Alignment with the European Charter and Code

The European Commission Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (2005) (Charter and Code) was broadly based on the 1996 UK Concordat. When the Concordat was revised in 2008 it's principles were mapped to those of the Charter and Code. The European Commission has agreed that for the UK, endorsing the principles of the Concordat, along with the QAA Code of Practice for research degrees, was equivalent to adopting the European Charter and Code.

A UK-wide process enables UK HEIs to gain the European Commission's HR Excellence in Research Award, which acknowledges their alignment with the principles of the Charter and Code. The UK process incorporates both the QAA Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers to enable institutions that have published Concordat implementation plans to gain the award. The UK approach will include on-going national evaluation and benchmarking.