A GRUELLING review has led the University of Newcastle to be recognised as a national leader in gender equity and Indigenous participation.
The institution has become the first organisation in Australia to achieve five Cygnet awards from SAGE
Following strict benchmarking and peer review by Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE), the institution has become the first organisation in Australia to achieve five Cygnet awards from SAGE.
The awards measure and validate efforts by institutions to reduce and remove barriers to gender equity, diversity and inclusion.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Alex Zelinsky AO said he was delighted and proud of the achievement.
"We know we're a stronger and more successful University if we have a diverse and inclusive workforce - and supporting everyone to reach their full potential is critical to ensuring that," he said.
"The more barriers we remove, the brighter the future is for our university and future generations of women and people from underrepresented groups in higher education."
SAGE science CEO Dr Janin Bredehoeft was excited about the value of UON's work to the wider community and said it was a huge milestone.
"The university has approached this challenge with absolutely unbridled enthusiasm. By supporting carers on staff, and improving fairness in workload allocations, they added to their already excellent work and earned two more awards."
The university has been recognised for initiatives to:
- Career development support for women across the Institution and assessed the impact of leadership, mentoring, and support programs on the progression and retention of women and other underrepresented groups.
- The impact of strategies including targeted female and targeted Indigenous recruitment and high-school outreach programs to improve the pipeline of female and under-represented students and staff in engineering, science and the environment fields.
- Indigenous Cultural Capability training aimed at increasing cultural safety and belonging and helping non-Indigenous staff and student move from being culturally aware to culturally responsive
- Support for carers, including embedding entitlements into the EBA, policy changes and capital expenditure.
- Ensure the fair, equitable and transparent allocation of work.
