Standards for enhancing universities’ reputation and attractiveness across the Ulysseus alliance

Attracting and managing talent is one of the most pressing challenges facing today’s universities. European higher education institutions (HEIs) can stand out globally and sustainably as they embrace progressive human resources (HR) policies and research evaluation practices that foster fair working conditions, diversity, inclusion, and collaboration. These elements are increasingly recognized as key drivers of institutional excellence and global competitiveness of European universities by the European Charter for Researchers (European Commission s.a).

As such, Ulysseus, a thriving European University Alliance, has also started discussions on the standards for enhancing the reputation and attractiveness of universities of Ulysseus alliance. To support these discussions, the Alliance’s representatives gathered in Košice in October 2025, for a deep dive workshop on current advancements of research assessment and talent attraction policies and practices across the diverse university environments that constitute this alliance.

Discussing frameworks for excellence and competitiveness

The purpose of the workshop in Košice was to foster knowledge exchange and strategic dialogue among Ulysseys alliance universities. Participants shared the good practices, addressed implementation challenges, and discussed how recruitment, mobility, and working conditions can be used to support a thriving academic community.

A key focus was on European-wide standards such as the HR Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) and their compatibility with the principles of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA). These frameworks emphasize the importance of recognizing diverse research careers and improving the working environments of researchers – critical elements for institutional excellence and global competitiveness.

Exploring novelties in research assessment

The opening session dealt with novelties in research assessment from two diverse perspectives:

• University of Genova has implemented a nationally driven research assessment exercise of the Italian Agency for Evaluation of the University and Research System ANVUR.
• University Cote d’ Azur (UniCA) and Haaga Helia University of Applied Sciences have adopted the CoARA framework – an EU guided blueprint for a more quality-oriented and responsible research assessment.

The transparency and standardisation of university data recently introduced in Italy, has provided not only the national funding agencies with relevant data, but primarily the universities themselves, researchers and all the interested parties. The universities are now in the position to carry out deep analytics with easily accessible and researchable data, making their decision processes based on evidence, through a University System Dashboard.

In addition, the University of Genova has introduced analytical budgeting, allowing optimisation, savings and smart investment decisions. All these changes were guided by legal amendments introducing a different funding model for Italian universities, where most of the funding is based on attractiveness and quality of teaching, complemented by the research budget which depends on research quality and performance, mainly relying on quantitative data. The Italian practice of evaluation of scientific products has been highlighted as a good practice recommended for sharing across the alliance.

The adoption of the CoARA framework for research assessment presented by University Cote d’ Azur and Haaga-Helia is a way of overcoming limitations of traditional university metrics. Namely, CoARA is a European initiative launched in 2022 by the European Commission to reform evaluation of research and researchers. It is built around ten commitments (CoARA s.a.) that promote e.g, qualitative peer review and recognition of diverse research outputs such as datasets, software, and societal impact over merely relying on quantitative metrics such as journal impact factors and citation counts.

Almost 800 international research organizations have signed the commitment (as of November 2025), including Ulysseus partners University Côte d’Azur, University of Genoa, University of Seville and Haaga-Helia. The universities are required to adopt an action plan for the implementation of the CoARA principles and fair, transparent, and inclusive assessment practices.

Haaga-Helia published its action plan 2024-2027 in 2024 and UniCa will publish its action plan 2026-2029 in 2026. The workshop was an opportunity for the remaining four universities who have not joined the CoARA to be better informed and receive firsthand experience from their peers.

According to UniCa’s representative, the goals of CoARA align with broader excellence goals for the university and generally universities in France, that are actively seeking for more inclusive research assessment. Haaga-Helia’s vision and commitments to CoARA are in line with its strategic goals, and as such, seen as instrumental for the organization. The societal impact of applied research that Haaga-Helia does is extensive, and qualitative evaluation enables presenting the broader spectrum of impact than using only traditional assessment methods would enable.

In general, the aims of CoARA were seen closely intertwined with those of HRS4R. As an example, at Haaga Helia, the process of introducing CoARA went in parallel with the adoption of the HRS4R – a comprehensive EU compliance action at this Finnish university. In all alliance partner universities, discussions on the appropriate metrics and ways how to implement qualitative research assessment are still ongoing.

In today’s evolving landscape, alignment with initiatives like CoARA offer possibilities for universities to further collaborate in developing research and researcher assessment. The European university alliance Ulysseus can offer an appropriate framework and ground for such joint action.

HRS4R and talent alignment

The second part of the workshop explored the effects and importance of HRS4R. The HR Excellence in Research award (European Commission s.a.) is granted to institutions that demonstrate ongoing commitment to implementing the principles of the European Charter for Researchers through their policies and practices. It offers a structured pathway for universities to improve working conditions and gain international visibility.

