Gap Analysis and Action Plan at the University of Eastern Finland

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1 European Charter of Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers Gap Analysis and Action Plan at the University of Eastern Finland 1. Background The European Commission has adopted a European Charter for Researchers and a Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. These documents, addressed to researchers as well as to employers and funders in both the public and private sectors, are key elements in the European Union's policy to make research an attractive career. The European Charter for Researchers addresses the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers and their employers or funding organizations. The Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers aims to improve recruitment, to make selection procedures fairer and more transparent and proposes different means of judging merit. The European Commission has recommended that the member states take necessary to ensure that employers or funders of researchers develop and maintain a supportive research environment and working culture, where individuals and research groups are valued, encouraged and supported, and provided with the necessary material and intangible support to enable them to fulfill their objectives and tasks. Further the Commission has recommended that the Member States take, wherever necessary, steps to ensure that employers or funders of researchers improve the recruitment methods and career evaluation/appraisal systems in order to create a more transparent, open, equal and internationally accepted system of recruitment and career development as a prerequisite for a genuine European labour market for researchers. 1

2 The University of Eastern Finland (UEF) has made a decision to implement the Charter and Code into its policies and practices. This is done by five steps according to the Human Resources Strategy for Researchers HRS4R tool 1 by EURAXESS Rights initiative by European Commission: 1) An internal gap analysis - Comparison of institutional policies and practices against the Charter and Code principles 2) Action Plan - Description of planned actions for improvement in compliance with the Charter & Code 3) Application for the Acknowledgement by the Commission 4) Implementation and self-evaluation - Implementation of the institutional Human Resources Strategy for Researchers and self-assessment every second year as part of the quality management 5) External assessment - At least every four years. The University of Eastern Finland was established in 2010 as the result of the merger of the University of Joensuu and the University of Kuopio. Since then researcher career models have been strongly developed by the University. The aim has been to make the basic rules of researcher career (recruitment, promotion and salary development) more transparent and clear and to make the career more attractive e.g. with the following means: Researchers are mainly on paid labour. Salaries are based on a local agreement between the employer and relevant labour unions on increasing job demands. In this model salary is tightly connected to increasing merits, research output and/or development of teaching duties. A broad background for this is a national collective bargaining agreement, in which salary is based on job demand assessment and on the assessment of personal performance of duties (the connection between salary and research output is tighter, more transparent and clearer throughout the researcher career in the UEF local model, but the two models are not contradictory). Sabbatical leave system for both researchers and teachers was introduced at the beginning of The purpose of the sabbatical leave system is to strengthen the professional skills of research and teaching staff. Sabbatical leaves lasts from six to twelve months. Researchers are considered eligible for sabbatical leave after seven years of uninterrupted employment. 1 The "HR Strategy for Researchers" tool supports research institutions and funding organizations in the implementation of the Charter & Code in their policies and practices. 2

3 The tenure track system run by the UEF allows accomplished researchers to rapidly advance in their careers by moving from one level to the next based on their merits. The highest level in the tenure track is the post of a tenured professor. It is possible to enter the tenure track from any of the levels (postdoctoral researcher, assistant professor, associate professor), and each of the levels involves a term of a maximum of 3 5 years. The tenure track allows internal and external recruitment of researchers. The University leadership group follows the use of tenure track system at the faculties and clarifies the criteria for promotion within the tenure track system. The four stage career model for researchers has been applied at the UEF from its establishment. The model applies to all academic staff, except for those academics that are in the tenure track system. The first researcher stage of the model is the early-stage researcher, followed by the postdoctoral researchers, senior researcher, and professor. In addition, there are posts for teaching staff. The model seeks to promote academic career advancement and goal-oriented transition from one stage to another, to increase the appeal of academic careers, and to ensure the quality of teaching and research. The career model also clarifies and unifies the academic titles used in the teaching and research posts. The UEF has established an Emeritus Professor model in which the retired professor in question can agree on certain benefits (internet, room, etc.) with the faculty in order to remain active in research. The UEF has gone through a thorough process of salary harmonization in which salaries were harmonized between the former universities of Joensuu and Kuopio, but also between some professional groups which were lagging behind the comparative national level. In 2013, the UEF decided to spend euros extra annually in professors salary program. The UEF is developing international recruitment and contributing to researcher mobility. The UEF has adopted an ISO 9001:2000 compliant quality management system to support strategic management and to ensure that the operations of the university are being constantly improved. As part the quality management system all faculties are internally audited every second year. The audit covers all the main processes of the faculties (teaching, research, and the so-called third task) and the support services. In the audits the faculty staff is being widely interviewed, including the researchers. Thus the internal audits provide a valuable tool to assess the improvement of processes, e.g. the implementation of the action plan described in this document to develop the researcher career at the UEF. 3

