HRS4R implementation

Timeline of HRS4R implementation

2015

Ovidius University issued a first Letter of commitment regarding the implementation of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for Recruitment of Researchers(adopted by the European Commission in 2005 - Official Journal of the European Union, cap.13, vol.48).  However, the initial phase of implementation was not carried out.

2017

After the DG – Research seminar on the human resource strategy for researchers (HRS4R), held in Sofia on October 17, 2017, Ovidius University of Constanța restarted the procedure of implementation of the Charter and Code, based on the Administrative Board decision no. 1020 of 24.10.2017.

A new Letter of endorsement of the Charter and Code (no. 15265 of 13.11.2017) was signed by the Rector and submitted to the EU Commissioner for research and Innovation.

The letter was accepted and the case number 2018RO351041 for HRS4R implementation was opened for Ovidius University of Constanța.

2018

During 2018, various stakeholder consultations took place, facilitated by the funding received from the institutional development program of the Ministry of Education (ran through CNFIS, project CNFIS-FDI-2018-4080). Details about the entire process can be found here.  A questionnaire was created and the results of the survey are available here. Additionally, several interviews were conducted, all in the effort to analyze the gaps and propose an action plan for HRS4R implementation.

Based on those consultations three documents were prepared: the Gap analysis, the OTM-R checklist and the Action plan for the implementation of the HRS4R process.  The three documents were adopted in December 2018 and were subsequently submitted for review to DG Research/Euraxess.

2019

The application documents were revised based on the suggestions made by the reviewers and resubmitted in April 2019.  Following the positive outcome of the initial assessment, Ovidius University of Constanța was granted the Certificate HR excellence in research in May 2019.

In essence, the award recognized that at Ovidius University of Constanța Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment (OTM-R) policies are specified in various types of regulations and are operational:

• OUC Charta and OUC Code of Ethical Conduct(safeguarded by the OUC Board of Ethics), which stipulate the fundamental principles of OTMR (ethical principles, academic freedom, non-discrimination, transparency, merit, gender balance, etc.);
• Internal code of conduct, which has many provisions on labor contracts, work conditions, research environment, stability of employment, career development;
• Regulation on opening, recruiting, selecting and hiring into permanentand temporary positions (the criteria and standards for occupying a research position are clearly specified at university level and posted publicly whereas the advertising goes beyond the OUC webpage and also includes European and national portals.);
• Regulation on evaluation and appraisal of employees, particularly for the academic/research staff, based on four types of evaluations that are part of the appraisal system: self-evaluation, evaluation by peers, by studentsand by direct supervisors. The internal regulation has provisions on recognition of qualifications, previous experience, mobilities etc.

The documents approved by the Euraxess experts included the Process description, the Gap analysis, the OTM-R checklist and the Action plan for the implementation of the HRS4R process.

2019-2021

The action plan was implemented.  Its execution was facilitated by the financial support provided by institutional development projects funded by the Ministry of Education through CNFIS.

2021

The Internal Review for Interim Assessment was conducted in the spring of 2021 and led to a revised action plan.  The report and revised plan were approved by the Administrative Board (decision 695 of 08.06.2021) and submitted for review to DG Research/Euraxess.