SUPPORT AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY
OF THE STAFF OF THE PROGRAMME

The School of Medicine adopts the following general “Staff Support and Development Policy for its Postgraduate Programmes. The MSc in Forensic Medicine – Psychiatric Forensic Medicine, as well as any MSc, has the possibility to adapt this Policy to its specific needs, to the extent that these do not contradict the conditions and specific provisions of Article 143 and the other articles of Law 4957/2022.

The School of Medicine aims to continuously upgrade its staff, as well as to encourage the enhancement of education and research.

In the framework of transparency, the School has posted on its website the criteria/qualifications for the election and development of faculty members (https://www.med.auth.gr/KritiriaDEP ), as described in article 143 of Law 4957/2022.

In summary, it is stated that the assessment for the election or advancement of a faculty member is based on the overall teaching and research work of the candidate, including the evaluation of his/her teaching ability, his/her overall scientific and research activity, with emphasis on his/her international presence, his/her contribution to the exploitation of knowledge and technology transfer, as assessed for example through patents he/she has registered, his/her participation in the extraction of research results as well as in the attraction of funding for The scientific ethos of the candidate will also be taken into account as an essential element of his/her personality.

The performance of the staff in teaching and research work is posted on the School’s website and on the website of the AUTH’s MOHRP. There is a large participation of the staff of the Department in Greek and international research forums, the results of which are published in international journals. Many of these publications have attracted considerable scientific interest.

The School of Medicine encourages the academic activity of its staff by introducing innovative teaching methods and the use of new technologies, grants educational permits for mobility, postgraduate training in Universities and Research Centres around the world and supports research work by developing infrastructure, supplying modern equipment and assisting in the application for competitive international and Greek research programmes. At the same time, it promotes cooperation with foreign professors, both in education and research. Furthermore, the staff of the Department demonstrates increased scientific mobility by participating in national and international conferences. It should be noted that the participation of the teaching staff in conferences does not require the granting of permission.

The above actions, on the one hand, strengthen the link between teaching and research, and on the other hand, promote the scientific and professional development of staff. The School encourages the professional and scientific development of its teaching staff, by authorising the granting of various types of leave (fast and immediate procedures), in accordance with current legislation. The authorisation to grant different types of leave applies to all levels of teaching staff:

• Scientific reasons for domestic or foreign service (Article 157 of Law 4957/2022) (one year for every six years of continuous service or six months for every three years of continuous service). The leave is granted on a single salary and in the case of overseas leave the salary is increased by 80% (only if the overseas work does not include remuneration). The leave is granted after three years of actual service at the HEI.
• Employment in Chairs of Greek Studies in foreign universities, up to three academic years (article 158 par. 5 of Law 4957/2022).
• Parallel employment in foreign universities, up to one (1) academic semester per academic year (article 158(3) of Law 4957/2022).
• For other teaching staff, educational leaves are granted for conferences, seminars, etc. in accordance with the provisions of article 6 of the Decree 147/2009.

The School collaborates for staff support and development with the Centre for Teaching and Learning Support of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (https://kedima.auth.gr/).The Centre for Teaching and Learning Support is involved, among other things, in supporting the Postgraduate Programmes of Studies in teaching issues, particularly through the use of new technologies in teaching, taking special care for their use to support teaching to people with disabilities. The Centre collaborates with lecturers and students, as well as with various organisational units of the Institution (such as the General Directorate of Technical Services and Computerisation, the e-Government Centre, the Library and the Information Centre) in order to make the use of new teaching methods more effective and to propose optimal solutions to potential problems.

The Teaching and Learning Support Centre for staff development:

• Organises learning circles, training activities, seminars, etc.
• Collect, design and develop research and training materials.
• Ensures the creation of a repository of supporting research and training material (in printed or electronic form), as well as good practices.
• It cooperates with other corresponding structures of national and foreign universities and develops joint actions and synergies.
• Organise a Register of collaborating faculty members or external experts in teaching and learning, in order to support individual and/or specialised activities of the Office.

The Teaching and Learning Support Centre may support staff by participating in additional educational activities, such as the provision of services for the preparation of studies, the development of innovative educational material related to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, as well as undertaking relevant research work.

The School’s activities are supported by the Foundation’s own participation in the European University (EPICUR) and in programmes such as ERASMUS Staff Training, ERASMUS+, ERASMUS INTERNATIONAL, ERASMUS MUNDUS, the Utrecht Network, the European University Foundation (CAMPUS EUROPAE) and about 60 other international organisations, networks and associations. These participations give the teaching staff the opportunity to travel abroad for research, teaching and training, thus enabling them to keep abreast of developments at international level.

The Policy of Support and Development of the staff of the MSc is published on the website of the MSc in Forensic Medicine – Psychiatric Medicine in the Quality Assurance Policy section.