Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is working hard to become an even more appealing and inspiring place to work for both current and future scientific staff, with the aim of bringing out the best in everyone. We are also constantly taking steps to be an impact-driven institution that contributes demonstrably to the well-being of society.
To achieve our ambitions, and to continue ensuring high standards of education and research, increasing our positive impact on society, encouraging inclusive leadership, and – in case of Erasmus Medical Center (EMC) – delivering excellent patient care, it is necessary to revise the current systems for recognising and rewarding academics.
However, only changing institutional policies and procedures is not enough to address and update the deeply rooted ideas about valuing and appreciating academic work. A culture change in academia as a whole is needed, and at EUR it is a joint effort by many stakeholders. Each of the EUR Schools is working on the further development and implementation of Recognition & Rewards programme (R&R), to anchor these vital changes in the very foundation of the organisation.
EUR facilitates this R&R effort by implementing changes along the three routes, grounded in the core R&R themes:
We recognise and value academic staff for having differing areas of expertise, competences and skills, and stress that academics do not have to excel in all key areas of activity simultaneously (research, education, societal impact, leadership/management and – for those at Erasmus MC – patient care). To support this, several Schools across EUR have introduced career paths which allow academics to focus on what they do best, and more diverse competences and talents are appreciated. During their career, an academic may also shift their focus across different areas and skill sets. The recognition of the diversity of strengths at an individual and team level is a necessary component of success for the differentiation of career paths.
For example, since 2020, four differentiated career profiles are available for Assistant and Associate professors at Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB) in addition to the classical (40% research, 60% education) profile: education, research, impact, and leadership/management profiles. All Assistant professors (after ~4 years in a standard profile) and Associate professors can express a preference for a specific profile, generally granted temporarily for a duration of 4 years. In all profiles, promotion from Assistant to Associate professor is possible.
Similarly, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) introduced career paths and updated the promotion criteria to support them. Career path development is also actively underway at Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM), Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), and Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC). At ESHPM, in addition, promotion criteria are being updated to incorporate wider set of indicators, and composition of the promotion committee is made more diverse.
In the EUR R&R framework, a team is defined as a 'group of employees that work under the supervision of a team leader on a specific set of tasks and is relatively autonomous in the way it fulfils these tasks, e.g. research groups or departments'. These tasks are in the key areas of education, research, societal impact, management (within team or larger organisation) and, for Erasmus MC, patient care. Different competencies and qualities are needed for the accomplishment of these tasks, as these are often related to different career paths. Thus far, it has often been the case that everyone in every team must excel in multiple key areas at the same time, and the focus of evaluation has been on individual rather than team performance. Including the evaluation of individual contribution to the team performance highlights the importance of mixing people with different career paths, and therefore talents, and composing teams that possess all the qualities necessary to complete the required tasks at high levels of performance.
At ESSB, for example, teams have a multi-annual (4 years) plan in which the results that the team aims to achieve within the domains of education, research, societal impact, innovation and entrepreneurship, and management (contribution to the team as well as the organisation) are laid down. Team members share a mutual responsibility with regard to the realisation of the team assignment and the overall departmental and faculty goals.
To support the recognition and acknowledgement of all aspects of academic work, it is important to offer ample space in assessments of employees to expand on all aspects of their work. Therefore, EUR supports its employees as well as managers in how they can write and assess a narrative about an academic’s work that covers diverse topics and contributions and allows academics to highlight the areas that are important for them.
In line with the principles of Recognition & Rewards, narratives also allow to shift focus from assessing academic work output from purely quantitative to a more holistic perspective which includes qualitative elements. This way narratives create room to incorporate valuable results and achievements that ‘standard’ assessments often exclude. In 2024, EUR introduced a re-designed development cycle, which has been gradually replacing the previous annual appraisal system which placed strong emphasis on performance. This has been updated into a narrative-based reflection, focusing on development goals and needs.
Different EUR Schools have also introduced a more holistic, narrative-based approach and focus on more qualitative elements into their procedures and policies. For example, at Erasmus MC, since mid-2020 a narrative (personal story) has been incorporated as part of the standard procedure appointment to professor. At ESE, in the tenure track, portfolios were introduced for the early tenure decisions. At ESL, performance and assessment criteria were detached and traditional performance & development process was replaced by the 'recognition & appreciation interviews'. Many EUR Schools have also conducted narrative writing and assessment trainings for their academic and professional services staff.