University of St Andrews still one of the best places to work

The University of St Andrews has received international recognition for its efforts in supporting the personal, professional and career development of its researchers.

Scotland’s oldest University is among seven universities to retain the HR Excellence in Research Award from the European Commission at the two year stage. The award demonstrates the university’s commitment to improving the working conditions and career development of its research staff, whilst attracting and retaining the best from across the globe.

St Andrews and the Scottish Funding Council are the only Scottish institutions to be recognised, alongside the University of Bagnor, City University London, Liverpool John Moores University, Oxford Brookes University and SOAS University of London.

The two year review requires institutions to highlight the key achievements and progresses they have made since achieving the award, and to outline the focus for their strategy, success measures and next steps for the following years.

The successful achievement is down to the hard work of the project team led by Professor Nic Beech, which features members of CAPOD, HR and the Research Policy Office.

Jos Finer, Head of Organisational Development in CAPOD said:

“I am delighted that the University has retained its HR Excellence in Research Award, and would like to give credit to our staff development team for the hard work they have carried out. The award has provided us with a real focus on what we are doing to support professional and career development for our researchers and we are looking forward to creating further developments over the next two years.”

Professor Trevor McMillan, UK panel member and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), Keele University says:

“I am delighted that a further eight institutions have retained the Award at the two year point. Robust evidence of continuous progress, aligned to the Concordat to Support the Development of Researchers, is being demonstrated by Award holders that retain the Award. The careers of researchers are important to universities, research organisations, society and the wider employment sector; we need to continue to make improvements in the experiences of researchers on the ground.”

This month, the University of St Andrews was also shortlisted for a Times Higher Education Award for ‘Outstanding Support for Early Career Research’ for a collaborative project with the University of Dundee.

The two universities have developed a successful mentoring scheme for early career researchers, providing the opportunity for research staff to be matched with a mentor from their own institution or their neighbouring one.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

A UK-wide process enables UK higher education institutions to gain the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award, which acknowledges their alignment with the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for their Recruitment. The UK process incorporates both the ‘QAA Quality Code for Higher Education – Chapter B11: Research Degrees’ and the ‘Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers’ to enable institutions that have published Concordat implementation plans to gain the HR Excellence in Research Award. The UK approach includes ongoing national evaluation and benchmarking.

The award acknowledges that institutions have completed a gap analysis of their existing policies and practice against the Concordat, developed a robust action plan for implementation, and taken into account the views of researchers.

Issued by the University of St Andrews Press Office
Contact Victoria Herd on 01334 462530 or [email protected]
View the University’s latest news at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news
Ref: HRexcellence2014