Vadyba / Journal of Management, Vol. 38, No. 2 2022, 31–42. https://doi.org/10.38104/vadyba.2022.2.03 Vadyba Journal of Management 2022, № 2 (38) ISSN 1648-7974 ACADEMIC EXPATRIATION INTO EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES: APPLICATION OF PERSON IN ENVIRONMENT THEORY Eva Fichtnerova 1 , Jitka Vackova 1 , Éva Görgényi-Hegyes 2 , Robert Jeyakumar Nathan 3 1 University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic 2 Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Hungary; 3 Multimedia University, Malaysia. Abstract Academic staffs migrate from one institution to another, some within the same country while some academics migrate to foreign institutions. Academic migration to foreign institutions entails greater challenges due to various factors including different national policies, language and cultural adaptations. Based on the theoretical concept of "person-in-environment", this research focused on three factors that would appeal to foreign academics who seek engagement with universities in the European Union countries, i.e. 1) accessibility to rules of conducts at EU universities, 2) understandable languages for foreign academics, and 3) organizational units assisting with the integration of foreign academics. Thirty-one universities from countries within the EU were randomly selected for the purpose of data collection. A formal analysis was carried out on the selected university websites to assess both the presence and the extend of the three factors of this research. The findings show the existence of ethical principles in the universities’ internal rules and practical manuals available to help solve situations associated with foreign academics adaptation into the work and social environment. However the availability of such support is not adequately available in all institutions and are limited in many institutions. Comprehensive support is found in the four universities - the University of Limerick in Ireland, the University of Heidelberg in Germany, the University of Malta, and the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Swedish University of Linköping also has rules in place for whistleblowing, paving the way for other EU universities to emulate. The ethics of the 21st century will have to address new situations, and dilemmas in relation to migration, and different values among social, cultural, and religious backgrounds. This article provides guidelines for better integration in the working environment abroad by introducing the three factors for integration, and points out the need to shift basic standards into practice to cater for better assimilation of expats into host country environment. KEY WORDS: expatriates; knowledge workers; rules of conduct; migration; well-being JEL Classification: F22, I23, O15 Introduction Factors of the 21st century are reflected in universities by an increasing share of mi-grating foreign employees (hereafter FE). Entry into a foreign country means a demanding process of adaptation to a new working environment, socio-cultural conditions. The theoretical concept for the life of FE at the university is the concept of the ecological perspective "person-in-environment" (PIE), which originated in the USA and solves the functioning of the person concerning the social role, environmental problems in the physical and social world (Kondrat, 2013; Skotakova, 2020). Stein and Cloward dealt with the effects of the environment on humans in the second half of the 20th century, and Bartlett and Gordon (Navratil, 2000; Navratil, 2003) in the 1970s. When FE leave their home country, they commonly leave their familiar culture and the internalized system of values (Putova, 2017; Vackova, 2016). The decision for social change and working abroad may arise due to various reasons. The most common reason is professional growth in the academic and scientific research area and the attractiveness, even financial, of a new job (Ackers, 2008). Social integration into a different environment can cause problems in terms of new work conditions, culture, social networks, religion, but also different ways of behaving, mentality, and problem solving, as well as eating, etc. According to the Ottawa Charter, health and personal well- being is a result of the active creation and keeping of social, mental, and physical abilities, therefore, in the process of integration of FE at the university, the complexity of looking at all aspects of behaviour and personality dimensions is indispensable (Kozlova, 2003). Universities, as employers, issue documents that take into account all employee’s well-being, including FE (Solcova, 2004; Görgényi et al., 2021), set up integration services and organizational units to support the rules of conduct arising in the multicultural life of the university. Universities ought to play this role effectively as they are deemed not only to be industry-driven but also caring for topics that will interest the greater society (Nathan et al., 2013). The Strategy for the Internationalization of Higher Education (MEYS, 2020) leads to an increase in the competitiveness of institutions in the EU and worldwide (Eurydice, 2017). The principles of science, development and research are based on the basic code by which the European Commission already supported science and research in the EU in 2005 with the publication of The European Charter & Code for Researchers (European Commission, 2005). The Code contains 40 basic principles concerning the roles, responsibilities and rights of workers in science and research. In the Czech Republic (CR), it is followed by the Code of Ethics for Researchers of the ASCR (ASCR, 2005) and codes of ethics, codes of conduct, measures, and manuals on the rules of conduct of research and academic university staff. There are also support programs for FE going abroad - such as Euraxess, which in the Czech Republic is provided by the Center for Joint Activities of the ASCR and has its contact points at public universities (Euraxess Czech Republic, 2020). To this extend, this study seeks answers to the following research question: Are there any rules of conduct in documents at universities that can support