UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Equality and Diversity Committee
Minutes of the meeting held on 22 May 2012
Present:
Professor K Lamberts (Chair for items 33/11-12 to 36/11-12), Professor M Finn
(Chair for items 37/11-12 to 46/11-12), Dr S Burrows, Dr E Campbell, Professor
A Dolan, Ms K Fisher, Ms B Hay, Mrs J Horsburgh, Mrs K Hughes, Ms I John, Mr
S Lamb, Mrs C Martin, Mr M Potter, Dr M Shewring, Mr N Shiers, Ms S Smart,
Professor A Szczepura, Professor P Thomas, Mr S Williams
Apologies:
Mrs S Crookes, Professor E Hines, Professor R Jackson, Rev. S Jennings, Dr D
Markham, Ms A Preston, Ms S Smart
In Attendance: Mrs S Beaufoy (Assistant Secretary), Mrs L Walls, Dr R Wooldridge-Smith (for
item 36/11-12)
33/11-12
Minutes
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the Committee meeting held on 8 February 2012 be
approved subsequent to the following amendments:
21/11-12 (ii) REF Code of Practice
Professor M Finn reported that the academic community welcomed that there
were clear guidelines with regard to maternity leave tariff and reduced outputs.
The Code of Practice will also cover other complex circumstances requiring
judgement about the appropriate reduction in outputs which will be dealt with on
a case by case basis.
23/11-12 (b) Special Examination Arrangements
RESOLVED:
34/11-12
(i)
That it be further clarified it would be the responsibility of the Academic
Office to investigate how it should engage with students to encourage
earlier disclosure of disabilities so adequate support can be put in place in
readiness for examinations.
(iii)
That the Academic Office would be incorporating special examination
arrangements into existing ‘Guidelines for Invigilators’ rather than creating
new guidelines.
Terms of Reference and Membership
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(a) Membership
REPORTED:
(i)
The Chair welcomed Ms K Fisher, who is covering Ms D Weber’s
maternity leave to the Committee.
(ii)
That Ms S Crookes will be covering for Mr D Persaud at the Equality and
Diversity Committee, whilst he is away on a career break.
(iii)
That Professor R Jackson is retiring from the University in September
2012 and therefore a new representative from the Social Sciences
Faculty will need to be elected.
(iv)
That Ms L Hayton, representative of non academic staff grades 6-9, has
left the University and a replacement will need to be recruited over the
summer.
RESOLVED:
35/11-12
(i)
That the Social Sciences Faculty nominate a new representative for the
next academic year.
(ii)
That the HR Adviser – Equality and Diversity administer the recruitment
process for the non-academic staff representative.
Matters Arising
(a) Athena SWAN Charter
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(i)
That Warwick Medical School has been successful in its bid for an Athena
Bronze award.
(ii) That the Department of Psychology has re-submitted for the Athena Silver
award and WMG have submitted for an Athena Bronze award. The outcome
of the submissions will be known in mid-August 2012.
(iii) That Warwick Medical School will be hosting an Athena Workshop on 14
June 2012 for other medical schools to share best practice and to discuss
challenges faced during the submission process. 13 Institutions have
already reserved places. A representative from the National Institute of
Heath Research will be attending the meeting to give a presentation.
(b) Athena Steering Group
CONSIDERED: (by the Chair)
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That the Athena Steering Group, chaired by the Pro-Vice Chancellor for
Knowledge Transfer, Business Engagement and Research (Science and
Medicine), has made the following recommendation to the Equality and Diversity
Committee:
(i)
That a formal recommendation be made by the Equality and Diversity
Committee to STEM departments to make an Athena submission for the
November 2012 deadline.
(ii) That a formal recommendation be made by the Equality and Diversity
Committee that the University submit for a Silver award either in November
2012 or April 2013.
RESOLVED:
(i)
That the Committee supports this recommendation that STEM departments
should aim to submit for Athena awards by the November 2012 submission
deadline.
(ii) That the Committee supports the recommendation that the University
submits for a Silver Athena award for either the November 2012 or the April
2013 deadlines.
(c) Athena Project Officer
REPORTED:
That an Athena Project Officer has been appointed for a period of one year to
assist and guide STEM departments with their Athena submissions.
RESOLVED:
(i)
That the Committee welcomed this appointment, in light of the increased
activity on Athena work as proposed for STEM departments.
(ii) That in line with one the University’s Equality Objectives, best practice from
the Athena work is disseminated to non-STEM departments.
36/11-12
Project/Thesis Supervision Allocation
REPORTED: (by the Deputy Academic Registrar)
That the Academic Office had conducted a survey to identify if the mechanisms
in place in academic departments were sufficient to manage student requests for
a change of supervisor or dissertation tutor or to ascertain if it was necessary for
the Graduate School to be more involved in the process.
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The survey revealed that there was largely a commonality between reasons
given and that most departments had adequate systems in place to deal with a
request for a change of supervisor.
