SELECTION PROCEDURES Romanian National Agencys Experience

Call for Proposals I.General Call for Proposals (EAC) II.National Call for Proposals for descentralized actions: - Action name - Institutional priorities - Thematic priorities - Evaluation criteria - Content of the application folder - Deadline for submitting applications - Estimated budget *** Both Calls are displayed on the NA website ***

Open Call for Proposals for evaluators Ministry of Education and Research (MoER) launches the Call MoER selects evaluators MoER makes a database with selected evaluators NA has access to this database and selects evaluators avoiding the « conflict of interests » principle

Receiving the applications A receiving commission is appointed by internal decision The receiving commission is made up of one person from the logistic department and Action responsibles Received applications are entered in a special registry At the end of each day, on the basis of a delivery-receipt statement received applications are handed to the Action responsible

Formal evaluation Formal checklist (drawn up by Action responsibles): I. Eligibility criteria –Eligibility of institution –Adequate application form –Application form is/is not signed –Application form filled in one of EU languages (if it is not in English or French, Romanian translation is necessary) –Application folder is/is not complete –Others: II. National institutional priorities -Applicant institution is the coordinator of the project -Applicant institution has never before been financed under Socrates -Applicant institution belongs to a rural or economical disadvantaged area -Application forms are registered For example: 05-SP-453-B-DE Acknowledgement of receipt sent to institutions

Soclink input NA launches Open Call for encoders NA selects encoders NA and encoders sign a contract NA organizes a training session for encoders and provides them a mini-guide Encoders have a deadline to input all data into Soclink according to OH requirements

Evaluation (1) NA organizes a training session with the selected evaluators, discussing the content of the selection grids and simulating the evaluation of a project. Each project is evaluated independently by 2 evaluators. For each type of Action specific evaluation grids are used. The departments taking into account the requirements of the EC and the national priorities established by the National Council draw up the grids.

Evaluation (2) In case of a difference between the marks given by the evaluators higher than 10% of the maximum possible, a reconciliation process between the 2 evaluators is done. If no reconciliation is possible, a 3 rd evaluators evaluates the project and the final mark is the arithmetic average of the 3 marks. The Action responsibles keep a clear evidence of the projects evaluated by each evaluator.

Evaluation (3) The Action responsibles verify by sampling (10% of the total number of applications) the quality of the evaluation. An external expert verifies the evaluators quality of evaluation (only for Comenius 1). The payment of the evaluator is done strictly based on a document issued by the Action responsible, acknowledging the number of applications evaluated and the quality of evaluation. At the end of the process, the Action responsibles organize a meeting with all the evaluators for approving the final lists in hierarchical order (approved, reserve, rejected).

Evaluation (4) For Comenius 2.2C, Grundtvig 3 and Arion applications the commission proposes the grant to be allocated to each candidate. These lists are submitted for approval to the National Council. The final decision is taken by the National Council. Comenius 1, 2.2B and Grundtvig 2 applications are submitted to the interagency consultation, according to the OH. After the approval of the National Council all candidates are acknowledged in writing about the result of the selection at national level.

Evaluation (5) For Preparatory Visits under Socrates, there is both a fixed deadline and a rolling deadline; the selection is done by the NA, the final approval is taken by the Leadership, through an internal decision; the evaluation commission is composed by 3 persons coming from at least two different departments; they use evaluation grids; the candidates are acknowledged in writing about the result of the selection. At the end of the selection process, NA publishes on its site the final results of the selection for all Actions; for legal entities the publication contains indications about the level of the grant and the coordination for identification of the respective entity. Approved institutions sign a contract with the NA.