Abstract:

Due to the exigency within the framework of the European Higher Education System (EHES) about the necessity of the implementation of policies and quality systems, the Analytical Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Universidad Complutense of Madrid (UCM) has been implanted a Quality Management System (QMS) for the management of theoretical and practical teaching in our Department, according to "International Organization for Standardization" IOS 9001 and has been obtained the corresponding certificate accredited by the Spanish Association for Standardisation and Certification AENOR (ER-1045/2007).

An important objective to consider in the implementation of the QMS is monitoring and evaluation of student satisfaction for improving the effectiveness and efficiency in the training of students. Higher education surveys reveal continued student satisfaction. This student satisfaction surveys, that are anonymous, cover issues relating to student's academic experience on their course, as installation and organization, teaching content, methodology, teaching. In addition, all students have the opportunity to add suggested improvements for comment on particularly positive or negative aspects of their experience by adding free text comments at the end of the survey questionnaire. The results obtained in the different academic years are used to compile year on year comparative data, and are considered in the proposal of quality objectives for the following academic year. In addition we try to get to know if students have noticed a difference in the practices taught in a laboratory with a QMS. The development and analysis of student satisfaction surveys has enabled the introduction of improvements management of theoretical and practical teaching in our Department.

Keywords:

Student satisfaction, surveys, quality management system.