Initiative for attracting international staff to higher education institution

Abstract

This paper presents successful Vilnius Gediminas Technical University initiative for attracting international staff that was aimed at increasing their contribution to studies and research. The initiative was implemented trough the range of targeted actions: development of the guidelines for attracting the international staff, training and consultations for the Faculties and key administrative units, testing the effectiveness of the guidelines and updating them following the user’s feedback, putting guidelines into practice. The overall process was underpinned by the review and update of the university legal acts, related to the international staff employment as well as all public information on job and teaching or research opportunities. Involvement of key decision makers, Faculty awareness as well as allocation and distribution of the financial resources were the key factors that led to the success of the initiative, which resulted in growth of the international faculty staff by 31% in two years.