UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Equality and Diversity Committee
Minutes of the meeting held on 26 October 2015
Present:
Ms C Algar, Dr J Collingwood, Mrs B Hay, Rev. S Jennings, Mrs G
McGrattan (Acting Chair), Mr M Mik, Mr L Pilot, Dr N Rabbani, Dr J
Raynsford, Professor A Rodger, Dr G Sharpling, Ms S Smart, Mr D
Wallis, Ms D Weber
Apologies:
Pro-Vice Chancellor for People and Public Engagement (Chair), Dr
S Burrows, Dr E Campbell, Mrs S Crookes, Mr S Lamb, Ms D
Markham, Dr W McDowell, Mrs C O’Leary, Mr M Potter, Ms R
Roke, Mr N Shiers, Mrs L Walls
In Attendance:
Mrs S Beaufoy - Equality and Diversity Adviser (Assistant
Secretary); Mr S Cole (for item 5)
01/15-16
Terms of Reference, Membership and Conflicts of Interest
(a) Terms of Reference
RECEIVED:
The Terms of Reference for the Equality and Diversity Committee for
2015/16 as set out in paper EDC.01/15-16.
(b) Membership
RECEIVED:
The membership of the Committee for 2015/16 as set out in Paper
EDC.02/15-16.
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
That there had been a number of changes in membership and that
new members were welcomed to the meeting.
REPORTED: (by L Pilot)
That the Students Union would be voting for a new Postgraduate
representative for the Committee.
(c) Conflicts of Interest
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
That, should any members or attendees of the Equality and Diversity
Committee have any conflicts of interest relating to agenda items for
the meeting, they should be declared at the beginning of the meeting.
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REPORTED: (by the Equality and Diversity Adviser)
That the name of the CUC Code has changed from ‘CUC Guide for
Members of Higher Education Governing bodies in the UK’ to
‘Committee of University Chairs (CUC) Higher Education Code of
Governance (2014)’.
RESOLVED:
That no conflicts of interest be recorded.
02/15-16
Minutes
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the meeting of the Equality and Diversity
Committee held on 15 May 2015 be approved.
03/15-16
Matters Arising
(a) He4She Campaign
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(i)
That whilst the University had made a declaration to sign up to the
principles of the He4She campaign, it was with the caveat that the
Students Union supported the campaign. However the students’
already have their own ‘I heart consent’ campaign, which for the
time being is where they wish to focus their attention.
REPORTED: (by L Pilot)
(ii) That a negative article published on Warwick Tab on the ‘I heart
consent’ campaign by a student has attracted the national press
and media attention. The student in question, objected to being
invited to attend a workshop as part of the campaign, to discuss
sex and consent.
The backlash from the article has actually given a positive spin to
the campaign, as it has raised its profile nationally and highlighted
Warwick’s initiative to stop sexual assaults on university
campuses.
(iii) Warwick Students’ Union has been selected to be a pilot
University for the NUS initiative to develop policies to tackle lad
culture on campus.
04/15-16
Staff Statistics Report: Equality Monitoring 2014/15 (EDC Paper
03/15-16)
CONSIDERED:
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A paper containing key staffing statistics for the academic year
2013/14.
REPORTED: (by the Equality and Diversity Adviser)
(i)
That the University’s total staff population is fairly evenly
balanced between female and male staff, 51.5% females and
48.5% males. However the highest levels of employment for
females is in support roles.
(ii)
That as in previous years, males dominate in full academic roles,
however the number of females in academic positions has
started to increase very gradually to 281 in 2015.
(iii)
That the number of females in academic positions at Level 8 has
increased in all of the faculties with the exception of Warwick
Medical School.
(iv)
That the number of disabled staff employed remains static,
representing 2% of female staff and 1.5% of male staff declaring
a disability.
(v)
A large proportion of staff have chosen not to disclose a
disability (5.2% on average).
(vi)
That the University employs 721 employees with a BME
background which is equivalent to 12.8% of the total employee
population.
(vii) That only 8.0% of BME staff are professors.
(viii) That the report now contains statistics on recruitment and
selection.
(ix)
That from 31 July 2014 to 01 August 2015, the University
advertised for 1,122 positions, which attracted 7,526 applications
from females and 7,763 from males.
