Your research has metrics. Your teaching, until now, did not.
The only European psychometric instrument that evaluates university teaching competency as observable professional practice — not subject knowledge, not research output.
The dimension that determines your students' outcomes.
EASEC-DCA·U covers the full arc of what excellent university teaching demands: from outcomes-based curriculum design to evidence-based pedagogical innovation; from digital teaching to the development of a professional teaching identity.
The crucial distinction from other qualifications: a PGCE or a pedagogical training programme certifies completion of a curriculum. This certification accredits what you currently demonstrate in practice, regardless of how you acquired those competencies. For the experienced academic who has developed genuine excellence through years of teaching — but holds no formal evidence of it — that difference is critical.
And the demand is growing. ANECA in Spain, AQU in Catalonia, and the European University Association quality assurance criteria all reference teaching competency documentation. The credential is usable in promotion dossiers, accreditation submissions, institutional teaching excellence programmes, and European university partnership applications.
Where this credential is usable
ANECA criteria for academic accreditation in Spain explicitly reference teaching competency documentation. This credential provides the structured, EQF-aligned evidence that accreditation reviewers expect to see in a promotion dossier.
Spain · ANECAAQU Catalunya evaluates teaching competency as part of academic accreditation processes. EASEC-DCA·U provides a verifiable, standardised profile directly usable in AQU submissions — not a self-assessment, but a psychometrically scored credential.
Catalonia · AQUThe European University Association's quality assurance criteria and the European Standards and Guidelines for QA in Higher Education (ESG) reference teaching competency at institutional level. EASEC-DCA·U aligns directly with those standards.
Europe · EUA · ESGApplications to European university alliance programmes and Erasmus+ partnership frameworks increasingly include teaching competency documentation as part of academic staff profiles. A European-standard credential strengthens both institutional and individual applications.
Erasmus+ · EU AlliancesYour research has metrics.
Where does your teaching stand?
Everything excellent university teaching demands.
Built on DigCompEdu, the UNESCO Teacher Competency Framework 2024, the European Standards and Guidelines for QA in Higher Education (ESG), and the Tuning Educational Structures framework.
Learning Design & Planning
How you build courses from learning outcomes — translating disciplinary content into coherent, purposeful learning sequences that students can progress through. This dimension assesses whether your design is outcomes-driven and aligned, not merely content-organised. Expert practitioners design backwards from what students will demonstrate; novices design forwards from what they will cover.
Pedagogical Strategies & Methodology
The approaches you use and when — beyond the lecture. This dimension evaluates your capacity to select and apply pedagogical strategies appropriate to the learning outcomes, the student cohort, and the institutional context: active learning, problem-based approaches, cooperative methodologies, and evidence-based instructional design at university level.
Assessment of Learning & Feedback
How you assess and return information that advances student learning — not merely grades it. This dimension measures whether your assessment practice is genuinely formative: feedback cycles, self-assessment scaffolding, rubric design, and the alignment between what you teach, what you assess, and the outcomes you have defined.
Learning Environment Management
How you sustain the conditions in which learning happens at university level — classroom climate, relational dynamics with diverse student cohorts, managing large groups, supporting students with specific needs, and creating an environment where intellectual risk-taking and genuine inquiry are possible.
Digital Teaching Competency
How you integrate digital tools into your teaching — not tool proficiency, but purposeful pedagogical use of digital resources to enhance learning outcomes in the university context: learning management systems, collaborative platforms, AI-assisted feedback, and hybrid or online teaching design grounded in DigCompEdu standards.
Teaching Research & Innovation
How you improve your teaching on the basis of evidence — not intuition or habit. This dimension is unique to the university context: it evaluates your capacity to apply research thinking to your own pedagogical practice, engage with scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), design teaching experiments, and translate findings into improved student outcomes.
Professional Identity & Development
How you develop as a teacher — not only as a researcher. This dimension evaluates your capacity to reflect critically on your teaching practice, engage with peer observation, participate in professional learning communities, and build a coherent teaching identity alongside your research identity. In academia, this distinction matters more than in any other educational context.
From your practice to your accreditation dossier.
Respond
44 situational judgement items from real university teaching contexts — not clinical or school settings. Completed online in 45–90 minutes, at your own pace.
