10 December 2024 marked the end date for the implementation of the programme “Promotion of Excellence in Higher Education – Tenure Track Pilot Programme” (TTPP), which started in May 2017 and in which the Croatian Science Foundation assumed the role of Executive Agency. The goal of the programme was to prepare a new model of career development in which excellent young scientists would advance in their careers based on clear and internationally competitive and comparable merit-based criteria. The Programme was funded through the Swiss-Croatian Cooperation Programme with a total budget of 4,175 million CHF (with the Swiss Confederation donating 85% of the overall budget).
Within the Programme, the Call for Proposals TTP-2018-07 was launched in April 2018, open to young researchers who wanted to set up their own research groups at Croatian research institutions. The Call saw 20 project proposals submitted, with three eventually selected for funding for a period of five years with a budget exceeding 1 million euro per project. The three selected projects were:
TTP-2018-07-3554 – Exotic Nuclear Structure and Dynamics, Principal Investigator: sc. Kosuke Nomura, Host Institution: University of Zagreb Faculty of Science
TTP-2018-07-9675 – Evolution in the Dark, Principal Investigator: dr. sc. Helena Bilandžija, Host Institution: Ruđer Bošković Institute
TTP-2018-07-1171 – Mining the Variable Sky, Principal Investigator: sc. Lovro Palaversa, Host Institution: Ruđer Bošković Institute.
All three projects finished their implementation by July 2024 with excellent results – publishing more than 60 papers, presenting that over 70 conferences and establishing new cooperations with more than 20 international research organizations. More than 10 young researchers (doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers) were employed through the projects, with three of them obtaining their doctoral degrees and three more dissertations in preparation. All three PIs were elected to a higher scientific rank (Dr Nomura continued his career in Japan, while Dr Bilandžija and Dr Palaversa are senior scientific associates at Ruđer Bošković Institute).
In the second half of 2024, the Croatian Science Foundation contracted the German agency DLR to conduct an ex-post evaluation of the TTPP. The evaluation included the following analyses: assessment of the TTPP’s achievements in relation to the envisaged outputs and outcomes, analysis of the new legislative framework for career advancement and the assessment of the potential of applying tenure models in Croatia. The methods included analyses of programme documents and legislative acts as well as interviews with all TTPP stakeholders (MRDEUF, MoSEY, HRZZ, EPFL, SDC, PIs, heads of research organizations etc.).
The evaluation indicated that while the three Principal Investigators (PIs) achieved great results, the TTPP did not manage to trigger a broader debate on tenure models in Croatia beyond its participants. As of today, it is not possible to implement a tenure model to its full extent as there is an obligation to publicly advertise new job openings. Consequently, the permanent position cannot be given to the PI solely based on a positive evaluation of the tenure project. Legislative reforms defined through the Act on Higher Education and Scientific Activity, Act on Quality Assurance in Higher Education and through programme agreements introduced performance-based funding model for public universities and other public higher education institutions; however, none of these acts makes no explicit mention of the tenure model. The election of TTPP PIs to a higher scientific rank was based on the set of national and institutional criteria that is currently in force rather than on the evaluation of their projects. Tenure models are known among the Croatian research community and are considered highly attractive. Higher education institutions are very interested in innovative funding schemes and in attracting as well as retaining talents; however, they feel they were left out from a wider debate on the applicability of this model in Croatia. The key recommendation of the evaluators is that to implement a true tenure model, an exemption for tenure-track positions from public advertisement rules might be necessary, by defining progression from the tenure project to a permanent position as just a promotion rather than a new position. This would also increase the international attractiveness of the Croatian academic system.
The full text of the report on findings of the ex-post evaluation is available here.
