The overall aim of the aTM projects it to improve the activities and processes that involve the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement, retention and deployment of those employees which are of particular value to Asian HEI in order to create strategic sustainable success.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

* To analyze TM challenges and issues at Asian HEI.
* To carry out a study on the current TM strategies and practices in Asian HEI.
* To design training programs and resources about TM for Asian HEI.
* To prepare an online platform for the development of blended courses on TM.
* To train employees responsible for HR/TM in Asian HEI using a blended approach.
* To build a toolkit for analyzing, designing and implementing specific issues on TM for Asian HEI.
* To create a guideline for the implementation of TM practices in each partner country institution.
* To build an online observatory of TM strategies and practices in Asian HEI.

 

LATEST NEWS

Final Conference of the aTM Project

Last Thursday (13th January 2022), we celebrated the online Final Conference (entitled: A new Talent Management Era) of the ERASMUS+ project: Promoting Modern Talent Management Practices in Asian (Malaysian and Chinese) Higher Education institutions (aTM).

The Final Conference had four blocks. In the first one, Dr. Eva Gallardo-Gallardo (coordinator of the aTM project), Dr. Guowei Hua (Deputy Dean, Beijing Jiaotong University), and Prof. Datuk Ahmad Fauzi Bin Ismail (Vice-Chancellor, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia) gave a welcome to the attendees. 

In the second block, three experts gave a lecture about talent management in universities and the world. Prof. Ir. Dr. Noor Azuan Bin Abu Osman (Acting Registrar, Universiti Malaya) presented a talk about Talent Management in Malaysian Universities; meanwhile, Dr. Yingqi Liu (Dean of Department, Beijing Jiaotong University) gave a similar talk but in China. Finally, Dr. David Collings (Professor at DCU Business School) closed this block with a speech about The Future of Talent Management in the World.

The third block presented the different outputs and outcomes of the aTM project: the benchmarking analysis, the European trainings, the in-house trainings in Asia, the Talent Management Toolkit for Universities, and the online Observatory of Talent Management Practices. 

Finally, in the last block, several members of the aTM project shared their experiences and feelings about the project and the work that they had done during the previous three years.

 

Three New In-house Training about Talent Management

Beijing Jiaotong Universum, Hebei University and Universiti Malaya have hold three new In-house Training about Talent Management with more than 60 participants in total. Now, we are waiting for the final in-house training of the rest of the Asian partners. In this occasion, the trainings were focused on the new toolkit developed in the project, and the learned lessons in the last European trainings hold by KTH, IST and UPVD.

Three Workshops for the development of the Toolkit in Talent Management Practices in Asian Universities

In the aTM project, we have carried out three online live workshops working on the toolkit for talent management practices for Asian universities in less than two months. Besides, partners have been working in several offline activities in their universities. For the last three months, we have been working in an intensive way to develop and get the first version of the¡ toolkit for talent management practices for Asian universities before October 2021 (considering that most partners don't work in August). All these efforts have helped us to get 90% of the toolkit. Now, we have started with the graphical design of the toolkit and the details of the objective and action cards.

 

First Session of the Third European Training by KTH

Last 30 June 2021, Mr. Victor Kordas and his colleagues from KTH organized a training focused on talented onboarding staff. One of the main ideas during the training was the inclusion of the InComm project; another European project focused on onboarding students and researchers. An intensive discussion among participants made it possible to get some new ideas for the toolkit for talent management practices for Asian universities that we are developing and expect to publish between September and October 2021.

 

Second Session of the Third European Training by IST

The last activity before summer 2021 in the aTM project has been the second session of the Third European Training. On this occasion, Mr. João Fernandes and his colleagues focused on training talented staff. Several topics were discussed during the session. Some of them were the management skills, especially the leadership, the definition of goals in the pieces of training, the effectiveness of exercises and the impotence of feedback, the understanding between groups and teams, and empathy. Some other advanced concepts were resilience, self-management, and integrity. Finally, some ideas bout coaching were highlighted by some attendees. Again, attendees' discussed ideas have helped us keep improving the first version of the toolkit for talent management practices for Asian universities.

 

Nine In-house Training about Talent Management

In the last six months, the Asian partners of the aTM project have carried out nine In-house Trainings in their home institutions. The In-house training content results from the pieces of Training that these partners enrolled in Europe (Lisbon and Perpignan) and the last online activity (see the news below). In Malaysia, Universiti Malaya and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia hold three In-house Trainings, in which 34 female and 31 male academic and non-academic staff participated. On the other hand, Beijing Jiaotong University, Hebei University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and Beihang University hold six In-house Trainings. In total, 25 female and 28 male academic and non-academic staff participated in their Chinese Universities. Now, all aTM partners have started to organize a new In-house Training considering the new topics offered in the last working session and the 3rd Training organized by EU partners.

