UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
34/13-14
Equality and Diversity Committee
Minutes of the meeting held on 16 May 2014
Present: Pro-Vice Chancellor for Arts and Social Sciences (in the Chair), Dr
E Campbell, Mrs K Fisher, Rev. S Jennings, Mrs C Martin, Ms D
Markham, Mr M Mik, Dr N Rabbani, Dr M Shewring, Mr N Shiers,
Ms S Smart, Ms C Turhan, Mr D Wallis
Apologies: Dr J Angouri, Dr S Burrows, Mrs S Crookes, Mrs B Hay, Mr S
Lamb, Mrs G McGrattan, Mr M Potter, Professor S Rai, Ms R Roke,
Professor P Thomas, Mr S Williams
In Attendance: Mrs S Beaufoy - HR Adviser – Equality and Diversity (Assistant
Secretary); Mrs L Walls - HR Manager – Administration (Equality and Diversity) (Secretary)
Professor P Scott (for Professor PA Thomas)
Mr P Bridger, Reward Manager (for item 4)
Professor C Hughes, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)
(for item 5)
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 .
RESOLVED:
That no conflicts of interest be recorded.
35/13-14 Minutes
RESOLVED:
36/13-14
That the minutes of the meeting of the Equality and Diversity
Committee held on 4 February 2014 be approved.
Matters Arising
(a) Athena SWAN Charter and the Gender Equality Charter Mark
(GEM)
REPORTED: (by the HR Adviser, Equality and Diversity)
(i) That the Department of Physics have successfully renewed their
Silver Athena SWAN award.
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37/13-14
(ii) That the Department of Computer Science have re-submitted for a Bronze Athena Award in April 2014.
(iii) That WBS have submitted for a Bronze award in the pilot of the
Gender Equality Charter Mark (GEM), the result of which will be known in August 2014.
(iv) That the formal launch of GEM will be in October 2014, and departments in Arts and Social Sciences should be encouraged to participate.
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(v) That the Department of Physics be congratulated on their
Silver Athena SWAN renewal.
(vi) That Arts and Social Science departments, who wish to start their GEM work to seek guidance from HR on the process.
REPORTED: (by M Mik)
(vii) That the Social Science Faculty Chairs of Departments will be meeting in June 2014 to discuss GEM.
RESOLVED:
(i) That a Windows on Warwick session on the GEM process, be organised for the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences.
(b) Title Changes on Student Database (Minutes 25/12-13 refers)
REPORTED: (by the HR Manager, Administration)
(i) That any title changes on the SITS system links through to the membership system, where a title is mandatory to the system criteria.
(ii) That the title field changes are being factored into the on-going wider membership system project.
Equity Analysis on Merit Pay 2012/13 (Minute 26/13-14 refers)
RECEIVED:
A paper was tabled, providing supplementary data on grade analysis with average scores and numbers on the Merit Pay Scheme 2013.
(a) Equity Analysis on Merit Pay 2012/13
REPORTED: (by the Reward Manager)
(i) That the participation and nomination rate for the merit pay scheme was lower than average across all grades, but particularly in Grades 1A-2.
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(b) Merit Pay Scheme – Moving forward
REPORTED: (by the Reward Manager)
(i) That proposed changes on the merit pay scheme will shortly be communicated to staff, some of which will be aimed at addressing some of the equality aspects identified.
RESOLVED:
(i) That in order to give the data more meaning, future merit pay data be presented to include sample size, and include the standard deviation.
(ii) That a vote of thanks be recorded to the HR Reward Manager for his contributions to the Equality and Diversity Committee meetings prior to his retirement.
38/13-14 Widening Participation and Student Recruitment
REPORTED: (by the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning)
(i) That the OFFA National Strategy states that Universities should ensure that Equality and Diversity is embedded into their WP strategy.
(ii) That Warwick’s strategy for access and WP supports the
University in meeting, and exceeding its OFFA targets, and already adopts approaches that foster and support an inclusive educational environment which is accessible to people from all backgrounds.
(iii) That significant progress is being made in reaching the access targets for 2013/14; Warwick has successfully met two targets - for students from state schools and socio-economic groups.
(ii) That there was a relationship between seniority and rating score, but that this was not as prominent as in previous years.
(iv) That more work needs to be done on attracting mature students and students from low participation neighbourhoods.
(v) That the Strategic Planning and Analytics Office is performing some educational analytics on students ’ recruitment, progression and retention.
(vi) That external funding was making a number of outreach projects possible - the HEFCE funded postgraduate support scheme for
WP in postgraduate taught programmes and the Royal Society of
Chemistry for outreach work.
(vii) That issues of diversity of intake and student experience is discussed at meetings of the Inception of Education Enhancement
Planning Group and all academic departments.
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(viii) That the university aims to streamline student surveys on the student experience, which will include examining diversity data.
