The Activity Framework of the University of Graz

The Activity Framework of the University of Graz serves to define the expectations of academic performance and to make the actual contributions of academics more visible.

It creates more clarity about scientific relevance, provides orientation and supports the targeted use of one's own working time. It also forms a basis for the transparent presentation of academic achievements, which strengthens their recognition within the university.

Origin and development

The University of Graz has been engaged in a dialogue on this topic for many years and has intensified it since becoming a CoARA member in 2022. This has incorporated findings from international developments such as DORA, Arqus, the EU Competence Framework and CoARA as well as the experience of universities with extended research assessments. In addition, the items - a standardised description of performance fields - integrate content from UG2002, GUEP, collective agreements and works agreements, which are known to be components of academic work, into the framework.

Individual performance is visualised in a newly designed personal dashboard. The availability of the description of the items makes the framework applicable as a goal-setting structure in employee appraisals. And as a clear source of information, this description will give new employees a clear framework and more orientation for their new tasks at the university as soon as they start work.

The implementation of the activity framework is to be understood as an iterative and learning process. It will be continuously developed: not only internally at the University of Graz, but also in the international network with other universities and research institutions that pursue similar approaches.

Structure of the framework

The current Activity Framework comprises 9 standard items and 20 optional items for describing and recognising academic performance.

• The 9 standard items describe the basic requirements for academic staff in general and are to be understood as a university-wide "standard" or basis for all faculties and branches of science.

• In addition, the 20 optional items are relevant performance elements that are more relevant in some academic disciplines or may be particularly meaningful for certain individuals.

Each faculty has the opportunity to adapt the framework to their specific needs. This creates a practical and relevant recognition structure for academics.

A broad understanding of academic performance

One such "item", in addition to the obvious necessary topic of "publications", is "Science to Public", for example. As a university, we have a public mandate to make scientific discourse and scientific results visible and available. This requires publications, lectures, collaborations and similar instruments. This involves a lot of working time for scientists. We want to value this work and the associated results.

In addition to the topics of 'publications' and 'science to the public', other areas of responsibility of a modern university are also important.

These are, for example:

• Promotion of young researchers.

• Management work at the institute. After all, we are almost 5,000 employees at the University of Graz.

• Supervision work in education: teaching, examination time, supervision of theses, ...

• The further development of didactic concepts

• Networking with non-university organisations

Integration into staff appraisals

The recorded items are also used as a basis for internal discussions. The framework offers clear orientation, especially for young academics, and enables the definition of individual goals. This provides managers with a structured tool for promoting employees in a targeted manner and recognising academic achievements fairly.