4 2. Process of the Internal Gap Analysis In spring 2012 the Rector of the University of Eastern Finland appointed a working group to develop the researcher career at the University of Eastern Finland in order to fulfill the Charter and Code principles. The task of the working group was to compare the current practices of the University of Eastern Finland with the Charter and Code principles and to make an action plan based on the comparison. The Rector appointed the Academic Rector Jukka Mönkkönen to chair the working group. Director of Human Resources Jouni Kekäle was appointed as the vice-chair. The members of the working group represented the field of research and the HR unit of the university: - Professor Pasi Vahimaa - Postdoctoral Researcher Sanna Laulainen - University Teacher Maija Korhonen - Postdoctoral Researcher Jayashree Viswanathan - University Lecturer Antero Puhakka - Human Resources Specialist Ulla Hurskainen. The Secretary of the working group was Kirsi Karjalainen from the Development and Planning unit. The working group started its work in late spring and had four meetings during the summer and autumn to work on the gap analysis. After having finalized the first version of the gap analysis, the process was described to and the action plan was discussed at different levels of the university as follows: Leadership group of the UEF - The Chairman and Vice-Chairman presented the Action Plan to the management group of the UEF. The management group consists of Rector, Academic Rector, Deans and Director of Administration. Researchers at the faculties - A meeting was organized in both of the main campuses of UEF (Joensuu and Kuopio) where the background and goals of the project, the process and the action plan were presented and discussed. The Chairman presented the process and action plan and chaired the discussion. Researchers and other staff doing research were invited to these meetings. 4

5 Directors in the Administration Office (Directors of the units of administration) - The Vice-Chairman of the working group presented the background and goals of the project, the actual process and the action plan to the Directors of the different units of the Administration Office. Based on this feedback from the leadership group, from the faculty research staff and from the directors of the administration units the working group finalized the Action Plan. 3. Action Plan at the University of Eastern Finland The action plan is described in this chapter. The persons or committees in charge of implementing the development actions can decide on the best ways of implementing them. Research Ethics and Intellectual Property Rights - The awareness of ethical rules among the UEF researchers will be increased e.g. through training. Who: The UEF Committee on Research Ethics will revise the ethical rules and organize training on the ethical rules with UEF doctoral school When: To be completed before The guidelines on Intellectual Property Rights will be checked and the coherence between the faculty guidelines and university level guidelines will be revised. Who: Research services When: To be completed before The Action Innovation processes will be developed, including IPR. Who: Academic Rector When: To be completed before Supervision and career development - The faculties make better use of the tools developed for career development (tenure track) as part of the strategic personnel plan. Who: Deans When: On-going process, monitored annually by the UEF Leadership Group (number of tenure track positions, distribution of positions within the fourstage researcher career model) 5

6 - Career mentoring throughout the researcher career will be developed by clarifying the criteria for promotion within the tenure track system. Training for department heads on the subject will be arranged. - Who: Deans and heads of departments, Human Resources Director When To be completed before Supervision process in relation with development of the UEF doctoral school will be developed. Who: Academic Rector and Deans When: On-going process. Quality of supervision is audited as part of the internal audits conducted every second year in each faculty. All faculties will be internally audited next time by It will be explored if university level recommendations on researcher s participation in international conferences and mobility can be given. Who: Human Resources Director and Rector When: To be completed by The possibilities to support financially researchers research periods abroad will be explored as part of the UEF international researchers support services. Who: Deans and leadership group When: To be completed by The support of career development will be strengthened by developing the use of the tools for which training for department heads will be arranged. Who: Human Resources Director and Deans When: On-going process, with a special emphasis on recently appointed leaders. The development of career development support will be evaluated as part the internal audits conducted every second year in each faculty. All faculties will be internally audited next time by Working conditions - The need for revising the rules relating to sabbatical leaves will be explored. Who: Human Resources Director When To be completed by

7 Recruitment - Recruitment process will be developed thorough the following actions: - Electronic recruitment system will be introduced. - Selection committees, where necessary, will be introduced. - The use of interviews as part of the recruitment process will be recommended. - Guidelines on transparency in recruitment process will be given. Who: Director of Human Resources When: Electronic recruitment system will be introduced by the summer This increases the transparency in recruitment process. Guidelines on selection committees and use of interviews will be introduced during