Together with fields and research areas units are the basic organisational elements of the evaluation. Units are faculties and higher education institutes of Charles University, i.e. all constitutive parts of the university that conduct research as an integral part of their mission.
For a more detailed explanation see also: UnitResearch Evaluation Board is responsible for the assessment of units. For this task the Board uses the outcomes of individual evaluation tools, i.e. self-evaluation report of a unit, research indicators, bibliometric analysis, peer review and site visit. The assessment of a unit is based mostly of the assessment of the fields/research areas that are explored in the unit.
The quality of a faculty or higher education institute is assessed in particular based on the assessment of the quality of individual research fields explored . The assessment also takes into account the research indicators and the self-evaluation report of the unit. The relevant criteria also involve the concept, strategy, and organisation of research, their relevance for the society and viability.
The auxiliary grades are as follows:
Excellent unit, A. An excellent unit is an internationally competitive unit in terms of the research parameters of its fields. More than half of the fields of the unit, representing the majority of its academic and research staff, was graded as A, a small minority, e.g., less than 10% of the fields (representing approximately ten or less percent of academic and research staff) is graded as C and none of the fields are graded as D by the expert panel. The unit is successful in the competition for top international grants of the ERC type, it has a functioning system for attracting and supporting junior researchers, it is significantly involved in international research networks, it is clearly internationalised in terms of both the members of the academic staff and students, it is successful in competing for national grants. It makes a substantial contribution to the profiling of the relevant academic fields on the national and European levels and in these criteria it is comparable to the corresponding institutions of respectable European universities that were selected as the quality benchmarks.
Very good unit, B. A unit of well balanced and very good quality fields with very good or excellent research outputs. For example, more than half of the fields of the unit fall in category A or B, and none or in justified cases only one field falls in category D (for example a new field without history). The unit is seldom successful in the competition for top international grants of the ERC type, it has a system for attracting and supporting junior researchers, it is involved in international research networks, it has international members of academic staff and students, it is successful in competing for national grants. It contributes to the profiling of the relevant academic fields on the national and European levels. In these criteria, the unit is comparable to the corresponding institutions of respectable European universities that were selected as the quality benchmarks.
Average unit, C. A unit whose fields are not so well balanced in terms of quality (ranging from below average to excellent). Excellent fields are rather rare, the majority of fields fall in category B or C, fields graded as A or B represent a small proportion (e.g., less than 20 %) of the academic and research staff of the unit. The unit is rarely successful in the competition for top international grants of the ERC type, it is to a limited extent involved in international research networks, it has very few or no international members of academic staff and students, and it obtains national grants. It contributes to the profiling of the relevant academic fields on the national and European levels. The unit is above average in national comparison, in the criteria monitored it lags behind the corresponding institutions of respectable European universities that were selected as the quality benchmarks.
Below average unit, D. A unit that is below average in the vast majority of parameters of its fields. More than a half of its fields are graded as C or D, no field is graded as A. The unit is not successful in the competition for top international grants of the ERC type, it is to a limited extent involved in international research networks, it has very few or no international members of academic staff and students, it obtains only a limited amount of national grants. It contributes to the profiling of the relevant academic fields on the national and European levels. The unit is average in the national comparison, in the criteria monitored it distinctly lags behind the corresponding institutions of respectable European universities that were selected as the quality benchmarks.