We are proud to have been awarded the Race Equality Charter (REC) Bronze Award by Advance HE, after submitting our thorough evidence-led self-assessment in July.
Over 2000 staff and students participated in the self-assessment process over the past three years including surveys, focus groups, events and discussions to inform our award submission and action plan to advance race equality and inclusion at the University.鈥�
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What the award means
The 听recognises the University鈥檚 efforts and commitment to improve the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff and students; acknowledging that we cannot reach our full potential unless we benefit from the talents of our whole community, and until all individuals from all ethnic backgrounds can benefit equally from available opportunities.鈥�
Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Mark E. Smith, reflects on what the award means now and in the future for our community:
鈥淚 am delighted that our self-assessment and action plan have been recognised by a Bronze Award, evidencing our commitment to tackling racial inequalities. Thank you for the hard work of all those involved in getting us to this point. 鈥�
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鈥淭his award, however, is a starting point, not an end point. Since taking up post as President and Vice-Chancellor in October 2019, I have strengthened our commitment to Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), placing it at the heart of our new University strategy, supported by a five-year strategic plan for EDI launched in autumn 2020. Visible, proactive leadership of this agenda from the top of the institution is vital, and one element of this is the recruitment of an Associate Vice-President (EDI and Social Justice). I will ensure we continue to develop and invest in the initiatives outlined in the action plan to ensure enduring change.鈥� 鈥�
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Kieron Broadhead, Race Equality Charter Sponsor and Co-Chair,听Senior Executive Director, Students and Infrastructure, and Deputy Vice-President (Operations) added:
鈥淲e are committed to delivering a bold and ambitious action plan to address and remove the visible and invisible barriers our Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff and students face every day; creating an inclusive university community and enabling equality of opportunity where all staff and students can flourish regardless of their race or ethnicity. 鈥�
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鈥淲e recognise that this is the start of our journey and findings from our REC self-assessment underline the need for more to be done by every one of us, as individuals and as teams, as we hold a mirror up to ourselves. I look forward to working together to build an anti-racist university.鈥� 鈥�
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Bhupinder Siran, Race Equality Charter Co-chair, UoS REACH Network Chair, and Head of Strategic Business Partnerships iSolutions concluded:鈥�鈥�
鈥淲e now have a roadmap for action and this Bronze Award gives us the mandate to continue important conversations and take transformative action to address racial inequalities at the University. Collective ownership is critical; each of us has a role to play in doing the necessary work to make sure our University becomes genuinely inclusive and actively anti-racist, in practice as well as intention.鈥濃��鈥�听
For more information about the award submission鈥�鈥�听
It is important that we share the knowledge and insight gained in producing our Race Equality submission. including the submission and summary document.
Webinar series
Join us for a series of webinars where we will share what the data is telling us, where we have made progress and our future priorities:
- Building an inclusive University community: EDI strategic plan two years on. What have we achieved?
Monday 28 November: 13:15鈥�14:00
- Create a level playing field: Enhancing gender equality at UoS
Tuesday 29 November: 12:15鈥�13:00
- Tackling inequality and injustice: Advancing race equality and inclusion at UoS
Wednesday 30 November 12:15鈥�13:00
- Power up progress: Harnessing the power of co-creation to boost performance
Wednesday 7听December: 12:15-13:00
- No more long talk: Driving transformational social change听
Thursday 8 December: 12:15-13:00