Regulations
Governing International Post-Doctoral Fellows Recruiting at
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Contents
1.General Provisions. Definitions and abbreviations.
2.International Recruiting Procedures: Post-Doctoral Positions
3.Concluding Remarks
1.General Provisions. Definitions and abbreviations.
1.1.Current regulations govern recruitment procedures of post-doctoral researchers from the international job market, which are carried out in accordance with internationally recognized competitive procedures at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (“NRU HSE” or “HSE”) by Center of Advanced Studies (CAS) with involvement of individual faculties and departments.
1.2.Terminology used throughout these Regulations:
Applicant – international faculty member undergoing the international recruiting procedures at HSE;
Coordinator – an administrative officer appointed by the Unit in order to provide administrative support to international faculty employed at this Unit;
Fly-out – a final stage of interviewing procedure conducted on campus, consisting of a research presentation by applicant, interviews with selection committee and administrative staff, campus tour, discussions with administrative support units;
Full-time contract – a type of a labor contract guaranteeing a full standard workweek to a faculty member or a researcher, usually 36 astronomical hours with a 6-day workweek or 40 astronomical hours with a 5-day workweek;
Jointappointment– aspecialtypeoflaborrelationship betweenNRUHSEandtheinternationalfaculty member, wherethere ismorethanonecontractgoverningthe terms of his or her employment at HSE, where one contract is considered the primary contract, and the rest – subordinate or secondary; subordinate/secondary contracts are always part-time at a different Unit from that of the primary contract;
Internationalfaculty member (IH)– a holder of a PhD degree or equivalent, obtained at one of the leading international university or research center, recruited to HSE through the international recruitment procedure governed by this document;
Internationalrecruitingprocedure – a process of competitive selection of IHs to HSE using the internationally accepted set of rules, governing selection PhD-holding faculty at leading international universities;
Internationalfaculty recruiting – all activities related to advertising, screening, selection, and accompanying legal and financial supporting procedures carried out for the purpose of attracting IHs to HSE;
“Writing sample”– a written result of applicant’s intellectual labor, presented for evaluation during the international recruiting procedure. (Referred to as a “job market paper” in economics.);
Long list – a subset of applicants considered by the search committee to be a potential fit to the advertised HSE job basedon general qualifications, such as PhD-granting institution, number of publications, research interests, etc., as defined by the job requirements;
Part-time contract – a type of a labor contract guaranteeing less than a standard workweek to a faculty member or a researcher, or a reduced number of full standard workweeks in a calendar year;
Post-doctoral researcher – a person who has completed advance degree studies (typically a PhD),employed on a limited-term contract for the purpose of conducting research at HSE;
Search committee – a committee composed exclusively of tenured professors at international research universities performing the initial evaluation of document packets submitted by applicants for consideration to various positions and creating a long-list of candidates;
Selection committee – a committee chaired by the head of the Unit performing final evaluation of short-listed candidates for the fit of the applicants’ profiles to the HSE academic jobs;
Short list – a small, final subset of applicants who have gone through initial remote interviewing (by phone or other remote means) and screening by the selection committee, and who are deemed qualified to be invited for the on-campus interview (fly-out);
Unit – an accepting department within NRU HSE (faculty, department, laboratory, research center, etc.) where the international faculty member will be employed according to the labor contract between HSE and the employee.
1.3.Abbreviations used throughout these Regulations:
CAS – NRU HSE Center for Advanced Studies (the main international faculty recruiting department);
HRDepartment – Human Resources Department;
IH – “international hire,” the faculty hired by procedures outlined in this document;
IFSU – NRU HSE International Faculty Support Unit,part of the Office of Internationalization;
IRC – International Recruiting Policy Committee, created by the order of the HSE rectoron 20.07.2015, № 6.18.1-01/2007-05;
SACS – Senior Academic Selection Committee
SSC – Senior Search Committee
1.4.InternationalrecruitingprocessatNRUHSEconsistsofseveralbasicprocesses, carriedoutthroughouttheacademicyear:
- Planning and organization of all activities related to international faculty recruiting at NRU HSE;
- All procedures of international recruiting;
- Administrative and financial support procedures necessary for legalizing the labor relations between NRU HSE and selected IHs, including all procedures governed by the procedures of competitive selection of applicants to faculty positions to NRU HSE;
- All activities related to integration of IHs into the NRU HSE professional academic environment and their accommodation to the new place of employment.
1.5.AlllegalproceduresinvolvedinthelaborrelationshipsbetweenNRUHSEandthe IHs are governed by laws of Russian Federation and local normative documents established at NRU HSE. All policies, procedures, regulations, including strategic plan and vision for international recruiting, as well as general coordination of the Units, are established and carried out by the IRC and the supervising vice-rector. The only exception is international recruiting realized as part of the competitive grant program financed by special grants from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation.
1.6.Competitive selection of IHs, recruited as part of the Ministry of Education competitive research grant program, is carried outside the international recruitment procedure, and is governed by a separate set of regulations and procedures.
1.7.International recruitment procedures carried out at Units, established in cooperation with international partners, are guided by internal regulations of such Units, if such exist. In case of a conflict between departmental internal regulations and the current document, departmental regulations take precedence.
