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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
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Equality Act

Under the Equality Act 2010, the University has specific duties to publish information relating to diversity and equality as well as publishing its equality objectives. Please click on the links below for further information:

 

Equality Objectives

Under the Equality Act 2010, the University has a duty to prepare and publish one or more diversity objective to do any of the things mentioned in the general duty to promote equality:

  • Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010;
  • Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; and
  • Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

These objectives must be published by the 6th April 2012 and subsequently at intervals not greater than four years.

Our objectives

All objectives to be achieved by March 2020.

Increase awareness of equality and diversity challenges and duties

We will increase the reach of Equality and Diversity and Unconscious Bias training so that all staff and key student groups are trained.

Improve gender balance across the University

We will continue to engage with the Athena SWAN award scheme and all departments will hold an award by 2020. We will see an improvement in the number of women in academic, professorial and senior leadership roles (both academic and administrative) and in the number of male administrative staff at grades 3-4.

Improve understanding and support of disability across the University population

We will improve the disclosure rate for disabled staff. We will fulfill the targets for disabled student support set out in our Access Agreement.

Increase the numbers of BME staff and students

We will see an increase in the number of BME staff working in both academic and non-academic roles. We will fulfill the targets for BME students set out in our Acess Agreement.

How have we developed these objectives

In 2013 the University appointed a Dean for Equality and Diversity to create an institutional framework for tackling inequality and develop new Equality Objectives. This was underpinned by comprehensive data gathering which included:

  • Extensive consultation with staff through surveys and focus groups
  • Consultation with key student groups
  • Our Access Agreement
  • The recommendations of key committees and working groups
  • The Equality & Diversity Annual Report

The objectives have been considered and approved by the University's Diversity and Equality Advisory Group (DEAG), Executive Committee (UEC), Senate and Council.

Monitoring and Review

These diversity objectives represent the highest level, strategic ambitions of the University in relation to diversity and equality. In order to ensure continued progress towards the objectives, they are underpinned by an equality and diversity action plan which details key actions for each objective, key performance indicators, relevant timescale and responsible person. This plan will be monitored termly by the Diversity and Equality Advisory Group with progress reported termly to the University Executive Committee and biannually to University Council.

Publication of Information

Under the Equality Act 2010, the University has a duty to publish information to demonstrate its compliance with the general duty to:

  • Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010;
  • Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; and
  • Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

This page contains links to all the information published by the University to meet this specific duty as well as a narrative document highlighting our plans for further improvement.

Our Students

We routinely collect information on our students, including ethnicity, disability, gender, age and type of school they attended before joining the University. We use this information to help us plan and deliver our services and curriculum, to ensure that the Durham experience is accessible to all and that we are offering the best quality teaching, learning and accommodation for all our students. Full details and a range of data sets can be found by following this link:

Student Data

Our Staff

We regularly collect staffing information to ensure we have the right systems and policies in place to encourage everyone in our diverse workforce to reach their full potential whilst enjoying their time working at Durham.

Admissions

Durham University is committed to attracting the best and brightest students to study with us and to encouraging diversity within our student body. As such application and admissions data is closely monitored and designed to support colleges and departments to achieve the University's student quota and targets in respect of admissions and recruitment. This data can be found at:

Admissions Data

This site will be regularly reviewed as we collect more information and continue our developments in equality and diversity