The ever-increasing number of students—a trend that will continue in the coming years—and government funding that does not proportionately follow these numbers, put pressure on access to higher education. If we want to better reflect the diversity of society and create an inclusive environment, we must remain aware that not all students have equal opportunities. First-generation students, students with a migration background, or those from lower socio-economic statuses often need an extra push. The guidance and support of these students require resources, which is not always financially feasible. Therefore, the other aspects of the inclusion policy are all the more important.
This applies not only to students but also to staff. Although UGent has already made significant efforts to provide equal opportunities for men and women, we still observe an underrepresentation of women in higher academic positions. Research has also shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated gender inequality within academia. Academics with caregiving responsibilities—often women—were disproportionately affected. This led to a decline in research productivity and funding applications, with short- and long-term effects on research.
These are two examples that demonstrate why a policy on diversity and gender is still important and why we want to continue to focus on this. We want UGent to be a community where everyone feels valued and connected. This ‘sense of belonging’ requires an inclusive environment where diversity is embraced and every voice counts. An inclusive work and learning environment means that equal opportunities for all students and staff are central, with attention to financial, infrastructural, and psychosocial barriers, gender, ethnic-cultural differences, multilingualism, etc. By considering the inclusivity of each measure in every decision, UGent can evolve into a truly democratic learning environment where talent and motivation are decisive. To achieve this, we propose three objectives:
- Improving accessibility and equal opportunities
A crucial pillar of an inclusive policy remains the democratic access to the university. Students from underrepresented groups often lack the social and cultural capital that children from families more familiar with higher education have, which gives them more opportunities in higher education. Eliminating financial, infrastructural, social, or other barriers requires targeted initiatives such as study financing, guidance through mentoring, forms of mentorship, study and relaxation spaces that support inclusivity and diversity, language courses for students with a different home language, attention to self-regulatory skills in programmes, etc. Improving the physical and digital accessibility of the university is also an important focus, for example, with wheelchair-friendly buildings and digital learning resources usable by all students.
We believe that we need to pay more attention to two groups of students in our policy. Firstly, we want to focus on first-generation students, those who are the first in their family to attend university. In addition to academic and financial support, it is important to create a culture of inclusion where these students feel recognised and supported. Secondly, we want to raise awareness about neurodiversity, both among students and staff, and reduce the stigma around it. Training for lecturers and administrative staff on neurodiversity can contribute to better understanding and more effective guidance for our students. By providing flexible work structures, mentorship, and a supportive network, UGent can also contribute to sustainable careers for neurodiverse colleagues.
- Closing the gender gap
As mentioned earlier, we observe that women are still underrepresented in higher academic positions. We recognise that long-term policies are needed to reverse this trend. For this reason, we monitor the effects of the UGent career model. We also strive for gender-balanced selection committees, flexible career paths, and gender-equal promotion criteria that can contribute to a more balanced representation of women. As recommended by the Young Academy, UGent should also consider external factors that influence researchers’ career opportunities when assessing academic CVs.
To promote the work-life balance of all our staff, we aim for a university-wide uniform maternity and parental leave policy, more childcare facilities near the workplace, quality breastfeeding rooms on every campus, and respect for ‘family hours’ during meetings.
Striving for gender equality is also a matter of culture. Research from the European Institute for Gender Equality shows that misogynistic ideas and gender-related violence are increasingly normalised. This is contrary to UGent’s pluralistic values. Our students undoubtedly encounter these ideas through social media. Therefore, it is crucial to make students aware of the impact of digital misinformation and educate them to be critical and nuanced thinkers, including on gender issues.
- Structurally embedding diversity
We believe that UGent currently lacks an integrated diversity policy and that the existing structures are insufficiently effective to implement structural policies. Therefore, we want to give a new impulse to the ‘Diversity and Gender’ policy unit, analogous to our ‘Wellbeing and Health’ policy unit. This policy unit can, in close collaboration with university services, the ‘Wellbeing and Health’ policy unit, and the faculty diversity committees and coordinators, design university-wide policies and support the faculties.
We also want to restore confidence in the diversity experts within the various faculties. Each faculty should have a committee that addresses diversity policy. Given the important connection between diversity policy and wellbeing policy, this should be done at least in close collaboration with the faculty committee or those responsible for wellbeing and health. The chair of this committee works with the programme committees and the faculty council to implement the faculty policy.
The central ‘Diversity and Gender’ policy unit will have several tasks. It develops sustainable initiatives, such as implementing inclusive language in communication within faculties, university services, and society at large. It can also serve as a reporting point for breaches of diversity and gender policy, including digital reporting, and monitor the implementation of diversity policy, adjusting if necessary. It will also work closely with various other services,
on the following themes:
- Education: integrating diversity structurally into curricula, raising awareness of diversity through embedding in courses and staff training, responding to the growing call to decolonise curricula and university structures, etc.
- Research: integrating gender and diversity into various steps of the research process.
- People and Organisation: ensuring gender-balanced composition of governing bodies, attention to diversity in talent development and respect for work-life balance, equal opportunities for everyone in recruitment and career development, sufficient and quality breastfeeding rooms, quiet spaces for students and staff in each faculty, care for students and staff with disabilities, etc.
- Real Estate and Campus Facilities, ICT and Student Facilities: ensuring the accessibility of buildings and digital accessibility.
We know that there are many good practices regarding diversity and gender policies throughout the university. To inspire each other, the policy cell will also serve as a platform for sharing good practices. With the practices we identify and our proposals, we aim to make UGent a study and work environment where everyone feels welcome and motivated to study, conduct research, and work; an environment where differences do not divide us but strengthen us as the UGent community.