On Friday 18 January, the Catalan Association of Doctoral Schools (ACED) held its biannual meeting on the Barcelona Campus of the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona). During the meeting, the members confirmed the transparency and reliability of the processes by which the universities’ Academic Doctoral Committees monitor and oversee the doctoral theses. This monitoring process helps ensure that the theses meet, on the one hand, the minimum required standards of quality and, on the other, that the content is original. 

According to the association, since the implementation of Royal Decree 99/2011, of 28 January, all Spanish universities are required to continuously monitor the doctoral theses through the Academic Doctoral Committees. They are also there to ensure the originality of the text, provide doctoral students a comprehensive education and promote their internationality, as recommended in the guidelines of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). All of the universities comply with this decree, thus assuring the quality of the theses. 

Members of the Catalan Association of Doctoral Schools include the 12 Catalan universities and the University of Andorra.