Centralised development projects implemented in 2019

The proposed project fits into the long-term strategy of developing the human resources of research and development personnel at all participating universities, and also meets the  general concept of employment in the knowledge economy.

The main objective of the project is primarily to create a functional network of cooperating "non-stone" universities, to support the regional role of these universities and to increase the social responsibility of the participating institutions

The proposed project is unique because of its broad involvement of project partners and the predefined topics that are relevant for the partners involved (financial specificities of "non-stone" universities, M17+ methodology or active involvement of employees in university processes)

This basic objective will be achieved by addressing several key activities:

1. Transfer of experience within universities
2. ICT tools
3. On-line communication platform
4. International university meetings

Thematic Focus:

Capacity sharing and networking of higher education institutions in the Czech Republic (a) in the computerization of the administrative agendas of higher education institutions and (h) in the fulfilment of requirements set by generally binding legal regulations or instructions of state administration bodies regulating the internal organization and systems of higher education institutions.

Objectives:

1. Harmonization of EIS with EU, Czech legislation and internal organization of HEIs with impact on economic and administrative IS of HEIs
2. Unification of technologies and system administration to support internal organization and standardization of systems of HEIs

Outputs:

1. Application of functionality additions for GDPR in the HEI's own conditions
2. Application of functionality additions in the file service according to the needs of own HEI
3. Application of additions to reporting functions for economic data according to the needs of the HEI
4. Implementation of additions to standard functions in EIS for eIDAS, sealing and long-term storage of documents in the conditions of the HEI
5. Application of the additions to the standard EIS functionality in the area of finance in the conditions of the HEI itself and training of users
6. Implementation of Oracle WLS upgrade
7. Integration of study agendas to CUL document repository using standard REST interface
8. Implementation of unified version of iFIS 12.19.

Build on the previous CRP project "Grants, Projects, Processes of Universities", expanding the existing network of collaborating HEIs.

1. Enable participating HEIs to share good practice in project process issues for a specific topic/challenge.
2. Create four expert blocks consisting of working groups of project and other departments concerned with project processes.
3. Support a unified communication environment for the network of collaborating HEI centres.
4. Enhance individual settings for effective project and grant management in the participating HEIs
.

Outputs:

.
1. Project meetings - participation in 4 meetings of 3 HEI staff each, networking and roundtables
2. Workshops - participation in 4 expert-oriented workshops of 3 HEIs each
3. Communication Platform - common communication environment (chat, documents, FAQs, etc.)

This project will focus on the area of implementation of legislation and activities supported by the Department into student information systems. In the area of supported activities, it will be mainly about computerization of the administrative agenda of the university (c), as well as fulfilling the requirements set by generally binding legal regulations or instructions of state administration bodies regulating the internal organization and systems of universities (h).

Objectives:

1. Electronization of study and related agendas in the information systems of schools and electronic signing of study documents at different stages of study; preparation or implementation of transmission to registers from administrative agencies and proposals for data formats.
2. Accessibility of websites and support for mobile devices for study and related agendas in school information systems according to legislation.
3. Privacy of personal data in study and related information systems, revisions and new implementations according to legislation.

Outputs:

1. Analysis of the agenda for the delivery of decisions to applicants (admission or non-admission to study) and students concerning their studies (recognition of courses, requests for exceptions to the CPR).
2. Procedural analysis of objective 1, definition of needs and proposal of requirements for the agenda of the study department hereinafter referred to as SO in the study information system of the University of Applied Sciences hereinafter referred to as IS.
3. Participation in the joint opening seminar.
4. Development of the information system superstructure in order to computerize selected processes at the SO.
5. Active testing of implemented changes in the responsive behaviour of the IS - student part.
6. Implementation of a process/workflow into a specific administrative agenda focused on the SO process area in the IS.
7. Adjustment of the "GDPR" application in IS in terms of the impact of the amendment to the law on personal data protection.
8. Analysis of the possibilities of linking the IS to external systems IFIS and the National Register of Health Workers.
9. Training of users in the agenda of processes at the SO.
10. Participation in the joint final seminar.
11. Assessment of the status of the solution at the SO. Participation in the proposal for the way forward in 2020. Including evaluation of the collaboration, themes for the next period and suggestions for sharing examples of good practice.

This project aims to provide a central solution for the problematic areas related to the employment of foreign workers and the posting of university staff to work abroad.

The most important activities of universities in the field of internationalization of human resources is precisely the recruitment of academic, research and development staff and other employees involved in the creative activities of universities from abroad. At the same time, universities are preparing to send their staff to work abroad in view of the increasing mobility of staff. 

There are 4 main issues related to the internationalisation in the field of human resources in universities:

i) administratively demanding and changing legislative rules for the employment of foreigners, information and registration obligations of employers, dealing with the issue of legalization of residence of employees and their family members;

ii) special legislative rules for each EU/EEA and Swiss country and third countries for posting employees to work abroad;

iii) social security coordination issues related to the co-existence of employment within the EU/EEA and Switzerland with a high risk of financial detriment for HEIs in cases where there is a retroactive determination of jurisdiction under foreign social security law and the associated:

   (a) loss of premiums already paid into the Czech social security system, including the risk of surcharging premiums to the newly designated social security system,

   (b) the obligation to pay a penalty for late payment of insurance premiums;

 iv) the unintended consequences of the different social security law regulations in the EU/EEA and Switzerland related to social security coordination  consisting in contributions to the social security system, despite the fact that the employment relationship in the Czech Republic does not give rise to an obligation to make contributions, together with inconsistent interpretations by different state authorities.

