Equality and Diversity Report 2014

Introduction

Northumbria University has a diverse student and employee population and equality and diversity are high on the University’s agenda. The University is proud of its record of achievement in developing and implementing good practice in relation to equality and diversity.

The aim of the Equality and Diversity Annual Report is to consider, monitor and share our activities and progress in relation to equality and diversity. It also reports on developments in relation to our Single Equality Scheme and provides a mechanism to publish comprehensive monitoring reports on the make-up and profile of our workforce and the student body. A more detailed report on student and staff monitoring data is available on the University’s equality and diversity web site

The Legislative Framework

The Equality Act provides the legislative framework for equality and diversity. It informs our practices as an employer, as a provider of education and of services.

The Equality Act identifies nine protected characteristics:

  • Age
  • Disability
  • Gender reassignment
  • Marriage and civil partnership
  • Pregnancy and maternity
  • Race
  • Religion or belief
  • Sex
  • Sexual Orientation.

The University is subject to the Public Sector Equality Dutyand is required , in the exercise of our functions to ‘have due regard to the need to’:

  • eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation;
  • advance equality of opportunity between people from different groups;
  • encourage people with protected characteristics to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is low;
  • foster good relations between people from different groups.

The Public Sector Equality Duty supports good decision making – it encourages organisations to understand how different people will be affected by their activities, so that their policies and services are appropriate and accessible and meet different people’s needs.

The Specific Duties of the Equality Act came into force in September 2011 and are intended to help organisations perform the Equality Duty better. They do this by requiring public bodies tobe transparent about how they are responding to the Equality Duty – requiring them to publish relevant, proportionate information showing compliance with the Equality Duty, and to set equality objectives.

The publication of information is an annual requirement and the review of equality objectives should occur at least every 4 years.

Our commitments in 2014 were as follows:

Promoting equality in our working practices:

  • Schedule a programme of equality and diversity events throughout the academic year;
  • Provide core equality and diversity training and equality analysis training to University staff;
  • Develop an online consultation mechanism for both internal and external consultation;
  • Consult with and involve staff and representative networks to help inform future activities;
  • Review the outcomes of Equality Analysis undertaken and identify appropriate actions;
  • Further strengthen our procurement framework and produce guidance to ensure that contracts are awarded in compliance with equalities and procurement legislation;
  • Publish relevant data within the required time-scales and take steps to fill any known data gaps;
  • Continue to improve accessibility of our workplace practices and buildings;
  • Ensure that the University’s commitment to and achievements around equality and diversity are reflected in our internal and external communications.

Promoting equality in employment:

  • Maintain the diversity of our staff and continue to monitor our workforce profile;
  • Extend staff monitoring data to include marriage and civil partnership, gender reassignment, religion or belief and sexual orientation;
  • Review the outcomes of the 2014 Staff Survey in relation to experiences of discrimination;
  • Consider the findings of the 2013 Equal Pay Audit and address any significant pay gaps or risks;
  • Support representative staff networks and establish a disabled staff network as a model for future networks;
  • Identify positive action strategies where appropriate to address issues of representation or disproportionality;
  • Develop a methodology to promote equality and diversity within the management of research;
  • Ensure our policies and procedures support equality and diversity.

Promoting equality in learning, teaching and the student experience:

  • Progress opportunities to work with the Students Union to ensure both a cohesive approach to awareness raising and communication in relation understanding equality within the student experience;
  • Ensure staff are aware of and able to respond to the diverse nature and needs of the student body;
  • Ensure staff and students have the skills and confidence to promote equality and diversity within learning and teaching;
  • Identify opportunities for equality and diversity to be part of the curriculum, including identifying and sharing good practice;
  • Review academic provision for international students and identify any equality issues;
  • Continue to monitor the student profile.

The University publishes information relating to staff and students. All data sets are continually being reviewed to ensure that they are relevant and appropriate. Our commitment to equality and diversity and legislative compliance are promoted on the University’s Equality and Diversity webpage which brings together information, updates on activity and resources for staff and students.

Governance and Committee Arrangements

The Board of Governors has a statutory responsibility to ensure compliance with equality legislation and to ensure that the Executive has appropriate systems in place to satisfy these obligations. In determining the education character and mission of the University, the Board plays a major role in reflecting and promoting the institutional culture, of which equality and diversity is an essential component.

The importance placed on Equality and Diversity at the University is demonstrated by the Vice-Chancellor’s chairship of the Equality and Diversity Committee, which brings Executive leadership to equality and diversity related activities across the University, ensuring excellence through inclusion for all.

In addition, there are two further groups to ensure the widest possible participation in the equality and diversity agenda.