 

First online working meeting: recruitment and selection in academia

Due to the COVID-19, the second training week about talent management in academia was canceled in March 2020. We had prepared everything in detail, and Prof. David Collings would have carried out a brief workshop about macro talent management with Asian participants. Finally, and due to the current situation, the consortium decided to hold the workshop online. During four days, the academic and non-academic staff of several Asian Universities have participated in an online workshop focused on Recruitment and Selection in Academia. Tools, such as Zoom and Miro, have help to carry out the workshop. In the first two days, the participants were working on recruitment processes. The discussed topics were: (1) Barriers and enablers related to recruitment in their universities; (2) Techniques and strategies to capture candidates' attention; and (3) The development of an Employee Value Proposition. In the last two days, the participants were working on selection processes. The discussed topics were: (1) Frameworks and Models; (2) The selection board; and (3) Techniques and tools for the selection. KTH (Stockholm) will hold the next training and meeting in April-May of 2021. Let's hope that the COVID-19 will allow it. However, we are working to organize a short distance workshop between January and February 2021.

 

Addressing the Challenges of European Projects with Asia

Prof. Vicenc Fernandez has participated in the round table 'Addressing the Challenges of European Projects with Asia"'(January 23, 2020) held by the University of Barcelona (Spain), presenting 'Experience in the project: Promoting Modern Talent Management Practices in Asian Higher Education Institutions'. In the round table, three other Eramus+ projects were presented: (1) 'Building up Chinese Teachers Key Competencies through a Global Competence-Based Framework' by Dr Elena Cano, (2) 'Modernizing e-learning strategies in India' by Dr Nicolás Patrici, and (3) 'Advancing higher education in the Maldives through E-learning Development' by Dr Nati Cabrera. During the session, Miss Aïda Díaz from the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) presented 'New possibilities for projects with Asia in the framework of Horizon Europe’.

 

Presentation of the aTM project at the seminar: People Management in Education 2019

Prof. Eva Gallardo-Gallardo and Prof. Vicenc Fernandez have participated in the seminar People Management in Education (Nov 12, 2019) held by the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands), presenting 'Talent: What is it in that name in Chinese and Malaysian Academia?'. The aim of the presentation was to contribute to the fully understanding of the nuances and complexity of talent by broadening our knowledge on an underexplored region, and sector. Specifically, it aimed to answer the following research questions: What talent means in Asian universities? Is it considered a multidimensional concept? If so, which dimensions are the ones that define talent? To what extent the subject/object and/or inclusive/exclusive approaches are valid within this region?

 

Working meeting at the Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)

From November 4 to November 8, we have organised a working meeting to keep working in the definition of academic talent. Moreover, we started to work in the description of the non-academic talent in Asian Higher Educations Institutions (HEIs). From each partner institution, faculty and support staff participated in the workshop, mainly from China and Malaysia. However, there were some problems with the VISA of some participants, so not everyone could arrive on time.

On the first day, Prof. Nicky Dries from KU Leuven (Belgium) carried our a workshop entitle: "What's your talent philosophy? Moving from assumptions to practices". Participants highlighted Prof. Dries' experience and her approach to talent management.

The second day, Dr. Laurent Botti and Dr. Benjamin Benoit from UPVD carried out a seminar on the French public higher education system to hire and promote academic staff. On the another hand, Mrs. Fatima Filippin, the Human Resources Director of UPVD, presented the French public higher education system to hire and promote non-academic staff.

Thursday morning, M. François RAILLIET, Consultant and professor HEC Paris, presented the case of the Grandes Écoles of France: talent identification, attraction, and selection – Example of HEC. During his presentation, participants could discuss the differences between the French public universities and the Grandes Écoles of France. Two system with different approaches to the talent management.

During the rest of the days, we were working about the talent conceptualization (for academic and non-academic staff) in Asian HEIs, the Chinese and Malaysian university systems, the macro-environment of them, and the definition of the external and internal stakeholders.

The fifth and final day focused on the in-house seminar that the Asian participants have to carry out during the following 4 months in order to define their talent conceptualization.

Next training and meeting will be hold at Instituto Superior Técnico (Portugal) between October 21st and 25th, 2019.

 

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