LISTA V ISCTE-IUL GENERAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS (ELEIÇÕES PARA O CONSELHO GERAL) June 7th and June 8th 2017 LISTA V Strategic plan to consolidate and renew ISCTE-IUL during the forthcoming cycle 2018-2021 Page 1/16
Table of Contents 1. Introduction... 3 2. Talents and Careers... 4 3. Reputation and International Recognition... 7 4. Innovation and Development... 11 Page 2/16
1. Introduction ISCTE-IUL has been through several development cycles. After the foundational regime implementation, ISCTE-IUL established itself as a medium-sized research university. ISCTE-IUL oriented itself towards a research university in three major areas - business and economics, social sciences and public policies, and technologies and architecture - with the goal of increasing internationalization of both its faculty and researchers. ISCTE-IUL has reached a good level of organizational excellence and activity in different fields, namely in teaching, in international agencies recognition, in research, and in interaction with the external community. Despite the adverse circumstances of recent years, the ISCTE-IUL internal community has shown a strong commitment to the highest standards of quality in what it does. The next development cycle of ISCTE-IUL should continue and consolidate the levels of excellence our University has achieved, correct and improve the underperformed aspects, and innovate in the main critical areas to its institutional sustainability. It is appropriate to do so within a framework of plurality of points of view present in the General Council to be elected June 7th and 8th. The LIST V strategy for the ISCTE-IUL forthcoming cycle 2018-2021 focuses on three main pillars: TALENTS REPUTATION AND INNOVATION (TRI). Page 3/16
2. Talents and Careers The financial resources available at ISCTE-IUL must be invested in such a way as to guarantee proper working conditions, offer a wide range of faculty and researchers career opportunities, and ensure adequate generational renewal. Only then should ISCTE-IUL consider expanding its activities. MORE THAN 75% OF ISCTE-IUL FACULTY ARE ASSISTANT PROFESSORS The sustainability of a University begins and ends in its ability to attract, retain and develop the talents that ensure the fulfilment of its mission through a specific career management policy. ISCTE-IUL has only about 70 Associate and Full Professors and more than 230 Assistant Professors, which surpasses more than 75% of the total of faculty members (about 300). This means that a very significant part of ISCTE-IUL's resources comes from the effort and commitment of these Assistant Professors who, however, do not foresee any career opportunities in the institution. ISCTE MUST BE MORE ATTRACTIVE FOR PROFESSORS, RESEARCHERS AND STUDENTS It is important to invest and to create conditions to retain and develop a faculty that can properly combine teaching hours with time for research activities, to manage the university structure and participate in societal projects and initiatives. Page 4/16
Promoting talent and merit within ISCTE-IUL also means that we must be able to keep improving the quality of the students we attract to our academic programs, both national and international. STAFF MUST HAVE CAREER OPPORTUNITIES It is also important to provide (administrative) staff with better working conditions and opportunities for professional development. SPECIFIC STRATEGIC PROPOSALS FOR THE GENERAL COUNCIL: IT IS TIME TO ACHIEVE THE GOAL OF 50% OF ASSOCIATE AND FULL PROFESSORS, FULFILLING THE ECDU Apply a policy of career management and distinct professional development that translates into the increase of career opportunities of our faculty thus applying the ECDU (Estatuto de Carreira Docente Universitária) with respect to the ratio of Associate and Full Professors. This implies redesigning the Faculty Human Resources Planning keeping in mind, the goal of having 50% of associate and full professors during the next mandate (2018-2021), based on objective and transparent criteria for all, with the departments' agreement, and that conform with the profiles and career pathways in the predominant fields of activity of the faculty (teaching, research, academic management, societal impact); and enable predictability of career opportunities. Page 5/16
WE MUST MAXIMIZE THE DIVERSITY OF FACULTY SKILLS Effectively implement the academic profiles (perfis) with the collaboration of departments and schools. WE MUST DECREASE THE ADMINISTRATIVE BURDEN OF FACULTY Improve working conditions by reducing the administrative and teaching workloads of faculty and program directors through: dedicated technical-administrative support (redesigning the personnel plan and the working conditions of the staff employees). pedagogical support extra-class (for example, graders and teaching assistant) within the schools framework. This strategic orientation must govern any decisions made in the General Council concerning the possible new building and its usage for the expansion of ISCTE- IUL s activities. Page 6/16
3. Reputation and International Recognition Reputation is the critical point in attracting student and faculty talent (teaching and research), as well as in building opportunities in articulation with society. Reputation, particularly in research, is crucial, but it is not limited to the quality of publications and rankings. ISCTE-IUL has to extend its public and private funding. ISCTE-IUL needs to extend its national and international networks. ISCTE-IUL NEEDS MORE FUNDING SOURCES Reputation and notoriety in research increasingly involves the creation, consolidation and expansion of national and international networks, through research projects with public and private funding. ISCTE-IUL NEEDS MORE INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS National and international reputation and recognition in higher education implies renewing, and in some cases increasing, the number of certifications and accreditations of academic programs and the institution itself (eg: EQUIS). But it also involves strategic partnerships with prestigious universities and Visiting Professors, as well as supporting our Faculty to assume roles as Visiting Professors in other institutions. We need to promote actively the ISCTE-IUL brand in all areas of our mission. It is essential to invest in the promotion of national and international networks by our faculty members and researchers. Page 7/16
