Public summary of our 2023 EDI Report: Substantial achievements, with some work left to do

On 18 October 2019, CESAER’s thirty-second General Assembly unanimously adopted a Declaration on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at Universities of Science & Technology.

The declaration included the following wording:

“By 2023, we herewith collectively and individually commit to:

• increase gender balance in all decision-making levels and advisory boards to at least 30%;
• design, implement, monitor and evaluate dedicated policies and plans for equality, diversity and inclusion and implement concrete actions to accelerate them;
• set institutional targets for gender equality at all levels in our institutions and monitor and communicate on the progress of achievement;
• promote a learning community of institutions to learn from each other about equality, diversity and inclusion;
• develop guidelines against discrimination at our institutions, including advice about dealing with unconscious bias and other sources of discriminatory behaviour;
• report on the achievement of these pledges to the general public by 2024.”

To deliver on the sixth commitment, a survey was conducted during 2023 with all 58 CESAER Members invited to respond. 55 member universities completed the survey, resulting in an overall response rate of 95%. Four universities did not fully complete the questionnaire. By design the survey allowed incomplete answers as the full survey was extensive and covered many aspects including some where some universities do not readily have the needed data. Thus, a total of 51 out of 58 universities fully completed the questionnaire (88%).

As part of the survey all respondents were invited to provide the following self-assessment: “Please enter the extent to which the respective goals are fulfilled at your university or the percentage to which they are fulfilled.”

The average fulfilment for each commitment as estimated by the self-assessment conducted by each Member university, and the average overall, is reported below.

The results show that, on average, all commitments were considered achieved to around 70% or more. The full survey elaborate on details across a range of aspects related to EDI, and longitudinally compares, whenever available, to data collected as part of CESAER ‘Gender Equality Survey 2014’ and ‘Equality Survey 2018’.

Taken together, the results demonstrate an overall and clear positive trajectory with substantial achievements. The findings highlight that while there have been substantial achievements already, there is still work to do, and CESAER can and should continue to be an active player in supporting its Members in advancing EDI.

In addition to this public summary, it was agreed with the respondents to prepare a comprehensive analysis of all data and information collected to be provided exclusively to all CESAER Members. The full report is available via the Members-only Extranet

For more information, contact Information & Communication Officer Justine Moynat.

The image accompanying this article was generated by an AI.