Certification efforts
In order to obtain the certificate, the University must complete the following activities:
1. Send a declaration of support for the principles of the Charter and the Code to the European Commission.
2. Conduct an analysis (gap analysis) to assess the extent to which the University’s operation is consistent with the Charter and the Code. In addition to reviewing and revising documents of national law and the institution’s bylaws, a survey will be conducted among research, research and teaching, as well as scientific-technical staff to obtain the opinion of the MUG’s scientific community on the consistency of the institution’s rules with the Charter and the Code.
3. Based on the foregoing analysis, an action plan will be prepared, directed at eliminating the shortcomings identified in the institution, along with a description of specific actions to achieve this.
4. The aforementioned documents will also be accompanied by an analysis of the recruitment and competition procedure carried out in terms of its openness, transparency and application of the principles of fair evaluation of candidates (open, transparent and substantive recruitment, OTM-R).
The University has 12 months to prepare an analysis, an action plan and to revise the rules of recruitment and competitions, counting from the moment the declaration is sent to the European Commission. After evaluating the documents and action plan, the Commission decides on the award, and 2 years after the award, the institution re-evaluates the progress and effects of implementing the principles of the Charter and the Code. After another 3 years, representatives of the European Commission come to the university for a study visit.
Opinion poll – a survey at MUG
The first step in the work to obtain the Certificate was a survey that was made available, with a response rate of 41.5%.
Responses to individual survey questions were divided into four areas, in line with the content of the HR Excellence in Research activity:
1. Ethical and Professional Aspects
2. Recruitment and Selection
3. Training and Development
4. Working Conditions and Social Security.
The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers were assigned to each of the above areas, on the basis of which the survey questions were formulated. This allowed us to determine to what extent the University’s operations are consistent with the recommendations of the European Commission, and which areas require additional review and improvement.
The results of the survey can be found in the Documents section.
Analysis of the University practices’ compliance with the principles from the Charter and the Code
The survey, which contained 34 questions, was distributed to all academic personnel in June 2023.
An external company was then commissioned to analyze the results of the survey of the MUG research community, thanks to the involvement of which we received a 41.5% response rate.
In October 2023, we obtained the completed report. The results were subject to weight analysis. Analytical weights were created based on information about the structure of the study population in terms of gender, seniority at MUG and position held. The weight value ranges from 0.6 to 1.9.
The results were presented in the form of a percentage of positive responses to each question, then the corresponding questions were assigned to specific principles from the Charter and Code, and by calculating the average response, the score for each aspect was presented. In addition, an overall analysis of four main areas was also done, consisting of all 40 aspects evaluated.
The first of the four main research areas analyzed Ethical and professional aspects was rated very highly by almost all respondents. In the various sub-groups analyzed, between 95% and 100% of surveyed MUG employees are satisfied with this area.
The second main area of Recruitment and Selection scored an average of 78%, which should be considered a very good result. The research area of Training and Development was also rated at a high level – it received 77% satisfaction ratings.
The last of the four main research areas – Working Conditions and Social Security – was rated at a satisfactory 78%.
Despite satisfactory overall results, several aspects (in specific areas) were rated moderately positive.
All areas in which actions are required to bring the University’s practices closer to the principles in the Charter and Code were identified and thoroughly described.
A detailed analysis of aspects that need improvement is provided in the Gap Analisys.
Action Plan
Based on the analysis, the working team for the HR Excellence in Research certification process developed a strategy directed at eliminating the shortcomings identified in the institution. A detailed description of specific actions was created to lead to improvements in the University’s practices for implementing fair and transparent procedures.
During the development of the action plan, the topics of the areas in which the least satisfaction of the researchers was demonstrated were examined more closely in a workshop with selected employees from the research group. They reviewed the results from each area, the principles in the Charter and Code to which the issues related and then proposed solutions that they felt would change for the better the working conditions and development of scientific employees at MUG. The direct voice of scientists has been included in MUG’s HR strategy.
A detailed action plan approved by the MUG authorities and the European Commission is described in the Action Plan document.