ISCTE-IUL NEEDS THE ENROLMENT OF MORE HIGH-QUALITY STUDENTS Reputation also means the enrolment of high-quality national and foreign students in the three academic levels (undergraduate, MSc and PhD) and who may later become active alumni in Portugal and in their home countries. SPECIFIC STRATEGIC PROPOSALS FOR GENERAL COUNCIL: IT IS TIME TO VALUE THE EXCELLENCE OF THE ISCTE-IUL BRAND Actively promoting the ISCTE-IUL brand, namely through science communication. Publicly highlighting the distinctiveness of our projects and research products and our role in society. Communicating in an active and systematic way the results of research and societal projects carried out by ISCTE-IUL professors and researchers, by digital means, print, symposiums, etc. widely disseminated internally and externally. WE HAVE TO SEE BREXIT AS AN OPPORTUNITY Establish lasting partnerships with prestigious Universities that maximize abroad the various domains of our activity. New models of partnership with other Universities that go beyond the traditional double degrees and localized partnerships should be pursued. Partnerships with universities of excellence can include both teaching, research, and the transfer of knowledge and articulation with society. Page 8/16
The impact that Brexit will have on the dynamics of UK universities' enrolment should be analyzed, and how some partnerships could be mutually profitable with a university such as ours within the EU. WE HAVE TO SUPPORT THE NETWORKS AND THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF FACULTY AND RESEARCHERS To increase the internationalization of the Faculty and Researchers, to create both internal synergies and international networks. This includes selectively hiring more international (as well as Portuguese) PhDs with international networks). To optimize the development of international networks Promote the participation of researchers in cooperation and research international networks (e.g. COST, ESF, bilateral cooperation agreements). Support the mobility of faculty and researchers so they can visit other universities in order to establish and strengthen international networks. Support the exchange of visiting professors with our strategic partner universities. To increase Erasmus mobility as an opportunity to publicize the quality of ISCTE-IUL teaching, both among incoming and outgoing students. Create an internal ISCTE-IUL program to provide real support for the mobility of our students, in order to strongly increase the number of outgoing students. CONTINUE TO INVEST IN INTERNATIONAL ACCREDITATIONS Obtain new accreditations and reinforce the existing ones, in the fields in which they are critical for the sustainability of our degrees, namely in management (eg, EQUIS), social sciences, public policies and technologies. Page 9/16
WE HAVE TO INCREASE THE QUALITY OF OUR STUDENTS To create an office aimed at attracting undergraduate students. Increase the participation of the various departments in the program Ciência Viva no Laboratório - Ocupação Científica de Jovens nas Férias (OCJF) directed to the students of the secondary schools. Increase the visits to secondary schools, both public and private. Develop WEB contents for the preparation of national exams (eg, e-learning courses to prepare for the exams to access higher education). Increase institutional support for initiatives aimed at promoting employability (Career Forum, Fista,...). Page 10/16
4. Innovation and Development Without innovation, ISCTE-IUL cannot be sustainable in the future. But innovation can take several different paths each with its own ensuing consequences. It is important to guarantee a balance between innovation - in teaching, research, articulation with society and university management and the quality of life of faculty and staff who ensure the institution's sustainability. We need to strength interdisciplinary work in existing scientific areas. ISCTE-IUL must play an active role in societal innovation and be an example of management transparency. INNOVATION ALSO MEANS TO BE WATCHFUL TO OUR OWN PEOPLE Increasing innovation in the various aspects of the ISCTE-IUL activity is crucial, but it is also absolutely vital to assure a balance between innovation and the quality of life of faculty, researchers and staff employees who ensure the institution's future. It is this balance that must govern the pace and scope of innovations and investments to be done by ISCTE-IUL, including, of course, the strategic diversification duly considered for new areas. INNOVATING IN RESEARCH AND THE RELATIONSHIP WITH SOCIETY IS FUNDAMENTAL We, List V, consider it is important to increase the investment in the quality of the research produced by our researchers. It is essential to Page 11/16