REPORTED: (by D Wallis)
(x)
That it was good to see recruitment and selection data included
in the report, but it was of concern that there was such a low
proportion of applicants disclosing particular protected
characteristics, or for those that do, securing employment.
REPORTED: (by Equality and Diversity Adviser)
(xi)
That a recent government announcement had indicated that
UCAS will be enforcing ‘name-blind’ applications to tackle racial
bias, and that perhaps this is something the University should
consider for job applications.
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REPORTED: (by B Hay)
(xii) That Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital has been operating a
‘blind’ application process for some time.
RESOLVED:
That B Hay investigate the impact of the ‘blind’ application process at
Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital and share the statistics and
outcome of that investigation with the Committee.
05/15-16
Student Statistics Report: Equality Monitoring 2014/15 (EDC Paper
04/15-16)
CONSIDERED:
A paper containing key student statistics for the academic year
2013/14.
REPORTED: (by the Assistant Registrar (REF and Research
Planning)
(i)
That whilst the Strategic Planning and Analytics Office (SPA)
produce the data dashboards, SPA do not have responsibility
for owning the data or analyzing trends.
(ii)
Taking Chemistry as an example, at the application stage,
most applicants, regardless of any protected characteristics,
are offered a place, so importance should be given to getting
prospective student to apply in the first instance.
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(iii)
That the Committee would find it useful if future reports could
discuss any systematic trends of protected characteristics
throughout the student life cycle, from entry, movement
through university, success rates and employability after
graduation.
(iv)
That whilst it was good to see bare statistics, members would
like the key messages to be extracted from the data.
REPORTED: (by D Wallis)
(v)
That it would be useful to ascertain if our graduates are getting
good jobs at the end of their studies.
REPORTED: (by the Assistant Registrar (REF and Research
Planning)
(vi)
That Warwick is keen to improve on graduate employability
monitoring and getting people into jobs within the six month
reporting timeframe after graduation.
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RESOLVED:
S Cole to produce key data on protected characteristics by Faculty to
give members a better understanding of the data.
06/15-16
Promotion and Probation (EDC Paper 05/14-15)
CONSIDERED:
A paper on academic promotions and probations for the academic
year 2014/15.
REPORTED: (by the Equality and Diversity Adviser)
07/15-16
(i)
That historical data is included in the promotions statistics,
which shows that the female promotion success rate has
increased significantly since 2010/11.
(ii)
That numbers of ethnic minority academic staff being
recommended for promotion were extremely low.
(iii)
That statistics are being kept to measure the success of the
Demystifying the Warwick Promotions event held every March.
In 2013, 8 attendees applied for promotion and 7 were
successful and in 2014, 9 attendees applied for promotion and
8 were successful.
Athena SWAN Update
REPORTED: (by the Equality and Diversity Adviser)
08/15-16
(i)
That the University has signed up to the new Athena Charter
Mark principles and will be subscribing to the Equality
Challenge Unit.
(ii)
That three departments will be submitting for Athena awards in
November 2015 – Engineering for Silver, WMG for Silver and
Psychology for a Bronze renewal.
(iii)
That originally a number of Arts and Social Science
departments had intended to submit in November 2015, but
had deferred until April 2016.
(iv)
That the level of work required of submissions was getting
harder to achieve, and at a recent regional Athena meeting, a
number of universities had expressed concern on the number
of their submissions that were being rejected.
(v)
That Monash University are taking part in the pilot of the
Australian version of Athena, and that Warwick had committed
to being their ‘critical friend’.
Race Charter Mark
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REPORTED: (by the Equality and Diversity Adviser)
(i)
That the University has a Race Equality Charter Mark Working
Group that meet monthly. The Group will lead on a University
submission for the Charter Mark, which is due to be formally
launched in January 2016, with the first submission date being
July 2016.
(ii)
That a student survey was distributed at the end of the
Summer Term to capture the views of graduating students.
There were approximately 100 responses and the results are
currently being analysed to inform themes for a number of
focus groups.
(iii)
That a further survey will be distributed to staff and students
early in the New Year.
(iv)
That to celebrate Black History Month, the University is hosting
an event at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, on Wednesday 28
October 2015 between 18:00 – 20:00 hrs. The event will
discuss the history of black and Asian Shakespearean theatre
in Britain and the talk and exhibition will be introduced by
Professor Tony Howard from the English Department.