The first is the Equality and Diversity Action Group, a permanent standing group made up of senior staff members, representative of all Faculties and Services which has responsibility for developing, implementing and monitoring University activity in relation to equality and diversity issues.

The second is the Equality and Diversity Sub-group, a sub-group of the Joint Negotiating Committee which provides a forum for consulting and negotiating with recognised trade unions to contribute to and inform equality and diversity issues and processes within the University.

These arrangements will continue to be monitored to ensure they remain effective in taking forward the equality and diversity agenda.

Summary of Achievements and Developments

The following section provides information on progress and activity within the respective strands of equality and diversity.

Staff Survey 2014

The University commissioned its third Staff Survey in 2014. All core staff were invited to complete the Survey and 2076 staff responded. This represented aresponse rate of 72%

The Survey highlighted the views and experiences of staff and provided a good indicator as to their views and perceptions in relation to equality and diversity. Some headline figures are as follows:

  • 55% of respondents were female;
  • 88% considered themselves to be White British, 3% indicated they were from a Black, Asian or Chinese Ethnic Group;
  • 84% would describe themselves at heterosexual;
  • 41% would describe their religious belief or affiliation as Christian while 41% said they had no religion;
  • 4% considered themselves to be disabled;
  • The highest proportion of respondents were in the 46-55 year age bracket;
  • 79% were full-time permanent employees; 13% were part-time permanent employees; 7% were fixed-term employees and 1% work term-time only.

The Survey included a section on equality and diversity and the responses were as follows:

  • 72% believe the University is committed to equality of opportunity for all of its staff;
  • 92% are aware of the University's policy on equality and diversity;
  • 94% are satisfied with their level of awareness of diversity issues and how to react appropriately with colleagues;
  • 89% feel the University acts fairly with regard to recruitment;
  • 75% feel the University acts fairly with regard to career progression and promotion;
  • 90% feel the University acts fairly with regard to people of different genders;
  • 95% feel the University acts fairly with regard to ethnicity;
  • 94% feel the University acts fairly with regard to people who are disabled and not disabled;
  • 84% feel the University acts fairly with regard to people of different ages;
  • 97% feel the University acts fairly with regard to people of different sexual orientation;
  • 97% feel the University acts fairly with regard to people of different religions.

In total 12% of respondents felt they had been discriminated against within the last 12 months, with the two most common reasons being on the grounds of role or level in the University and age.

A reporting tool is available to allow the University to assess the general responses between the demographic data in the survey, for example male / female. This data is being further examined and will assist in highlighting areas or issues relevant to particular sub-groups of the workforce.

Athena SWAN – Promoting Gender Equality

The Athena SWAN Charter recognises an organisation’s commitment to advancing women's careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment in higher education.

Northumbria is committed to the advancement and promotion of the careers of women in STEMM subjects.

As an Athena SWAN member, the University is demonstrating its commitment to identify and address gender equality issues in STEMM subjects and is continuing to work towards obtaining an Athena SWAN Bronze Award, despite our first application being unsuccessful.

Valuable feedback was received about our 2014 application and, as a result, a second application has been prepared by a reconfigured Self-assessment Team. The Team includes representatives from all STEMM subjects and is chaired by Professor McHale, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Environment. The Equality and Diversity Committee approved the terms of reference of the Self-assessment Team, specifically to:

  • deliver the Athena SWAN institutional bronze award and future institutional awards;
  • monitor developments and strategies impacting women in STEMM and advise on any strategic implications;
  • identify, share and promote good practice in relation to Athena SWAN;
  • ensure an effective route for dissemination and discussion of the Athena SWAN application;
  • discuss and recommend (as appropriate) university strategy and policy to support the submission;
  • develop the action plan, monitoring progress against actions identified in the original submission for inclusion where relevant in the revised submission.

There has been significant activity around raising the profile of Athena SWAN and consulting with academic staff in those areas. An Institutional Bronze Application and detailed Action Plan has now been submitted and further updates will be included in future Reports.

The Self-Assessment Team continues to meet to take forward our Athena SWAN Action Plan and support STEMM Departments considering Departmental Applications.

Positive actions have already been taken forward as a result of our Athena SWAN activity. These include a review of our Equality and Diversity webpages, highlighting female role models successful in our Academic Promotions, an increase in the number of females applying for Academic Promotion and the establishment of NUWise, a University Network for women in the STEMM disciplines.

NUWise

NUWise was established in 2014 to address the lack of a formal support networks for women working in STEMM subjects at Northumbria. It is a network that aims to support and develop the careers of female staff and PhD students.

NUWise is organised by a steering committee consisting of at least one representative from each STEMM department. The launch in October 2014 was attended by over 60 people and allowed opinions on the scope of the network to be collected. Subsequently there has been a networking lunch, with a presentation on Athena SWAN by Dr Kate Horner who shared her experiences at the University of York. The network has been well received and a schedule of events and activities will be established.

