The professional development and advancement of teachers in higher education is the responsibility of higher education institutions and part of their academic self-governance as stipulated in Article 4 of the Act on Scientific Activity and Higher Education (OG 119/2022). The Ministry of Science and Education, within the framework of the Erasmus+ project Developing and Upgrading of Competences for Academic Teaching (Educa-T), developed a Manual for improving the competences of teachers in higher education, which contains the Competence Profile of Teachers in Higher Education, the Framework Curriculum for the Acquisition of Teacher Competences in Higher Education and Recommendations for the development and improvement of teaching competences at Croatian higher education institutions. The manual serves higher education institutions to develop their strategies and approach to the professional development of academic staff.

Organisational Aspects

Some higher education institutions organise additional training for their employees in the fields of teaching competences, teaching and creating e-learning content, entrepreneurship and project management. It may take the form of training or job-shadowing activities.

Training for executive management and professional training of academic staff in Croatia was often organised in the form of project-based activities.

Incentives for Participation in Continuous Professional Development

In accordance with the Collective Agreement for Science and Higher Education (OG 9/19, 9/19, 122/19, 52/20) for scientific, artistic or professional training, an employee of a higher education institution may be granted paid or unpaid leave for:

• postgraduate studies abroad
• postdoctoral training abroad.