provide ISCTE-IUL with a body of experienced professionals in the management of international and national funding projects that effectively support faculty and researchers, adding to existing expertise at ISCTE-IUL. Besides producing and disseminating knowledge, ISCTE-IUL's capacity for innovation also includes the ability to demonstrate that we are an active player in societal innovation and a relevant participant in the national innovation system implementing the 3rd mission of the University. Innovation in this context requires a new approach that goes far beyond the current "model" of knowledge transfer. It is necessary to further develop entrepreneurial initiatives and to enhance the role of the subsidiaries of ISCTE-IUL involved in the relationship with society, namely in its articulation with research units and with teaching. IN LIST V WE ARE FOR TRANSDISCIPLINARITY IN INNOVATION We believe that innovation requires strategic partnerships with private, public, and third sector entities, and a long-term commitment to innovative problem solving. This means fostering (applied) research and its integration in teaching as well as student experience and acquisition of skills, namely in terms of internships and participation in projects. It is important to pay more attention in a systematic and proactive manner to social problems and to community intervention. This should be done using innovative transdisciplinary approaches (between management and economics, other social, political and human sciences, and architecture and engineering) and building opportunities for partnerships with foreign universities in internationally funded projects. Page 12/16
We need to rethink our presence in the media and the way we communicate with society, taking into account the new trends of Portuguese society, namely the type of values, attitudes and lifestyle of the new generations. IN LIST V WE SUPPORT THE PROMOTION OF SUCCESS We believe that it is necessary for schools, together with departments and research units, to update, renew and optimize academic degrees, namely masters and postgraduate programs, for example creating original combinations between disciplinary areas. They need to cope with national and international competitive pressures, in order to keep pace with a changing demand. To invest more in systematic initiatives to promote the academic success and to assure demanding, rigorous and quality teaching from undergraduate trough graduate programs. This entails fostering the development of instructors pedagogical and class management skills, and their ability to deal with the current generation of students. It is also important to look at the specific professional development needs of different types of employees (including incoming staff) along their career. New ways of acquiring and updating skills that do not require closed (overspecialized) postgraduate courses, but which are duly credited, should be provided. WE SUPPORT MANAGEMENT TRANSPARENCY Page 13/16
We, List V, believe that it is essential to implement effective participatory decision-making mechanisms regarding the use of the resources generated by the activities of ISCTE-IUL. This can be achieved via an effective transparency of management needs, including the autonomous organizations that are part of the ISCTE universe (entidades participadas). A change in the institutional management culture is in order and must be characterized by decentralization, information and transparency, and enhancing the role of existing organizational structures, namely the academic program Directors. SPECIFIC STRATEGIC PROPOSALS FOR THE GENERAL COUNCIL WE NEED PROFESSIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MANAGERS Professionalize much further the institutional support for the faculty's efforts to obtain nationally and internationally funded projects (namely by hiring professional science and technology managers for the Research Support Office and the research units). IT IS TIME TO LINK TEACHING, RESEARCH AND INTERVENTION Establish medium and long-term strategic institutional partnerships with private, public and third sector entities that foster strong links between research, teaching and intervention projects. Encourage fundraising actions that allow a greater development of teaching, research, and interaction with society, increasing the involvement between the university and the public. Page 14/16
IT IS TIME FOR DIALOGUE AND NETWORK Increase the synergies between research units in order to optimize the scientific diversity of ISCTE-IUL and to increase transdisciplinary approach in research and social projects design, thus increasing their probability of getting national and international funding. Increase the synergies between research units and the autonomous organizations that are part of the ISCTE universe (entidades participadas) to transfer knowledge and to innovate in the formulation of problems that respond to societal challenges and work as levers for the design of research and intervention projects. IT IS TIME TO THINK ABOUT SUCCESS AND TO HAVE COEHERENT TIMETABLES Review the teaching schedule with the possibility of implementing time concentrated schedules, where appropriate, allowing a distinct articulation between the teaching work and the research work of the faculty. Invest more in systematic initiatives to promote academic success including providing a wide range of support tools to teachers and students. IT IS TIME FOR TRANSDISCIPLINARITY Gradually invest in new transdisciplinary academic products in the framework of existing structures, including hospitality and tourism, health and other areas where we already have the skills and resources to respond to market opportunities. Create new products and re-evaluate existing ones, with greater articulation of curricula amid our various schools. Page 15/16
IT IS TIME FOR ACCOUNTABILITY Implement participatory decision-making and transparency mechanisms: Biannual reporting to the institution and to the General Council, as well as the autonomous organizations that are part of the ISCTE universe (entidades participadas). The members of the Provost team should not simultaneously be part of the General Council or any other elected bodies. The Provost team and the management board (Conselho de Gestão) should integrate members from more than one list. Review existing norms and rules in collaboration with the various decentralized university bodies, ensuring maximum predictability and respect for basic principles of democracy. Page 16/16