by order of its President. The Secretary draws up minutes of the sessions, which are approved in the same or the following session and are made public on the Center’s website, making it available to the entire university community. The Commission carries out internal monitoring through which the recommendations indicated in the evaluation reports are responded to and coordinates the internal evaluation processes for the accreditation of the Program.

4. Review and update of the SGIC

The QMS is reviewed periodically as established in the Center’s Quality Manual and in the Preparation and Review Process of the Annual Quality Plan, PR/ES/001. It is in this process where the interest groups represented through the different agents involved (Quality Manager, Quality Commission/Management Team, those responsible for the affected process and the School Board), after carrying out an analysis of the results of the System processes, carry out a review of them and establish the necessary changes in the Quality Policy, if applicable, and the new objectives emanating from it, from which the corresponding actions to improve the affected processes are identified. These actions make up the Annual Quality Plan. Said Plan, in addition to these specific actions to be deployed, includes the corresponding managers and the tasks associated with them for monitoring and improvement.

5. Improvement plans

The Annual Quality Plan includes the necessary improvement actions once the following aspects have been analyzed: the achievement of learning results, the measurement of the satisfaction of interest groups and the performance of the different services based on the annual reports prepared by each of them. Said Plan is carried out by academic courses, it is approved in June of the previous course and during the application course it is reviewed to monitor the actions in November and March. It also includes the proposals for improvement and recommendations resulting from the external evaluation processes of both the SGIC and the different degrees in the processes of renewal of accreditation or other international accreditations (ABET or EURACE/EURO-INF).

The process PR/ES/007 “Monitoring of Doctorate Programs” describes the mechanism by which the Center monitors the implementation and development of the different doctoral programs, in order to facilitate decision-making for improvement, ensure the quality of the results obtained (internal quality guarantee) and have the necessary mechanisms and protocols for adequate accountability, guaranteeing the publication of information aimed at the different interest groups (external quality guarantee). Through this process, information is collected from all other processes that affect the doctorate, information that will later be analyzed and transferred to PR/ES/001 “Preparation and review of the Annual Quality Plan.” Through this, as mentioned above, these improvement actions are deployed in specific tasks whose development will be monitored.

6. Complaints, complaints and suggestions system

Finally, comment that the procedure by which complaints, suggestions and congratulations submitted to the center are managed is the process PR/SO/006 “Management of Suggestions, Complaints and Congratulations”. This process ensures that each of them is treated by the appropriate organizational unit and that the interested party can know the management status and resolution of the same. Complaints, Suggestions and Congratulations are processed through the School’s web portal:

https://sqf.etsit.upm.es/sqfApp/index.php

Other ways in which a complaint, congratulation or suggestion can be sent are through student reports to the School Board.