Resolution

Czech Rectors Conference (CRC) Plenum adopted at its 148th Meeting the following resolution:

1. CRC welcomes the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports efforts to increase the budget for higher education institutions for 2019 as well as the medium-term budgetary outlook.
2. CRC invites the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to support future teachers training within the „P“ (social need) budget indicator not only at faculties of education but generally at all parts of higher education institutions that provide study programmes in the field of teacher education. CRC is convinced that financial interventions of this type must be based on a good analysis of the demand for graduates and the costs of their education, as was the case with medical programmes.
3. CRC welcomes the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports efforts to provide additional financial support for the Operational Programme Research, Development and Education complementary calls 16 and 17 investment projects due to a significant increase in the cost of construction works, which threatens completion of these projects in accordance with relevant rules of the Grant Decision.
4. CRC supports the increase in personnel capacities of the National Accreditation Bureau for Higher Education’s Office, which is essential for the efficient functioning of accreditation processes.
5. CRC supports the conclusions of the Research, Development and Innovation Council representatives and CRC representatives meeting on the issue of research evaluation implementation according to the Methodology 2017+ (see Annex) that took place in Prague on 12 November 2018.
6. CRC fundamentally disagrees with the proposal for indicative scaling of higher education institutions submitted within the so-called tripartite and asks for justification.

Prague, 6 December 2018

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               On behalf of the Czech Rectors Conference                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Prof. Dr. Tomáš Zima
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    President

Minutes from the Meeting of RD&I Council Representatives and CRC Representatives on the Issue of Research Evaluation according to the Methodology 2017+

Date and venue: 12 November 2018, Charles University, Prague

Participants:      Prof. Tomáš Zima, Charles University Rector and CRC President

                            Prof. Petr Dvořák, RD&I Council First Vice-Chairman and Research

                            Evaluation Board Chairman

                            Doc. Jan Konvalinka, a member of RD&I Council

                            Prof. Štěpán Jurajda, a member of RD&I Council

                            Prof. Jiří Málek, University of Pardubice Rector and a member of CRC

                            Dr. Pavel Doleček, Deputy Minister for Research and Higher Education

The participants agreed on the implementation of M2017+ for the area of higher education institutions as follows:

1. Module 1 “Quality of Selected Results”, designed by the RD&I Council, will be in full operation, i.e. after inclusion of basic research results (publication results and results specific for “SHV” disciplines – Social Sciences and Humanities), usable for nominated top results evaluation in terms of quality, originality and significance in international comparison.
2. Module 2 “Research Performance”. The methodology approved by the RD&I Council will be supplemented with the material according to CRC draft (option 7). Discipline standardization will be carried out on the size of “LCDRO” (long-term conceptual development of a research organization) of evaluated higher education institutions and their parts. Panel assessment of materials will then result in research performance evaluation of the parts of higher education institutions within each discipline.
3. Evaluation of higher education institutions on the basis of Modules 1 and 2 will be carried out in 2019. Panel assessment of materials will then result in quality and performance ranking of the parts of higher education institutions.
4. Module 3 “Social Relevance”, Module 4 “Viability”, and Module 5 “Strategy and Policies”, designed in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, will be procedurally finalized, pilot-tested and optimized in detail after discussions with the representatives of CRC and CHEI (the Council of Higher Education Institutions) in the course of 2019. Then the Modules will be used for evaluation in the area of higher education institutions.
5. The detailed description of research evaluation according to the Methodology 2017+ for the area of higher education institutions, including procedural matters, will be submitted for approval to the Government of the Czech Republic by 30 September 2019 at the latest.

Recorded by: J. Málek and Š. Jurajda