Sub-objectives of the project for the University of Applied Sciences:

1. Collaboration on a central solution to the administratively challenging and changing legislative rules for the employment of foreigners in the HE environment
2. Collaboration on a central solution to the legislative rules for sending HEI employees to work abroad
3. Collaboration on a central solution for social security coordination related to concurrent employment in the EU/EEA and Switzerland
4. Collaboration on the central resolution of unintended consequences of different social security law arrangements in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
5. Sharing of good practice between participating HEIs
6. Evaluation of experiences and transfer of feedback between partner HEIs

Outputs of the sub-project for the HEI:

1. Participation in the elaboration of a methodology for the employment of foreign workers, according to the instructions of the objective holder
2. Mapping the issues related to the coexistence of employment in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
3. Participation in the unified procedure of universities in contributions to the Slovak social security system. security, in cases of sublimit agreements
4. Participation in a conference on the project
5. Participation in coordination meetings. Organisation of coordination meeting
6. Evaluation of the project and proposal of the concept in continuation of the project for 2019

Universitas.cz, the magazine of universities, has built a strong readership in the two years of its existence. At the same time, it has proved that a professional magazine, whose implementation is based on the cooperation of partner public universities, has its irreplaceable place in improving the quality of the environment of Czech universities and their social responsibility. However, thanks to the close cooperation of partner schools and the sharing of experiences, new needs have arisen for the further development of the journal's potential, especially in the areas listed below.

In the context of increasing demands for the internationalization of the environment at Czech universities, there is a growing need for information-rich texts in English, created specifically for foreign researchers and teachers who are increasingly active here and for whom it is no longer enough to translate content created in Czech. Therefore, it is planned to create special English content with three own sections, targeted directly at these workers, in cooperation with the foreign centres of individual schools and other responsible centres or workers. Development in this area will contribute to strengthening the international character of Czech universities, help incoming foreign academics to better understand the Czech education system, and also contribute to the promotion of Czech higher education and science in the world. To support this goal, a special newsletter in English will also be created, which will be published 3 times a year and promoted at individual universities.

In connection with the international involvement of Czech higher education, further partnerships will be established and cooperation with foreign partners and stakeholders and European organisations in the field of higher education will continue, which will further contribute to expanding awareness of the achievements and issues of Czech higher education, science and education abroad (e.g. ERC).

Following the expansion of its readership, the Universitas higher education magazine has become an attractive venue for strengthening the regional and national impact of the partner universities involved and increasing their social responsibility. Therefore, a new dedicated common space will be created in the form of a aggregated electronic system, which will serve as a platform for the publication of current events, events and invitations to them, and subsequently other information and interesting facts from all participating schools, which will allow for even more targeted promotion to the interested academic and non-academic public. This will create a comprehensive common space that will not only bring together the editorial articles produced, but will also offer a comprehensive overview of what is happening at all schools throughout the year and across all regions of the Czech Republic. In the case of published events, only teasers for events hosted by universities or their units and/or held at their premises will be accepted. The whole model will then also be used to test one possible way of funding and sustainability of the Universitas university magazine. 

During the duration of the joint project, it has also become clear that there is a greater need to share experiences in the promotion of higher education issues in relation to the current changes brought about by the implementation of the amendment to the Higher Education Act with emphasis on the transformation of fields of study into degree programmes and other topical areas that need to be communicated in terms of its specificity to the media and the wider academic and interested public. Thus, another goal of the project is to organize a special workshop for representatives from the participating universities aimed directly at the involved staff at the universities and other interested organizations. The aim is thus to bring together more of the different actors in the Czech higher education system.

Despite a very successful start, where the magazine and e-journal in the form of a newsletter has gained a large and steady readership (the drop-out rate is almost zero), this needs to be actively maintained and efforts made to increase its reach and readership. Therefore, the frequency of contributions to the portal and the Universitas e-journal will be increased to 1 x weekly and 10 issues of the newsletter per year, which will be sent to members of the academic community and other staff of the network of partner universities. 

The expansion of the partner school network with additional schools and the use of social networks, as well as profiles and websites of the participating schools to promote and target the priorities of Czech higher education, such as accreditation, quality of schools, doctoral studies, gender equality and evaluation of scientific research results, also have great potential in fulfilling the above objective.

In the context of social networking, it will also be useful to set up our own professional group on the LindkedIn professional network, which will not only provide participants with a space for information and discussion, but will also be a source of ideas for other topics for Universitas magazine.

In view of the development of electronic media and in response to the ever-increasing interest of readers in them, a tablet version of the Magazine for Tablets will be created based on the existing template of the 2018 version, which will summarise the texts of the magazine 3 times a year and offer readers an overview of the most interesting things from Universitas in a graphically and visually attractive form. This will increase the readership and attractiveness of the magazine. For the part of the readership that, unlike the majority, still prefers print media, a printed issue in the form of a yearbook will be created, which will summarize the events and interviews published in Universitas magazine throughout the year.