Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UCIIIM) and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) have elaborated a programme aimed at promoting the mobility of their doctoral graduates and establishing a training programme to help them find employment. UAB Rector Lluís Ferrer, UAM Rector Ángel Gabilondo, UCIIIM Rector Daniel Peña, and UPF Rector Josep Joan Moreso presented the agreement during an event held at the UAB-Casa Convalescència in Barcelona this past Tuesday, 29 January.

Mobility and Employment Integration

The first objective is to create an exchange programme addressed to the universities' PhD graduates, who will be able to apply to research stays at the other three universities.
Secondly, all four will collaborate in the creation and management of a department similar to the one recently created by the UAB Postgraduate School. The department will be in charge of offering a professional training and work placement programme adapted to the needs of different academic profiles.

Four outstanding universities

This innovative agreement is based on a strategic alliance signed by all four university rectors. The objective is to build a framework and coordinate joint actions which will further improve the quality of each university's academic activities and advance towards a higher efficiency and exploitation of their resources, at the same time improving on the universities' international projection and relations.

Apart from the numerous similarities between the universities, what brings them together is the strong connection each maintains between scientific research and academic teaching. In addition, all four are listed as top educational centres in Spain and the European Union, due to their quality in teaching and excellence in research. These similarities have resulted in the implementation of several joint projects.

The first under the new alliance will consist in working together on professional career development and improving the mobility of teaching and research staff.

Research activities

Another strategic line of action consists in carrying out academic and research projects included in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) framework. The four universities will soon open a joint office in Brussels with the aim of promoting research at the highest level. This will strengthen the fundamental role research represents at the universities, which are amongst the most prestigious in Europe in terms of scientific quality.

International projection

Another objective seeks to improve the universities' international relations and projection with the help of institutional support. The main points of this initiative include the promotion of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in English among priority or difficult to access markets such as China, India, Korea, Japan, Russia, Brazil or the USA.

The origin: a new professional career model at the UAB

The idea to create this alliance began when UAM, UCIIIM and UPF became interested in a professional career model recently implemented at UAB. An innovative model in Spain which wishes to incorporate to its teaching staff professionals who have carried out research activities in universities or institutions outside the UAB.

The University's teaching staff policy is based on a clear separation into two stages of the staff's professional training, beginning with an initiation to research and ending with a full academic preparation. This model also offers postdoctoral stays at other universities, while the UAB itself appeals to brilliant doctoral graduates who choose it for their postdoctoral stay. In the future, this programme will allow the best candidates to form part of the University's teaching staff.

Therefore, upon completing their PhDs new graduates will have the chance to enter the labour market or continue their training with postdoctoral stays at a research centre or another university for a length of approximately two years. The universities in turn will not hire PhD graduates from their own universities in the nearest future. This in fact is in tune with the spirit of current legislation regulating the contracting of doctorate professors in Spanish universities. For it to work correctly however, agreements between universities such as this alliance are necessary.