Modernisation of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through enhancement of Human Resources Management (HRM) function

Analysis of HEIs external evaluation reports and existing policy documents in all three project partner countries, other European Area of Higher Education (EHEA) countries and at the common European level shows that there is a strong need to encourage and support HEIs in using the HRM system to the greater extent in order to improve their organizational efficiency and competitive ability and to provide trainings to HEIs employees (managerial, academic and non-academic) on the benefits, design and implementation of this system. In the light of the detected needs and existing policy guidance at the European level, the project has four general objectives: • To improve the organizational development, efficiency and effectiveness of HEIs as well as to increase its global competitiveness. Developed policy papers and established processes related to HR function in HEIs will enable the management of HEIs to put in place mechanisms for permanent monitoring and enhancement of their performance. •To encourage and improve Higher Education Institution’s contribution to economic growth and social development by enhancing the quality and relevance of human capital development in higher education (both development of HEIs employees and delivery of graduates equipped with the right skills into employment). The project will endorse HEIs in their enhancement of most elements of the HR function based on the competence approach in order to improve the services they provide to students who are in the centre of the learning process and related educational activities. • To stimulate excellence of European HEIs staff through appropriate academic human resources management. This would ensure that European HEIs produce, attract and retain the high quality academic staff and as such improve the visibility of European Higher Education Area across the world. • To foster creation of a EHEA by adding to existing communication channels and mutual exchange of sound practices. The networks developed during the project will build links between institutions, working towards a common European Area. The tools, materials and conferences arranged by the project will serve to promote the HRM at European HEIs. This project is the first project specifically designed to support development of HRM function on HEIs as part of their continuous endeavours to enhance quality of HE institutions and their educational provisions. In addition to its unique focus, the innovative aspect of the project is production of a systematic body of literature analysing the benefits of HRM function for HEIs quality, efficiency and ranking visibility. The envisaged outputs include the following papers: 1. HRM as a lead contributor to HEIs' Organizational Effectiveness 2. The role of HRM in helping HEIs meet European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ESG) - Part 1 3. How can HRM help HEIs improve their performance in relation to university ranking indicators? Second innovative dimension of the project is development of HRM processes and activities tailored for the setting of HEIs while taking into account the specificities of HE sector in comparison to other economic and industrial sectors. Third innovative component of this project is development of methodology for measuring the effectiveness of HRM function at HEIs and its benchmarking among HEIs across Europe.