Raising the quality of undergraduate and postgraduate programs and, with it, the process of training and improving professionals, is an increasingly close goal for the Máximo Gómez Báez University of Ciego de Ávila (UNICA), which this year could raise to nine the number of accredited careers—the totality of the possible ones—.
This objective will be viable after, in recent days, the degrees in Physical Culture and Sports, and in Biology Education, as well as Civil Engineering, passed with positive results the external evaluation carried out by the National Accreditation Board.
This was announced to Invasor by Dr. C. and Full Professor Elme Carballo Ramos, director of Quality of the house of higher studies, who explained that, in the case of the degree in Physical Culture and Sports, it aspires to be reaccredited, because it already held the status of Certified; At the same time, the specialties of Biology and Civil Engineering Education face a process of this type for the first time to opt for one of the three categories: Qualified, Certified and Excellence, a result that will be announced next June.
The evaluation process by the National Accreditation Board for Bachelor's Degrees in Education, Biology, Physical Culture and Sports, and Civil Engineering successfully ends. Congratulations to all for such an unparalleled success #CubanUniversity #LatirAvileño @UNICACu pic.twitter.com/K8OxiQwPlV
Carballo Ramos pointed out that among the variables taken into account by the National Accreditation Board to evaluate the careers are the quality of the faculty, the prominence of its students, those who undergo a knowledge exam, and access to bibliography, both in hard and digital format, among others.
If the number of accredited careers is not higher, it is because, according to the UNICA Quality Director, in order to be considered as possible candidates they must meet certain requirements, among which are adding two generations of graduates, having students from the Course Regular Daytime in all years and that 15 percent of its faculty are Doctors of Science. However, when looking back, the qualitative leap has not been negligible if one takes into account that, in 2016, when UNICA faced the institutional accreditation process, none of its programs exhibited the condition of Excellence, and today they already add up to three.
The same growth can be seen in postgraduate programs: currently, of 15 Master's programs, one can speak of 12 accredited (all possible), eight of them with the highest category, when six years ago only one was accredited. In the case of PhDs, of the four that are taught at this academic institution, the one in Technical Sciences is endorsed as Excellence and the one in Education Sciences as a Certificate, a category that could be improved or maintained next June, when it is submitted to a reaccreditation process.
In the words of Dr. C. Yurisbel Gallardo Ballat, rector of the university, these advances are the result of joint work, and the perseverance and dedication of each one of those who work at the Máximo Gómez Báez that, on the verge of its anniversary 45, does not renounce the effort to become an institution of excellence, with the challenge ahead of "reaching the largest number of accredited undergraduate and postgraduate programs, and that more than 40 percent of them hold the highest category."
For now, 2023 could reserve new achievements in terms of accreditation, both for undergraduate and postgraduate courses, if the reaccreditation of the Master's Degree in Energy Efficiency is expected to take place in the last week of this month; while, at the end of October and the beginning of November, they must do three degrees and the Master's Degree in Direction. This will allow UNICA to face the institutional certification process with better conditions, scheduled for the first semester of 2024, in which it aspires to be reaccredited with the condition of Excellence, eight years after having received the higher category of certified institution.