International Innovation

EURAXESS T.O.P.
T.O.P. results
With the long-term view of developing the EURAXESS network to
become the definitive point of reference for mobile researchers, the
EURAXESS T.O.P. project is implementing a series of initiatives to
improve staff training and the accessibility of information
Workshops serve as a platform for:
sharing expert knowledge (top),
initiating transnational cooperation (middle),
and understanding European policy (bottom).
THE EURAXESS NETWORK is a key initiative
supporting the EU’s commitment to removing
barriers to free movement of knowledge within
Europe. It strengthens cross-border mobility of
researchers, students, scientists and academic
staff and provides researchers with better
career structures. The network operates a
single access point to information across all
countries and includes a network of walk-in
centres offering personalised assistance to
researchers moving to another country. Each
of the network’s member countries has one or
two Bridgehead Organisations (BHOs) which
are responsible for the national websites and for
coordinating the national networks, consisting
of regional EURAXESS Services Centres (ESCs)
and Local Contact Points (LoCPs). EURAXESS
staff members across Europe are usually highly
qualified and have demonstrated a high level
of dedication to their mission. However, many
BHOs are run with a minimum of staff, who
are often responsible for a multitude of duties.
It is important that they have access to reliable
information and can benefit from the experience
of senior staff members in other BHOs. It is to
address these issues that the EURAXESS T.O.P. –
‘Enhancing the Outreach and Effectiveness of the
EURAXESS Network Partners’ project has been
set up with the overall objective of monitoring
and improving the current levels of quality,
effectiveness and coherence of the services
afforded by the EURAXESS Services Network.
• Training of the network members according to
their specific needs
THE PORTAL CALL
The EURAXESS clientele, particularly mobile
researchers, require easy access to relevant
information about anywhere they wish to
travel to or from. Therefore, the EURAXESS
task team developed a set of 15 compulsory
criteria that all national websites are obliged
to fulfil by the end of the project. The portal
call provided the BHOs with money to enable
the realisation of this goal. 34 countries
submitted applications and after an evaluation
process, all of which were approved. Now, the
national websites have a similar structure and
design, use reliable IT tools, can cope with
the same bunch of topics and regularly keep
their contents up-to-date. All applicants were
required to commit to promotional activities
centred around the portals with particular
attention on the EURAXESS jobs portal.
Dissemination is a key element of the process,
as Project Coordinator Dr Barbara Sheldon
details: “There are still too many researchers
who are not familiar with this ‘one-stopshop’
for all topics around mobility, and the
opportunities that the jobs portal offers. These
include free job advertising for employers, and
free upload of CVs for researchers searching
for jobs”.
THREE POINTS OF FOCUS
The EURAXESS T.O.P. team unites staff members
from established BHOs in 11 European countries.
Each partner is responsible for the coordination
of at least one sub-project, which is carried out by
five to 20 task members each. The consortium has
been assisted by most of the other BHOs who did
not take a lead in a task, but instead committed
themselves to contribute their expertise as
associated partners. To fulfil the overall objective,
the project focuses on three main activities:
• The launch and follow-up of a ‘portal call’,
providing BHOs with funds for improving the
contents and structure of their national portals
and for promoting the EURAXESS Jobs section
• Developing an electronic handbook. In the
future, this will serve as a manual on how to
design and run a EURAXESS Services Centre
(ESC). The core components are a collection
of best practices and checklists for quality
management issues
ELECTRONIC HANDBOOK
The work carried out in all tasks, including
related feedback collected during the workshops,
has been compiled in an electronic handbook.
Confronted with challenges in their daily work,
staff members on all levels of the network will
be supported, either in finding solutions directly,
or in identifying people whom they can ask for
advice in their particular situation. Owing to
the electronic manual, network members can
now search for the best way to deal with many
situations and they will find colleagues with
the necessary experience. The handbook also
contains tools for quality assurance, such as
assessment forms, references to literature, and
texts that they can use for promotional purposes
or to address specific stakeholder groups.
WORKSHOPS AND TRAINING
The two workshops in the project were
based on the assumption that experienced
EURAXESS staff members are expert enough
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