The European Commission has presented the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) with the HR Excellence in Research Award. This distinction officially recognizes commitments by the UMH to the most demanding levels of quality in all procedures related to recruitment, working conditions, training, management, and the responsibilities of research personnel in any kind of contractual relationship, as well as an institutional pledge to maintain and increase those levels of quality in the future.

To earn this award, the UMH demonstrated how it either complies with or promises to comply with and improve upon the 40 principles in The European Charter & Code for Researchers in addition to, and more specifically, the principles of open, transparent, and merit-based recruitment. Furthermore, the action plan undertaken by the UMH to enhance its adherence to such principles for the upcoming 24 months was also positively evaluated.

The HR Excellence in Research logo aims to foster and promote recruitment, working conditions, and research careers, as well as contribute to the development of the European Research Area. Currently, only 22 public Spanish universities have earned this recognition, and the UMH is the second within the Valencian Community to do so after the University of Valencia. Moreover, the UMH is among the first institutions to be recognized with this logo under new stronger guidelines that establish far more demanding and continuous procedures for validating and renewing this recognition in the future.

University community members participated in both the analysis of the degree of compliance with the various requirements and the proposed plan of action for the next two years, and university governing bodies and managers were involved in the recognition process that began some years ago. From now on, the UMH is authorized by the European Commission to display the HR Excellence in Research logo as verification of the quality in its internal procedures. This recognition also requires the university to continuously review and improve such procedures, as they are necessary conditions for renewing this award in upcoming years.

Further information is available at http://hrs4r.edu.umh.es/en/