Periodic Report Summary - MOC LUXENBOURG (Enlarging the ERA-MORE network: the mobility centre Luxembourg)
The Euraxess Services Centre has been set up on the premises of the University of Luxembourg. The project started on 1 May 2008. The national portal and the Euraxess Services Centre Luxembourg were launched during a press conference, on 9 December 2008. All relevant information concerning the main Euraxess topics were gathered right from the start: services, jobs, rights and links. The impact of this portal is continuously followed through Google statistics: from December 2008 until the end of November 2009, our national portal has registered: 11 838 visits, 42 832 page views, 72,56 % new visits. The most looked at section is the 'job opportunities' page. The most foreign visiting countries are Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
The national portal plays an important role in raising the awareness of the existence of the new Euraxess centre as well as in providing all relevant information to incoming researchers. All network partners post their job opportunities on the European Euraxess portal which plays a significant role in attracting researchers to Luxembourg. The success of this project greatly depends on the quality of the networking we manage to generate with all public research institutions in Luxembourg as well as all other institutions and/or administrations involved with incoming researchers issues. Many efforts have been made in order to ensure excellent networking on a national level: All public research institutions have been invited to a meeting with the Research Ministry as well as Luxinnovation and the National Research Fund.
Furthermore, face-to-face meetings took place between our Euraxess Services Centre Luxembourg and our steering committee partners as well as our LOCPs, so that excellent contacts could be established. Luxembourg being such a small country, in our project the steering group and the local contact points are based in the same institutions, which makes cooperation easier. Furthermore, the University of Luxembourg being the Bridgehead organisation of the project, the participation to Euraxess international meetings allows us to connect our national network to the Euraxess network and the European Commission. During LOCPs and steering group meetings, we could point out the main issues for incoming researchers and a training plan was established.
The first training session took place on 8 July 2009. As in many countries, one of the main issues relates to visas and permits of stay. Following our invitation, the ministry for foreign affairs has agreed to participate in a meeting raising the main problems encountered by the partners as well as to organise a training session for us. The ministry also gave us extensive explanations on the new law on immigration (29 August 2008).
The result of the meeting was a complete update of the information of the network on those issues. One of the main issues raised during this session was the 'convention d'accueil' for researchers. Indeed the new law made it necessary for all research institutions to edit and implement new conventions stipulating the conditions under which the researcher are visiting the institution. The Euraxess Services Centre has undertaken this task and provided new procedures and models. This was an important step towards facilitating the mobility of researchers to Luxembourg. Housing is a complex issue in Luxembourg, and the market is very tight. Therefore, a training session will be organised on this issue. A questionnaire will be sent out to our network partners so that they can specify their concerns and problems in founding proper housing for researchers. The training session will be held by the vice president of the real estate chamber in Luxembourg. The University of Luxembourg manages apartments and rooms for its students and researchers. Thanks to this project a procedure will be set up, allowing all partners to have access to these rooms and apartments for their incoming researchers and for a limited period of time.
The national portal plays an important role in raising the awareness of the existence of the new Euraxess centre as well as in providing all relevant information to incoming researchers. All network partners post their job opportunities on the European Euraxess portal which plays a significant role in attracting researchers to Luxembourg. The success of this project greatly depends on the quality of the networking we manage to generate with all public research institutions in Luxembourg as well as all other institutions and/or administrations involved with incoming researchers issues. Many efforts have been made in order to ensure excellent networking on a national level: All public research institutions have been invited to a meeting with the Research Ministry as well as Luxinnovation and the National Research Fund.
Furthermore, face-to-face meetings took place between our Euraxess Services Centre Luxembourg and our steering committee partners as well as our LOCPs, so that excellent contacts could be established. Luxembourg being such a small country, in our project the steering group and the local contact points are based in the same institutions, which makes cooperation easier. Furthermore, the University of Luxembourg being the Bridgehead organisation of the project, the participation to Euraxess international meetings allows us to connect our national network to the Euraxess network and the European Commission. During LOCPs and steering group meetings, we could point out the main issues for incoming researchers and a training plan was established.
The first training session took place on 8 July 2009. As in many countries, one of the main issues relates to visas and permits of stay. Following our invitation, the ministry for foreign affairs has agreed to participate in a meeting raising the main problems encountered by the partners as well as to organise a training session for us. The ministry also gave us extensive explanations on the new law on immigration (29 August 2008).
The result of the meeting was a complete update of the information of the network on those issues. One of the main issues raised during this session was the 'convention d'accueil' for researchers. Indeed the new law made it necessary for all research institutions to edit and implement new conventions stipulating the conditions under which the researcher are visiting the institution. The Euraxess Services Centre has undertaken this task and provided new procedures and models. This was an important step towards facilitating the mobility of researchers to Luxembourg. Housing is a complex issue in Luxembourg, and the market is very tight. Therefore, a training session will be organised on this issue. A questionnaire will be sent out to our network partners so that they can specify their concerns and problems in founding proper housing for researchers. The training session will be held by the vice president of the real estate chamber in Luxembourg. The University of Luxembourg manages apartments and rooms for its students and researchers. Thanks to this project a procedure will be set up, allowing all partners to have access to these rooms and apartments for their incoming researchers and for a limited period of time.