Equality and Diversity at UCS
On these pages you will find information about how Equality and Diversity is managed at UCS and how we aim to meet our duties arising from the Equality Act 2010.
At UCS community engagement| is about communicating and sharing knowledge, consulting and collaborating with the local community, enriching cultural life and providing a service to our communities. This is integral to our duty to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people. You can read about our activities by visiting our website’s Community pages.
Nearly 5,000 people are studying at UCS. Students are our passion and our business. Their learning and teaching and their experience while studying with UCS is at the very heart of everything we do. We take great care to ensure our recruitment and selection of students, their admission to UCS, their learning, teaching and assessment is fair and free from unlawful discrimination.
UCS employs some 400 staff. We have developed a range of employment-related policies and procedures that reflect our commitment to equality and diversity and assist us in achieving and retaining a diverse workforce. We provide training and development for our managers and staff to ensure they understand our commitment to equality and are able to operate our policies and practices confidently and competently.
Around 25% of our students are studying at colleges in our Learning Network.| We take care to ensure the approach to equality and diversity at those centres is as robust as our own.
Equality and Diversity Policy
We are committed to an inclusive approach to the delivery of Higher Education. We are working to ensure UCS is open and accessible to all those wishing to participate in and are capable of benefiting from Higher Education.
We value all of the different people studying and working at UCS and we are committed to developing policies and processes, teaching and learning to tackle inequality and exclusion.
The full policy is available here.|
Monitoring Equality and Diversity
We collect and monitor data about our staff and students to understand and, if necessary, address the effects of our policies and procedures. We collect student and staff data about all protected characteristics as defined by the Equality Act 2010.
Our existing student and staff data is available here.|
Equality Objectives
Our equality objectives for the period 2012-2015 are as follows:
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Data
We will broaden our data collection arrangements such that:
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By 31 October 2012, we will have published information about our staff, covering age, disability, gender identity, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation.
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By 31 January 2013, we will have published information about our students, covering age, disability, gender identity, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation.
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Analysis
By 31 March 2013, we will have reviewed data about our staff and students, taking into consideration relevant and available benchmarking data, and identifying significant gaps and/or anomalies.
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Action
By 31 July 2013, we will publish further objectives and a more detailed action plan arising from the above analysis.
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Outcomes
By 2015 our student and staff profile will reflect relevant and available population benchmark data.
Managing Equality and Diversity at UCS
Responsibility for Equality and Diversity at UCS rests with the Executive Team|, led by the Provost|. The Equality and Diversity Committee|, chaired by the Director of Human Resources, provides a forum for the engagement of staff and student representatives, together with representatives of the wider community who are encouraged to take the role of “critical friend”. The Committee plays a key role in supporting UCS in meeting its equality duties and objectives; our new equality objectives will be published here.
Contact Us
You are welcome to contact us| with any compliments, complaints or suggestions about equality and diversity at UCS.
Professor Mike Saks - Provost and Chief Executive Officer
Sara Corcoran - Director of Human Resources