The University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) has obtained the European seal “HR Excellence in Research” having complied with the “Human Resources Strategy for Researchers, HRS4R”. With this award, the European Commission has recognized the good practices the UCLM has for hiring researchers and their professional development, reflecting the commitment the institution has to continuous improvement with the aim of establishing fair and transparent staff hiring procedures. Likewise, it recognizes that the UCLM promotes continuous development for its researchers.
The European Commission has awarded the University of Castilla-La Mancha the HRS4R seal HR Excellence in Research which endorses the observance the UCLM has to the contents of the “European Research Charter” and the“Code of Conduct for Hiring Researchers”, a reference document drawn up by the European Commission and aimed both at researchers and the institutions that hire or fund them, and which the regional university volunteered to comply with by signing the Statement of Commitment in February 2018.
The European Charter focuses on the rights, responsibilities and duties the researchers, their employers and the institutions which fund them have; whilst the Code of Conduct aims to set some good practices and to improve transparency in the staff recruitment process, proposing a range of methods to assess merit, and not merely summarising this by, for example, the number of publications the researcher has.
Obtaining this seal means the effort the institution has made to establish a coherent human resources strategy has been recognised, as well as its best internal practices. Moreover, it will help to increase the international standing of the university and to attract and retain talent, since it marks a guarantee for researchers, technical and support staff.
Furthermore, it will strengthen the hand of the university for obtaining funds in competitive calls, not just on a European level ( since Europe will value this type of accreditation when granting funding for research in the immediate future) but nationally too, where it will also be considered as added value. The seal must be subjected to periodical evaluation every two years, in order to be renewed.
The Vice-chancellor´s office for Research and Scientific Policy, Julián Garde, thanked all the research groups, made up of Teaching and Research Staff, and Services and Administration Staff from a range of centres, departments, units and vice-chancellor´s offices, for their participation in the the whole process for obtaining the HRS4R seal, since, according to him, they have been vital for obtaining it, both for the time they have taken to answer the surveys needed for previous analysis, and the effort they have made.
By signing the Statement of Commitment, the UCLM made the first move to begin drawing up a human resources strategy based on the principles foreseen in the Charter and the European Code. A research group was created in order to carry out an internal analysis, receiving information from the researchers themselves who had answered a survey. Once this analysis had been carried out, a series of actions were put forward for ensuring continuous improvement, which have been specified in the Action Plan which can be consulted at the following link:
https://www.uclm.es/misiones/investigacion/hr_excellence_in_research .
The application for obtaining the seal, was sent by the UCLM to the European Commission at the start of December 2018.
UCLM Communication Office Albacete, 25th of January 2019