Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Annual Report 2022/23
The prominence and recognition of EDI at the University continued to grow in 2022/2023.
This is reflected in the University's Strategy 2030, which has equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at its heart.
2022/23 highlights include...
Increasing representation
- Academic promotion
In comparison with 2021-22, female application rates increased by 27.5% and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic applications increased by 33%. Success rates for these groups were at least as high as the rates for White and/or male applications. - Professorial promotion
Female success rates remained strong with 96% of female applicants promoted to Professor. For promotion to Professor band 2, there was a 50% increase in female applications, with overall female success rates increasing from 69% (2022) to 85% (2023). - Ethnicity pay gaps
For people identifying as Black, the mean pay gap reduced from 29.4% in 2021 to 24.5% in 2022. - Equity in Leadership programme
This pilot programme launched across the White Rose universities to support career development of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff aiming to advance into senior leadership positions. - Aspire Together programme
This project aims to increase Minority Ethnic undergraduate student representation. Nine York students of South Asian heritage have been recruited to conduct interviews with parents, carers and guardians. - Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education (YCEDE)
The consortium recruited nine interns at York and a second cohort of mentors and mentees for our YCEDE mentoring programme.
Enhancing a sense of belonging
- Decolonising and Diversifying the Curriculum
Faculty-facing online workshops and a symposium have taken place, with 80 students and staff involved. There were 14 individual and group presentations. Several projects have been supported by the Learning and Teaching fund. - Women in Research network
This network has continued to grow and now has almost 200 members. It held its 5th annual Research Conference in March, followed by the Women at York Conference in May. - Equality awareness campaigns
A total of 15 campaigns generated over 8,500 web page views and nearly 15,000 social media engagements with online content.
Our staff equality networks have been particularly active this year supporting events to mark key history and awareness-raising months. - International Women's Day 2023
We marked International Women's Day with 11 online and face-to-face events: the headline Be the Face of Your Story event was organised by students.
Creating an Inclusive Culture
- University Carers' Fund
Introduced to enable staff with caring responsibilities to claim back caring costs incurred when attending work related training outside normal working hours. - Family support policy improvements
Length of service restrictions were removed for maternity, adoption and paternity/partner leave, meaning occupational pay entitlements are available as a day one right. For staff taking paternity/partner leave, we increased the entitlement to two weeks full pay. - Disability awareness and accessibility training
79% of staff have completed the Disability Awareness module, and 67% have completed the Digital Accessibility module. - Staff reasonable adjustment process
The launch of a new process and guidance for staff with a disability or long term health condition received positive feedback from staff and line managers. We've been approached by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) planning to model their approach on our work. - Supporting our trans community
We published information for trans students and a supportive action plan process for staff supporting them. Other HEIs are using our work as a basis for their own processes.
Our equality champions
The establishment of Equality Champions in academic and professional support departments is an important initiative for the University. Equality Champions support the aim of embedding good EDI practice across the institution, while also helping to create a working and learning environment that is fair, welcoming and inclusive for all, enabling staff and students to fulfil their potential.
There are currently 42 registered Equality Champions across 21 academic departments and schools and ten professional support departments.
Activities and achievements
- Co-created the revised Terms of Reference for Equality Champions and fed into the development of the Equality Champions’ Handbook
- Contributed to equality monitoring campaigns by circulating information from the Equality and Diversity Office (EDO) team to increase the rate of completion of EDI monitoring in MyView. This activity has resulted in a significant increase in completion rates across all new equality characteristics from below 20% to around 30%.
- Helped to raise awareness of open lectures and events taking place throughout the year as part of the Celebrating Diversity Events Series, such as LGBT+ History Month, Black History Month and International Women’s Day.
- Circulated the termly EDO updates along with news and information relating to other emerging EDI initiatives - helping to keep staff at a local level informed of ongoing EDI activities taking place at an institutional level.
- Fed into the content for the new Unconscious Bias module.
- Promoted the LGBTQ+ Listening Exercise, Pride Flag Raising, and York Pride.
For further information, see the full Equality Champions' Annual Summary.
Listening to our staff and students
In June 2023, we held a listening exercise for LGBTQ+ staff and students. This event was a collaboration between the Rainbow Alliance, Equality and Diversity Office, and the EDI Exchange.
- There was overall positive feedback from attendees, particularly regarding connecting with the community (84%).
- However, confidence that action will occur following the activities needs to be higher: 45% of attendees either disagreed or strongly disagreed that [they] are confident that the activities will result in positive action from the University. We need to continue improving this confidence.
- Highlights from the findings suggested the need for equity across departments, support for staff and students questioning their sexuality and training opportunities for staff and students.
- Working groups (involving LGBTQ+ staff and students and allies) are being formed. These groups will continue the work that started during the workshop session.
achievements and awards
The University’s Inclusive Learning team was awarded a national Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) from Advance HE. The award was made in recognition of the team’s value-based approach to inclusive teaching and learning and their commitment to collaboration, co-construction and student partnerships.
We gained five new Athena Swan awards - two Silver awards (Environment and Geography, Health Sciences) and three Bronze awards (History, Mathematics and Politics). We now hold a total of 22 departmental Athena Swan awards - three Gold, four Silver, and 15 Bronze. These are in addition to the Institutional Bronze Award.
The University’s first Inclusive Impact Awards took place in November 2022. Almost 80 nominations were received across seven categories. This is now established as an annual event.
Our challenges
Tackling pay gaps
After a decrease to 18.1% in 2021, in 2022 the overall mean gender pay gap returned to the 2020 figure of 19.1% (17.2% excluding casual workers).
Whilst the ethnic pay gap has reduced for people identifying as Black, for people identifying as Asian, the mean pay gap increased from 12.4% (2021) to 14.4% in 2022.
Much work still needs to be done to ensure we hit our 2030 target of eliminating our gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps completely.
Promoting anti-racism training
We will continue to promote the ‘Union Black: Britain’s Black cultures & steps to anti-racism' online module which is open until 27 May 2024. Last year, we set an ambitious target for 10% of our University community to complete the training, and we are still aiming to meet that.
OUR PRIORITIES
Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategic Objectives 2024 - 2027
Approved by University Executive Board, November 2023
The development of an implementation plan underpinning the objectives is currently in progress. As part of this activity, we will prioritise:
- Availability and utilisation of datasets - we will map existing data, identify gaps and develop a robust data framework to underpin the development of the implementation plan.
- Assessing progress on the previous EDI strategy - we will assess the effectiveness of existing activity and build data-driven, impact-oriented goals and measures.
- Clarity of roles, responsibilities and accountability for EDI - development of a single implementation plan will bring the Equality and Diversity Office and the EDI Exchange together under one umbrella.
The work of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (EDIC) is underpinned by the continued strength of the Athena Swan Steering Committee, Race Equality Coordination Group and Disability Inclusion Framework.
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