Although not STEMM specific, Northumbria staff are also able to participate in NU Women which provides useful networking opportunities with other regional HEIs.

Think Physics

A recent initiative is the award of £1.2 million from HEFCE’s Catalyst Fund to support the Think Physics project. This cradle-to-career project aims to inspire and engage young people, particularly girls, from early years through to university, and onto careers in the STEMM disciplines.

A dedicated team is working with 15 partner schools, linking staff and students into the project. This will help raise awareness of gender and diversity issues in the science area particularly among young people. The project has a strong emphasis on raising aspirations and engagement with young people through providing better careers information and linking careers and practical application into appropriate points within the curriculum. Northumbria’s academic staff are supporting this work and through it gaining a better understanding themselves of the gender/diversity issues in the STEMM area.

Think Physics was partly inspired by a report from the Institute of Physics, which revealed only 21 per cent of physics students at UK universities are female. The project aims to address this over the next three years under the leadership of Dr Carol Davenport, Director of Think Physics, and her team of specialists.

The project has two strands – i Think Physics, which will see the team working with young people in partner schools and Think Physics 4 all, focussing on the wider community including parents, teachers, employers, schools and communities. Partners include the Centre for Life, Institute of Physics, North Tyneside Learning Trust, Kielder Observatory and Solar Capture Technologies Ltd.

Further updates will be included in future Reports.

Awareness Raising Events

Awareness raising events were scheduled throughout the year. These were available to staff and students and were both informative and served to raise the profile of Equality and Diversity.

In January 2014 the Northumbria branch of the University and Colleges Union presented a free showing of the UCU Holocaust Memorial Day film followed by a Q&A event.

The event featured presentations by Richard Kotter, Senior Lecturer, Engineering and Environment and Gary Spedding, Welfare Representative, Northumbria Students’ Union.

The film was also screened at Coach Lane at the same time with a discussion afterwards featuring Veronica Killen, Senior Lecturer in Health and Life Sciences

Film screenings were held at the Tyneside Cinema in February for LGBT History Month and in March for International Women’s Day.

In September the University hosted a photography exhibition dedicated to Northumbria alumnus and Triple Paralympic Champion Stephen Miller. This was a touring exhibition and was an opportunity to bring people and organisations together and show sport and disability to the public and inspire people in the North East.

Policy Development

Religious Adjustments Guidelines

The University produced new ‘Religious Adjustments Guidelines’ for staff and students and these were approved by the Equality and Diversity Committee in July 2014. The Guidelines, which were written in consultation with Faculties and Services across the University, were concerned with making reasonable adjustments for University staff or students on occasions where their work or study commitments/duties might conflict with their religion or beliefs. They clearly indicated to staff what they should do in the event of a religious adjustments request and cited experts who could assist if required.

Promoting Inclusion

The University is committed to making its services and facilities inclusive and accessible and this is achieved in several ways.

Campus Accessibility

The Accessibility Group was formed in April 2014 at the request of the Director of Campus Services. The purpose of the group is to contribute to improvements to access to both the internal and external environments at Northumbria University and to develop existing procedures and policies to provide a safe and accessible working environment for disabled people at the University.

The Group meets every six weeks and is chaired by the Head of Health Safety & Sustainability and has representatives from key areas across the University:

  • Facilities Services, Campus Services
  • Planning & Development, Campus Services
  • Timetabling, Campus Services
  • Students’ Union
  • Human Resources
  • Student Support and Wellbeing, Academic Services
  • IT Services

Group membership includes both a disabled student and disabled staff member and the remit of the group is to:

  • Consider accessibility across the University Estate to ensure that, so far as practicable, University premises are accessible to all staff, students and visitors;
  • Agree minimum physical standards to be implemented in buildings across the estate;
  • Review the Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan process to ensure that all staff and students have access to a personal plan and that visitors are aware of generic building emergency plans;
  • Receive feedback from staff and student representatives with disabilities, taking action to resolve or provide services where appropriate;
  • Act as a stakeholder group for future projects and initiatives which impact on the University estate;
  • Review the effectiveness of the services provided by Campus Services to drive continuous improvement and to ensure that services are realigned as necessary to meet the evolving needs of disabled staff, students and visitors.

The Group has already effected change and will continue through 2015. Further updates will be included in future Reports.

Accessible information - Good Practice Guide

The University provides significant information for current and prospective students, staff, visitors and other stakeholders. It is important that this information is accessible to all. The Academic Services Equality and Diversity Group has produced a good practice guide ‘Written and printed information: how to make your documents as accessible as possible to as many people as possible’.