Quality

Commitment to quality

The Sant Pol School of Hospitality and Culinary Management (EUHT StPOL) is a higher education centre affiliated to the University of Girona (UdG), and as such we are an integral part of the UdG's quality management system.The Sant Pol School of Hospitality and Culinary Management (EUHT StPOL) is a higher education centre affiliated to the University of Girona (UdG), and as such we are an integral part of the UdG's quality management system.

The quality management system of UdG and EUHT StPOL has the mission of guaranteeing compliance with internal and external requirements and providing support for the achievement of the development objectives established by the university and by the centre itself, in the institutional, teaching, research and transfer areas, services, as well as the management of the participation of the university community and interest groups. The quality management guidelines are set out in documents that graphically describe these processes.

Since its beginnings in 1966, our teaching centre has always been demanding in its objective of offering higher education of high academic, professional and human quality in the hotel and gastronomic sector, and international recognition endorses the results obtained.

Due to the fact that it is a small centre with immediate interrelationships, a significant part of the development in the process of seeking the highest quality comes from oral or written contributions received through unofficial feedback channels. We would like to emphasise that this mode, which is based on an understanding of human nature and the natural ways of communicating directly and informally, is part of the normal functioning of the centre and contributes to the agility in daily operations that we are proud of. The informal channel has been and continues to be a valuable part of the information we receive for our development and thus forms part of the quality management of the school. At this point we would like to express our thanks to all those who help us to improve, and we take their input on board and evaluate it in the school management meetings, where the appropriate guidelines for development and implementation are drawn up.

Naturally, the immediacy of interactions is complemented by care and diligence in the management of all areas that require a higher level of formality, for the benefit of the quality and continuous improvement of the school.

Quality Commission

The Quality Commission of EUHT StPOL is the body that oversees and approves the development of the centre’s quality management system as a whole, including its improvement plan, quality management system processes, accreditation and monitoring reports.

EUHT StPOL Quality Commission

Internal Quality Assurance System

The UdG's Internal Quality Assurance System (SGQ) was initially accredited by ANECA in 2010. It establishes the processes and instruments to promote and ensure the quality of the degrees and the teaching and learning processes.

Originally conceived as a unitary system for the entire university, it is currently undergoing a process of adaptation to the new requirements and changes in the framework regulations, which address quality management from the perspective of the teaching centre. This process implies that each centre must adapt the quality procedures to its particular reality, obviously within the transversal framework of the UdG system. As long as the adaptation of the elements of the system has not been completed, the information shown corresponds to the higher level, that of the SGQ of the UdG. For this reason, we will find processes adapted or specific to the centre together with other more general ones in the SGQ of the centre.

SGQ Processes

Quality of degree studies

The quality of official university degrees in Spain is guaranteed in the VSMA framework (validation, monitoring, modification, accreditation), starting with the proposal of a new degree programme through the drafting of a report, which requires validation (verificación in Spanish texts) prior to its implementation, and up to the accreditation that the degree programme must obtain every six years. In Catalonia, it is AQU Catalunya (Agència per a la Qualitat del Sistema Universitari de Catalunya) that awards the corresponding validation and accreditation seals, and once the degree programme has been implemented, the UdG's monitoring reports reveal possible weaknesses, which are rectified through modification of the degree programme. The reports resulting from these processes are made public.

Degrees EUHT StPOL
Reports on GGHT This link gives access to the relevant reports related to the Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management (GGHT), from the validation report to the monitoring reports of recent years.

Improvement plan

Our improvement plan is the instrument for monitoring the management of continuous quality improvement. It is public and covers all areas, from the management of the centre and its facilities, communication, teaching, teaching and administrative staff, student services, and even the improvement process itself. It includes both the improvements proposed by EUHT StPOL and also those improvements introduced by UdG that affect our centre.

The improvement plan is structured on two levels: the improvement objectives, and the actions that will enable these objectives to be achieved. The plan also includes a time schedule, the assignment of responsibility, and assessments on the implementation of objectives and actions. These are regularly updated using a digital application, and their evaluation is part of the centre's monitoring reports.

EUHT StPOL Improvement Plan (available in Catalan)

Monitoring indicators

The degree monitoring indicators provide a set of quantitative data that the UdG collects and publishes annually, so that its development over time can be appreciated. They include a wide variety of parameters, grouped into four main areas: quality of the training programme, suitability of the teaching staff to the training programme, effectiveness of the systems to support learning, and quality of the training programme outcomes.

Indicators of the Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management (GGHT) (available in catalan)

Opinion surveys

Student survey on the teaching received; aggregated data (available in Catalan). The UdG carries out these surveys every six months by telematic means.

General internal survey of GGHT students (available in Spanish). This survey is intended as a complement to the teaching surveys. It therefore covers aspects of tutorial action, practical training, communication and services. It is carried out annually, with different questions depending on the course.

Internal satisfaction and labour market placement surveys of graduates (available in Catalan). Given that the absolute values of participation of our alumni in the surveys administered by AQU Catalunya are not statistically significant due to the small size of our teaching centre, we have carried out internal satisfaction and job placement surveys that broadly follow the AQU Catalunya models. Unlike the latter, they are conducted by telephone, which significantly increases the number of people answering the questions. However, the absolute values are low, which is why the results for several years are aggregated

EUHT StPOL undergraduate teaching staff opinion survey (available in Spanish). This survey broadly follows the model developed by the UdG for integrated teaching centres, with the aim of obtaining comparable data from our teaching staff, although the particularities of the school are also taken into account. The information collected on different aspects, such as satisfaction with the working environment and facilities, or the opinion about the students and teaching in general, among others, help the management team in the process of continuous improvement.
The survey is carried out every three years, both at UdG and at EUHT StPOL.

Organisational structures and student support structures

Certification and recognition of quality

The degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management bears AQU Catalunya's favourable accreditation seal. This accreditation certifies, among other things, that the study programme meets the academic standards in terms of content, that the study structures meet all formal requirements and that the necessary resources are available for the implementation of the programme in the form of qualified staff and sufficient material equipment.

We attach great importance to offering our students a first-class study programme in terms of content, organisation and professional employability. The success of this approach has also been recognised internationally in the prestigious QS World University Rankings by Subject, where EUHT StPOL has been ranked as the best university in Spain in the field of Hospitality & Leisure Management, and one of the best worldwide in this speciality (see also the article in our blog).