REPORTED: (by D Wallis)
(v)
That the Race Working Group has a number of sub-groups
working on analysing the raw data and evaluating the survey
responses to inform themes for focus groups.
REPORTED: (by N Rabbani)
(vi)
That it is important that the membership of such working
groups is open to all staff who have an interest in the subject
area, and that how members are recruited is transparent.
RESOLVED:
That the Equality and Diversity team ensure a statement on the
recruitment of members to such working groups is on the appropriate
web pages.
09/15-16
Disabled Student Allowance (DSA) Changes
REPORTED: (by D Weber)
(i)
That a diverse working group meets monthly to discuss the
impact that the DSA changes will have on students and the
University.
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(ii)
That the changes will be implemented in 2015/16 and 2016/17
and the group are advising the University on priority issues that
need to be addressed.
REPORTED: (by the Equality and Diversity Adviser)
(iii)
10/15-16
That a number of initiatives have already been implemented, such
as, printers/scanners being installed in residences, an assistive
technology support post in the Library, and the purchase of a site
licence for ‘Read/Write’ software which is now networked on all
university computers.
Equality Objectives
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
11/15-16
(i)
That the Equality Objectives are being reviewed and will be aligned
with the new University strategy.
(ii)
That a number of student objectives are being developed and will
be included in the Equality Objectives.
(iii)
That it is hoped to have a final draft of the objectives by the end of
December 2016, ready for the Spring Term.
Disability Framework
REPORTED: (by the Equality and Diversity Adviser)
12/15-16
(i)
That a new Disability Framework has been introduced for use by
employees with disabilities, their line managers and HR Link
Advisers.
(ii)
That it is intended the Framework will encourage more disclosure
by staff with disabilities, as well as ensuring that the right
reasonable adjustments and support are in place to enable them to
successfully carry out their roles.
(iii)
That the framework is being piloted for six months, to determine if it
is fit for purpose, and if employees and line managers find it useful.
Equality and Diversity Network
REPORTED: (by the Chair of the Equality and Diversity Network)
(i)
That the meeting this term was held at Argent Court and was
reasonably well attended.
(ii)
That the new Disability Framework was discussed, as well as a
presentation on a possible Pre-Retirement event to be held in
2016.
(iii)
That the next Dignity at Warwick event is due to be held on 18
November 2016 and that volunteers to support the information
stands across campus were required.
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(iv)
13/15-16
That Duncan Stiles from Estates gave an update on the Estates
Code of Conduct for Contractors.
Stonewall Workplace Equality Index
REPORTED: (by the Equality and Diversity Adviser)
14/15-16
(i)
That in September 2015, the University submitted for the Stonewall
Workplace Equality Index.
(ii)
Stonewall advise and support organisations on how to offer
inclusive, equal and inspiring environments for LGBT people.
(iii)
The outcome of the Stonewall submission will be known by the end
of December 2015.
Staff/Student Data Collection on Sexual Orientation and Religion and
Belief
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(i)
That staff data on Sexual Orientation and Religion and Belief has
started to be collected, both for new staff, and as part of the data
cleansing exercise for existing staff.
(ii)
That the response rate to the request for these two new data sets
has been very good, with 2266 people completing each section, of
which 259 people preferred not to disclose for sexual orientation
and 240 people for religion and belief.
REPORTED: (by the Equality and Diversity Adviser)
15/15-16
(iii)
That data sets on Sexual Orientation and Religion and Belief for
undergraduate students will be collected from information supplied
on UCAS forms.
(iv)
That these two data set questions are also being included on
postgraduate application forms.
Any Other Business
There was no other business.
16/15-16
Date of Next Meeting
TO REPORT:
That the date of the next meeting of the Equality and Diversity Committee
will be 2 February 2015 in CMR1.0.
MATTERS RECEIVED WITHOUT FURTHER DISCUSSION
17/15-16
Athena Annual Report
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RECEIVED:
The Annual Report on Athena Swan progress as approved by the
University Athena Steering Group (EDC Paper 07/15-16).
18/14-15
Disability Interest Group
RECEIVED:
The notes of the Disability Interest Group meeting held on 12 October
2015 (EDC Paper 08/15-16).
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