Receive your profile
Automated scoring against EQF references via IRT. A report across all 7 dimensions at 5 proficiency levels — from Foundation to Expert, up to EQF 8.
Certify
Open Badge 3.0 + Europass Digital Credential. Documentation usable in promotion dossiers, ANECA/AQU accreditation submissions and teaching excellence programmes. Valid for 3 years.
That's it. No training programme, no prerequisites —
just your teaching as it is today.
The quality frameworks of European higher education.
EASEC-DCA·U is built on the frameworks that define professional standards in university teaching across Europe — from DigCompEdu and the UNESCO Teacher Competency Framework to the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. The credential formats ensure the evidence is legible to accreditation agencies, promotion committees, and European university partners.
DigCompEdu
European Commission — Joint Research Centre (JRC)
UNESCO Teacher Competency Framework 2024
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
ESG — Standards & Guidelines for Quality Assurance in HE
European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA)
Tuning Educational Structures in Europe
European Commission — Higher Education Reform
OECD Education 2030
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Teaching research & innovationEuropean Qualifications Framework — EQF 5–8
European Commission — Lifelong Learning Policy
Teaching competency where it carries institutional weight.
A structured, EQF-aligned teaching competency profile directly insertable into ANECA and AQU promotion dossier sections.
Usable in university teaching award applications, teaching excellence recognition schemes, and faculty development programme portfolios.
Academic staff profiles for Erasmus+ applications, European University Alliance frameworks, and international collaboration submissions.
Institutional documentation for ESG-aligned internal quality assurance processes and accreditation body submissions.
Open Badge 3.0 · Europass Digital Credential · LinkedIn · 3-year validity
Are you a university, polytechnic or higher education institution?
Become an EASEC certification centre: certify academic staff at scale, with EQF-aligned evidence usable in ESG-aligned quality assurance processes, teaching excellence frameworks and Erasmus+ partnership applications.
Questions academics ask most.
They increasingly do. ANECA in Spain, AQU in Catalonia, and the European University Association quality assurance criteria all reference teaching competency documentation. Beyond accreditation, this credential appears in promotion dossiers, institutional awards, and teaching excellence programmes. Early adopters set the benchmark others will follow.
Research and teaching competency are complementary signals. EASEC-DCA·U addresses the teaching dimension — the one determining student outcomes, institutional reputation, and accreditation ratings. Research-active academics who also hold a teaching certification present a richer profile for both promotion and institutional partnerships.
A PGCE certifies completion of a pedagogical training curriculum. EASEC-DCA·U certifies what you currently demonstrate in practice, regardless of how you acquired those competencies. This is the crucial difference for experienced academics who have developed genuine excellence through years of teaching but hold no formal evidence of it.
No. There is no pass or fail threshold. You receive a full competency profile at five proficiency levels aligned to the EQF — up to EQF 8 — with dimension-by-dimension feedback. The assessment reveals your current practice accurately. Retake is available after a minimum interval to allow genuine professional development.
An Open Badge 3.0 and a Europass Digital Credential — the recognised EU standards for professional qualifications. Both are shareable on LinkedIn, verifiable by promotion committees or accreditation agencies, and valid for three years. Verification is available at cert.easec.eu/certificates/verify.
No prior course or training is required. EASEC-DCA·U assesses your current teaching practice as it stands. It is open to any practising academic — professor, lecturer, PDI, or postdoctoral researcher with teaching responsibilities — regardless of years of experience or prior pedagogical qualifications.
Responses are scored automatically using Item Response Theory (IRT) calibrated against EQF reference levels up to EQF 8. Your report covers all 7 dimensions at 5 proficiency levels. Each dimension is scored independently. Dimension 6 (Teaching Research & Innovation) carries specific weight in accreditation dossiers given its uniqueness to the university context.
Yes. EASEC-DCA·U is aligned with DigCompEdu, the UNESCO Teacher Competency Framework, and the ESG — the frameworks referenced by quality assurance agencies across Europe. The Europass Digital Credential is interoperable with any European HR or academic system, making the credential legible to any institution that uses these frameworks as a reference.
Give your teaching the evidence your research already has.
Assess your current practice and add to your dossier the signal that quality agencies are already asking for.
Start my assessmentCertifying academic staff at institutional level?
Group licensing for universities — usable in ESG-aligned QA processes and Erasmus+ partnership applications.
Talk to our higher education team