Report it!
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) recently published a report examining racial harassment in higher education. The University of Sunderland takes a zero-tolerance approach to racial harassment. The Campus must be a place where staff and students feel safe and are able to flourish.
We are currently reviewing the report with the aim of taking urgent action in line with the recommendations contained within it. We have worked with the Sunderland Students' Union, and created a new system for reporting of any violence, sexual violence, harassment, hate crime or aggression you have experienced or witnessed.
Jon Timmis, Deputy Vice-Chancellor EDISR, Colina Wright, Chief Executive Officer USSU.
Gender Balance in Recruitment
In 2017, the proportion of professorships held by women in UK Universities was declining, despite huge efforts to improve gender equality, and was sitting at 24%. In their report, Advance HE show that the decline has stopped, but the percentage of female professors still remains at only 25.5%.
Since 2013, the University has used gender-balanced panels and Equality Impact Assessments at each stage of the professorial appointments process (designed to ensure that the scheme does not discriminate against any disadvantaged people). Promotions workshops for all potential applicants were also organised, led by a panel of current female professors.
As a result, the University can celebrate a different story. In the 2018 Internal Promotions rounds for professors, more than half of applicants and appointments were women. Figures show that 54% of our professors are women, which is more than double the national average, and has steadily been growing since 2013.