RESOLVED:
That the Academic Office, noted that the document in its entirety was confidential
but that a high level summary would be circulated to academic departments
detailing the types of reasons that Departments have cited as requests by
students for a change in supervisor.
37/11-12
Single Equality Act
RECEIVED:
A draft report of the progress made against the Equality Objectives for the period
May 2011 to May 2012.
RESOLVED:
That a third column be included in the report to measure actions against the
objectives.
38/11-12
REF – Code of Practice
REPORTED: (by the Director of HR)
(i)
That the REF Code of Practice (CoP) had been submitted to HEFCE on 27
April 2012 for approval. Prior to submission the CoP had been approved by
Steering and feedback sought from UCU.
(ii) That equality training will be initially offered to Heads of Departments and
REF Coordinators, with a view to extending the training to other staff
members as appropriate.
39/11-12
Equality and Diversity Network
RECEIVED:
A copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Equality and Diversity Network
meeting held on 30 April 2012.
REPORTED: (By the Chair of the Equality and Diversity Network)
(i)
That the Network continued to support the Returning Parents Network
Group and have asked the group to attend a future meeting to report on
progress.
(ii)
That the Network supported Mental Health Awareness initiatives.
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(iii)
40/11-12
That the Equality and Diversity Network Group is working well and
continuing to develop and attract new members.
Disability Interest Group
RECEIVED:
A copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Disability Interest Group meeting held
on 18 April 2012.
REPORTED: (by the Disability Coordinator)
(a) Campus Accessibility and Ongoing Works
(i)
That discussions were still ongoing with regard to parking at the Medical
School.
(ii)
That there had been some problems with access into the Medical School.
The Student Union’s Welfare Officer reported that there had been
complaints received from students stating that there had been
adjustments made to the timings of the automatic doors into the Medical
School, which made it difficult for them to enter the building before the
doors closed.
RESOLVED:
(i)
That the timings on the door controls have already been re-adjusted to
extend the length of time the doors remained open.
(ii)
That any changes to access across campus should be notified to
Disability Services in order that they can inform disabled students prior to
the change taking place. The Director of HR agreed to ensure that any
immediate changes arising from the Major Incidents team were
communicated to Disability Services.
(b) Special Examination Arrangements
REPORTED:
That Disability Services continued to work with academic departments with
regard to examination arrangements, but that it should be highlighted that smaller
departments are struggling to provide adequate resources.
(c) Drop in Service
REPORTED:
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That Disability Services would continue to provide a drop in service for students
in different locations on campus. Drop in services are currently provided in
University House, the Library and the Students Union. A further request has been
received by Disability Services to include a session in Warwick Medical School.
(d) New Dyslexia Support Post
REPORTED:
A new Dyslexia support post is currently being recruited to.
(e) Guidelines for Marking Disabled Students Work
REPORTED:
That a draft policy on the Guidelines for Marking Disabled Students work
complied by Life Sciences had been circulated to the Group for comments
41/11-12
Staff Network Groups
REPORTED: (by Assistant Secretary)
That following feedback from the Returning Parents Network Group, HR are
continuing to liaise with the group to identify improvements in processes and
paperwork for returning parents.
42/11-12
HESA – Changes to Staff Data
REPORTED: (by L Walls)
That following confirmation from HESA that the collection of data on sexual
orientation and religion or belief is not compulsory, that a recommendation be
made by the Committee that collection of this type of data be deferred until
2013/14, to allow an opportunity to ascertain the impact on other HEIs that are
collecting the data and to provide clearer details on what the information would
be used for.
RESOLVED:
That collection of data on sexual orientation and religion or belief be deferred
until 2013/14, with a review on whether to collect this data to take place at that
time.
43/11-12
HESA – Changes to Student Data
REPORTED: (by L Walls)
That following consultations with students and the confirmation from HESA that
the collection of such data is not compulsory, that this type of data collection will
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be deferred until 2013/14, to allow an opportunity to ascertain the impact on other
HEIs that are collecting the data.
RESOLVED:
That a review of the data collection be made in 2013/14.
44/11-12
DisabledGo
REPORTED: (by the Assistant Secretary)
That the Director of Health and Safety will lead on this project and will attend the
University Equality and Diversity Network meeting to request that Departmental
Equality and Diversity Representatives become involved in the project by
recording what facilities are available in each department.
45/11-12
Any Other Business
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
Thanks were expressed to members of the Committee who were finishing their
term of office.
Equality Analysis Package
REPORTED: (by the Assistant Secretary)
The Learning and Development Centre have reviewed the e-training material for
the Equality Analysis Package and comments will be communicated back to
Marshalls (supplier). HR will work with Governance to identify which policies
should be entered on the system/
46/11-12
Date of Next Meetings
REPORTED:
That the date of the meetings scheduled for the academic year 2012/13 will be
announced shortly.
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