Recruitment and selection process

The primary mission of UPB is to train responsible and actively engaged human capital in solving social and economic problems. Teaching staff have an essential role in achieving this mission. At UPB, teaching staff combine teaching and research duties in their current activity, regardless of their career level: teaching assistant, lecturer/assistant professor, associate professor or professor. The selection procedure for filling a teaching position for an indefinite period involves the organization of a public competition, consisting of one or several tests. Candidates are evaluated by a committee of internal and/or external experts.

UPB is an advanced education and research university. Research activities are one of the strategic development vectors of the university. In UPB, the research positions and their equivalence with the teaching positions in terms of the minimum standards for access to competition and for filing positions are: (a) scientific research assistant (SRA); (b) scientific researcher (SR) [equivalent to permanent teaching assistant] (c) scientific researcher grade III (SR III) [equivalent to assistant professor/lecturer]; (d) scientific researcher grade II (SR II) [equivalent to associate professor]; (e) scientific researcher grade I (SR I) [equivalent to professor]; The selection procedure for filling a teaching position for an indefinite period involves the organization of a public competition, consisting of one or several tests. Candidates are evaluated by a committee of internal and/or external experts.

Fixed-term or indefinite period vacancies are published on UPB website, Euraxess platform and in the Official Romanian Gazette . Participation in the competition for filling teaching and research positions implies:

UPB aims to develop international cooperation by awarding honorary titles of associate visiting professor for specialists with recognized value in the field, from the country or abroad. The title of associate visiting professor may be awarded for the following categories of teaching staff:

• professors employed full-time for the duration of one academic year, whose activity is suspended at the university of origin;
• associate professors employed part-time, who keep their basic rate at the higher education institution of origin and who come to UPB to teach course modules;
• professors invited to conferences, workshops, lectures or for writing research projects;

Persons interested in taking up an associate professor position may fill in the application form and send it to the contact person responsible for international mobility of teaching staff. The application will be evaluated in accordance with the UPB procedure regarding the international mobility of teaching staff and, in case of a favourable response, the department director prepares and forwards the file prepared for filling the associate visiting professor position.
In accordance with the UPB Methodology regarding the filling of vacant teaching and research positions, the hiring of renowned scientific specialists in the field, due to inventions, innovations, awards, scientific publications, from the country or abroad, as associate visiting teaching staff is approved by the department council and approved by the faculty council, based on a file drawn up at the department requesting such a position. The final agreement will be given by the University Senate.

The file will include:

• the report of the department regarding the need for temporary filing this position by an associate visiting professor;
• the department's recommendation for a certain person, with reference to the specifics of the position to be filled and the candidate's performance, in relation to the minimum requirements for filing a similar position in UPB;
• curriculum vitae and list of works of the recommended person;
• other information in support of the proposal made.

In 2015, EU Member States decided to create an open labour market for researchers working in research organisations within the European Research Area. In this context, the adoption of an open, transparent and merit-based recruitment and selection policy (OTM-R) has become a priority for these institutions, in particular for POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest, which in 2020 received European recognition for its efforts to incorporate the principles set out in the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for Recruitment .

UPB committed in 2019 to incorporate the principles of the European Charter and to implement in practice the Code of Conduct in the recruitment and selection of research and academic staff. In recognition of all these efforts and actions implemented, on 7 September 2020, the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest received the "Excellence in Human Resources in Research" award.

Significant efforts have been made to develop the UPB Human Resources Strategy for Researchers and to design an Action Plan for better coordination of actions and achievement of objectives.  

People are at the core of everything that happens in the university. For this reason, it is important to attract people who resonate with UPB's ambitions and who are expected to contribute to the achievement of UPB's mission. To this end, we aim to develop an organisational culture geared towards supporting performance in the work of staff and students.

The UPB OTM-R policy is one of the components of the Action Plan, and the development of this document is the result of wider consultations among all stakeholders: researchers, academic and support staff, administrative staff, etc.
The OTM-R policy reflects UPB's strategic vision for the development of human resources, as stated in the Institutional Development Strategy 2020-2024, chapter 4. People and Community.