2.International Recruiting Procedures: Post-DoctoralPositions
2.1.Goals and Objectives
Post-doctoral positions are designed to attract young scholars (in terms of PhD completion date normally within previous 5 years by time of date of employment) who want to advance their research agenda, for research-oriented short-term contracts (one year in the first instance), upon conclusion of which they could increase the HSE name recognition and international reputation by obtaining employment at major research universities abroad. These IHs have no teaching obligations and are usually hired to work in research-oriented Units at HSE, such as research laboratories.
2.2.Participating Units
Though post-doctoral positions are available to all HSE Units, because the primary objective of post-doctoral position is research, priority is given to HSE research units, such as research laboratories, centers, and institutes.
2.3.Qualifications and eligibility
2.3.1.PhD or equivalent degree from a university ranked higher than HSE (including Russian universities), obtained no longer than 5 years prior to the start date of prospective employment, or for PhD students at the time of the application -in place before the time of the HSE contract commencement
2.3.1.1 For applicants from Russian universities: demonstrated evidence of international experience, such as a post-doctoral or other research position abroad (longer than 6 months) and publications in English in peer-reviewed, international journals.
2.3.1.2Russian and international faculty, employed in any capacity at HSE prior to application (except continuing post-docs), are not eligible to apply.
2.3.1.3Candidates applying for a tenure-track position are not eligible to apply for a post-doctoral position if decision on tenure-track has not yet been made. In case of a dual pending application (to both positions), candidate may be contacted and asked to choose one. If an applicant is rejected for a tenure-track position, he may reapply to the post-doctoral position in the same or a different Unit.
2.3.2.Demonstrated evidence of sustainable research program in the form of published or working papers with high publication potential.
2.3.3.Demonstrated fit of research agenda with the research program of the laboratory/center applied for.
2.3.4.Priority is given to applicants from international research programs.
2.4.Application packet
Application packet for a post-doctoral position is standard and must include: a candidate’s CV, research statement; published papers, job market paper or other writing samples; at least two letters of recommendation arranged by the applicant to be sent to CAS directly; and if necessary, other documents as specified by individual laboratories.
2.5.Process timeline
2.5.1.Recruiting for post-doctoral positions usually starts early in the spring (February), closer to the conclusion of the tenure-track recruiting campaign. However, research centers and laboratories are encouraged to start the process sooner and look for potential candidates earlier in the year.
2.5.2.CAS posts an official announcement to its website about “call for positions,” and also contacts all research centers and laboratories with an invitation to submit an advertisement for a post-doctoral position.
7.4.2.1 A copy of current guidelines is distributed with call for positions;
7.4.2.2 If necessary, CAS holds a meeting with laboratory heads, explaining rules, procedures and regulations for post-doctoral positions.
2.5.3.All advertisements are collected from the participating laboratories and are posted on CAS web site and other relevant venues by March 1st; laboratories are encouraged to actively recruit through their channels.
2.5.4.An application deadline for a post-doctoral position is established as April 1st; decision to move the deadline can only be made by the IRC and for all participating laboratories. Exceptions will not be made for individual centers.
2.5.5.At the conclusion of deadline, CAS collects all applications and screens them for eligibility. Incomplete applications will not be considered or distributed to the laboratories.
2.5.6.By April 10th, CAS distributes complete application packets to the laboratories. Laboratories then will have 14 days to review applications, conduct preliminary remote interviews (skype or telephone), if necessary, and rank-order selected candidates.
2.5.7.By April 25th, laboratories must submit the list of selected candidates (as many as they deem fit for the position and willing to accept) to CAS. All candidates must be rank-ordered from the most desirable to the least-desirable, with a brief paragraph describing the reasons for selecting a particular candidate.
2.5.8.CAS creates a composed list of candidates, which it then submits to the Post-doctoral Selection Committee.
2.5.8.1 This committee is comprised by the heads of laboratories, who did not receive any applications for their positions, and who are willing to serve on the committee to select candidates for other laboratories.If no such laboratories exist, supervising vice-rector appoints several senior HSE academics with demonstrated international experience and publication record in high-profile international journals.
2.5.8.3 Committee must consist of at least three academics and two members of CAS, one of which will serve as a secretary to record all decisions and distribute them to the lab.
2.5.8.4 Voting on candidates is done by simple majority.
2.5.9.By May 1st, decision on offers must be made and the list of selected candidates is transmitted to CAS for distribution of offer letters. The list must consist of the top priority candidates (if selected candidates outnumber the available positions) and the reserve candidate list, rank-ordered in the order of most desired first.
2.5.10.Decision deadline for first candidates is established as May 10th; as offer rejections are received, offers may be extended to the candidates from the reserve list. This process is repeated until all allocated slots are filled; in any event, it should be concluded by June 1st.
2.6.Selection criteria
Criteria may vary every year depending on the number of available positions and eligible applications. In any event, the rank of applicant’s degree-granted institution, research potential, publication activity, etc., must take precedence over the needs of individual laboratories.
3.Concluding Remarks
3.1.The current Recommendations and any changes must be approved by the NRU HSE International Recruiting Policy Committee.