The AQUIB establishes the criteria for accrediting university contract teaching staff.

The University Quality Agency of the Balearic Islands (AQUIB) has published the criteria for the accreditation of laboral associate professor (TL) and laboral chair professor (CL), the new teaching and research staff (PDI) laboral figures created by Organic Law 2/2023, of 22 March, of the university system (LOSU). Resolution 8094, signed on 7 August by the president of AQUIB, Sebastián Massanet Massanet, is published in the Official Bulletin of the Balearic Islands (BOIB) No. 101, of 13 August 2026, and becomes the reference framework for the evaluations prior to the hiring of teaching staff by the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB).

The criteria develop the new model of contracted teaching staff introduced by the LOSU, in force since 12 April 2023: the former figure of contracted doctor professor (PCD) becomes permanent laboral professor (PPL), requires prior accreditation from an agency registered in the European Register of Quality Agencies (EQAR) and empowers the autonomous communities to regulate its categories. In the Balearic Islands, Decree 16/2024, of 3 May, created the TL and CL figures and established their requirements, within the framework of the laboral PDI regime of the UIB. In compliance with Article 85 of the LOSU, the Spanish agencies agreed within the Spanish Network of University Quality Agencies (REACU) a minimum weight of 50% for the research block and 25% for the teaching block.

AQUIB aligns the new criteria with the DORA and COARA declarations and commits to a qualitative assessment: it rewards the narrative of the trajectory, the diversity of profiles and the scientific and social impact, beyond quantitative indicators.

Requirements for each figure

To be accredited as a laboral associate professor, one must hold a doctoral degree and certify nine months of research or teaching at a university other than the one where the doctoral thesis was read. Applicants for laboral chair professor may include university associate professors, laboral associate professors, university school chair professors and doctors with a minimum seniority of eight years who demonstrate an excellent research career. The PDI may apply for simultaneous accreditation for both figures, and exemptions from the mobility requirement are provided:

• Those who, on 12 April 2023, already held accreditation as university associate professor or were contracted as PAD, PCD or indefinite collaborating professor.
• Those who certify prolonged situations of functional diversity, illness, work-life balance or care of minors or dependents, or leaves of absence due to gender-based or terrorist violence.

Three merit blocks: research, teaching and leadership

The assessment is organized into blocks with minimum and maximum scores out of 100 points:

• Research, knowledge transfer and exchange: minimum 50 points, with at least 25 from research activity (TL) or 30 (CL).
• Teaching: minimum 50 points, with 25 from teaching experience and 5 from quality; CL must add 5 from tutoring.
• Leadership (only CL): minimum 50 points, with 5 from team leadership and 10 from doctoral thesis supervision.

The entire career is assessed, with special attention to the last six years (TL) or ten (CL). Research merits are automatically recognised through six-year periods granted by the CNEAI or by REACU agencies (minimum one and maximum two for TL; minimum three and maximum four for CL), the I3 programme, the established researcher certificate (R3) and funding from the European Research Council (ERC).

Dedication, open deposit and transparency requirements

For TL, a minimum teaching dedication of three years full-time and 300 hours taught (30 ECTS) is required; for CL, ten years and 1,400 hours (140 ECTS). In research, up to 10 contributions (TL) or 25 (CL) may be submitted. In accordance with Article 12 of the LOSU, results submitted for evaluation must be deposited in open-access repositories with a persistent identifier (DOI, Handle, ARK or SWHID), and the use of generative artificial intelligence must be expressly declared.

With this publication, the AQUIB gives legal certainty to future accreditation calls and to the hiring of contracted academic staff at the UIB, and defines the roadmap of the PDI career in the Balearic Islands. The criteria, which incorporate annexes with general evaluation criteria for research activity and specific criteria by branch of knowledge, will directly affect applications submitted as of the date of publication.

Source: Official Bulletin of the Balearic Islands, no. 101, 13 August 2026, Section III. Other provisions and administrative acts, p. 44658 (official reference: Resolution 8094).