(ix) That d ue to OFFA’s comments that bursaries do not work and the subsequent funding cuts, the University will be undertaking some research on whether bursaries make a difference to the student experience, but in the meantime have had to change the way in which money is given to students.
REPORTED: (by C Turhan)
(x) That the Students’ Union is very concerned that OFFA have withdrawn the student bursary funding, which is essential for some students to experience university life, and which will ultimately impact on University targets.
REPORTED: (by D Wallis)
(xi) That the intake figures for part time students, who are predominantly mature students with family responsibilities, has improved, compared to recent years.
RESOLVED:
That the Students ’ Union works with the University for the reinstatement of student bursaries, so that recipients have the opportunity to have the full student experience.
39/13-14 Student Disability Services (EDC Paper 14/13-14)
(a) Disability Interest Group
RECEIVED:
The notes of the Disability Interest Group meeting held on 9 May 2014.
Disabled Student Allowance
(i) That on 7 April 2014 the Government announced measures to modernise the Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs) available to
HE students from England.
(ii) The proposed DSA changes will significantly reduce the amount of support and level of provision of equipment to disabled students.
(iii) That the proposed changes and cuts in funding will significantly impact the University financially, as well as possibly discouraging disabled people from studying at University.
(iv) That the National Association of Disability Practitioners (NADP) is taking legal advice and may ask for a judicial review.
(v) That the NUS will be holding a National Day of Action against the cuts on 6 June 2014.
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RESOLVED:
That further to a request from the Postgraduate Student representative the
Committee resolved that if forthcoming, it would recommend that the
University supports a judicial review.
40/13-14 Equality Objectives – Update on Progress (EDC Paper 20/13-14)
REPORTED: (by the HR Adviser, Equality and Diversity)
(a) That as reflected in EDC Paper 20/13-14, progress on meeting our
Equality Objectives continues to be satisfactory, with a number of objectives being either completed or now embedded into annual business.
(b) That it is intended in line with the new University strategy to review the
Equality Objectives for 2015 onwards.
RESOLVED:
That members review Paper 20/13-14 and pass comments back to the HR
Adviser, Equality and Diversity by Friday 13 June 2014.
41/13014 Equality and Diversity Training
REPORTED: (by the HR Adviser, Equality and Diversity)
(a) That the face to face Equality and Diversity training sessions are popular and that a new training schedule is available on the Learning and Development website.
(b) That monitoring data on the number of staff participating in these courses is recorded annually, with numbers increasing each year.
(c)
That the MIND bus ‘Journey’ will be on Campus on 28 May 2014.
REPORTED: (by N Rabbani)
(d) That cases of bullying and harassment needed to be addressed, which required more Dignity Contacts to be trained.
REPORTED: (by the HR Adviser, Equality and Diversity)
(e) That work was currently being undertaken on the Dignity at Warwick policy and the role of Dignity Contacts.
(f) That a number of new Dignity Contacts have been recruited, increasing the number of contacts from 7 to 22, ensuring a more diverse range of contacts for staff to choose from.
(g) That in consultation with the Dignity Contacts, appropriate training sessions are being planned for the contacts to be undertaken before the launch of the revised policy.
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(h) That c ommunication of the revised policy and details of a ‘Dignity at
Warwick’ event will be made later in 2014.
42/13-14 Equality and Diversity Network (EDC Paper 21/13-14)
RECEIVED:
A copy of the notes of the meeting of the Equality and Diversity Network held on 28 April 2014.
REPORTED: (by the Chair of the Equality and Diversity Network)
(i) That there had been two good presentations at the well-attended
Network meeting, one on WBS ’s experience of submitting for a GEM award, and the other on Unconscious Bias.
(ii) That it is important that Arts and Social Science departments understand the benefits and challenges as well as the resource implications of submitting for a GEM accreditation.
(iii) That the success of the Returning Parents Network Group is noted, along with their request for improved baby changing facilities across campus.
43/13-14 Any Other Business
(a) Ramadan during Examination Periods
REPORTED: (by Rev S Jennings)
(i) That the Muslim festival of Ramadan coincides with final exams from
2015 onwards, and that consultation and preparations for exam arrangements should be raised with the relevant university departments.
REPORTED: (by M Mik)
(ii) That after consultation with the Muslim Chaplain, a paper on Ramadan at Exam Times was delivered to the Board of Undergraduate Studies meeting in November 2012, resulting in advice and guidance being prepared for students and examiners.
(b) Students’ Union Business
REPORTED: (by C Turhan)
(iii) That at a Student Meeting in February 2014, students overwhelmingly passed to lobby the University to deploy the Two Ticks Disability
Scheme, and to remove ‘The Sun’ newspaper from campus until they remove their ‘Page 3’ feature.
44/13-14 Date of Next Meeting
TO REPORT:
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That the date of the next meeting of the Equality and Diversity Committee will be in the new academic year, date to be announced.
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