By adopting the HRS4R standards, European universities signal their commitment to making research careers more attractive and sustainable, which helps them attract top talent globally. HRS4R can also affect rankings and funding prospects, because funders and evaluation frameworks increasingly value metrics related to talent attraction, career development, and staff support, and improvements in career conditions are among the most visible ways a university can distinguish itself in a competitive higher education landscape.

Representatives from Technical University of Košice (TUKE), presented their case of implementing the EURAXESS service centre as a strong pillar of TUKE’s enhanced internationalisation strategy, strengthening research and supporting career development and talent attraction. Namely, TUKE has a vast international student community, integrating around 40 percent of foreign students, and the growth of their EURAXESS centre has provided a structured framework to support all the requirements for better integration of incoming teachers and students. As TUKE does not have the Excellence in Research Award yet, the workshop was an occasion for them to learn about its benefits and processes.

University of Montenegro (UoM) presented in detail their experiences in developing and implementing HRS4R. Although a non-EU country, Montenegro has started its integration with EURAXESS initiative already in 2009. With some breaks due to varying priorities of the leadership, the adoption of HRS4R was completed in 2019 and the logo was first awarded in 2020. The university is currently in the award renewal phase. The presentation showed the areas of significant improvement and adoption of EU standards and values, such as ethics, equality and inclusion, merit-based promotion and English taught programmes.

UniCA has strategically aligned its development strategies with the European standard, reaching significant results in talent attraction. Some of the key benefits are the increase in the visibility of university job offers using open, transparent and merit-based practices enhanced through Euraxess portal, by 20-30 percent. UniCA has also evidenced that HR policy alignment with the European Charter for Researchers principles improves mobility conditions and integration of incoming researchers, impacting positively researcher retention, trust and commitment. Improvements in researcher support, including career development, training opportunities and overall quality of life at work are also produced by the award. Other benefits of the HRS4R award were a structured approach to EDI, open science and ethics, topics highly relevant also for CoARA.

In the workshop, adopting HRS4R across the alliance was highlighted as a strategic opportunity to strengthen coherence and visibility at the European level. A coordinated approach allows partners to align recruitment, researcher support and HR policies with shared standards, positioning the alliance as a benchmark employer. The presentation emphasised the value of jointly developed tools, transparency dashboards and harmonised OTM-R procedures, which enhance mobility and comparability between institutions. By pooling governance structures and existing expertise, alliances such as Ulysseus can accelerate implementation, promote convergence of practices and reinforce their collective attractiveness to international researchers and funding programmes.

University of Sevilla (USE) has received the HR Excellence Award in February 2025, crowning an intensive and dedicated talent attraction policy. Supported from the institutional, regional, national and international levels, the policy has a significant investment of almost 10M EUR annually, of which 7.6M related directly to human resources, pre and post-doctoral contracts. The policy is elaborated through USE Research and Transfer Plan 2022-2026, specific Stabilization Plan for Postdoctoral Research Staff of the University of Seville and Program to recruit highly qualified technical support personnel for research.

In ten years pre-doctoral contracts increased from 336 (2015) to 454 (2025), postdoctoral contracts from 115 (2015) to 404 (2025) and an exponential increase in the prestigious national program for attracting researchers ‘Ramon y Cajal’. All these well designed and managed highly competitive programmes had direct effect on performance and the international position of USE already in a short term, with rapid increase in scientific production and excellence.

In summary, this second session provided a great rounding and accent to the whole workshop, showing how effective talent attraction and human resources programmes with significant investment immediately improve a university’s both quantitative and qualitative metrics and position in international rankings.

Driving change together through shared vision

Taking part in building an attractive, fair, inclusive, and high-impact European research ecosystem is our shared goal as Ulysseus alliance. European initiatives such as the HRS4R and CoARA provide universities unique possibilities to develop and share roadmaps for improving institutional researcher working conditions and enriching research assessment. Importantly, they also offer strategic advantages for European universities in global visibility, funding eligibility, and academic excellence. By embedding their HR strategies into the core of research reform, universities can better attract and retain talent, support diverse research careers, and respond to evolving expectations from funders and society.

However, succeeding in implementing CoARA and HRS4R, strong and visionary institutional leadership and collaboration between organizations are required. Attaining the goals for these initiatives is hard work, and there are many places to learn from each other – to share practices, to evaluate and develop processes, to discuss shared criteria.

The Ulysseus Košice workshop served as a catalyst for bringing together partners to share best practices, confront challenges, and shape a collective path forward. Ultimately, investing in people is investing in performance and competitive advantage of European universities. Through collaboration, commitment, and shared values, Ulysseus institutions are well-positioned to lead the way in creating research environments where both individuals and institutions can thrive.

Picture: Haaga-Helia