Reflective questions for Scottish colleges and universities: General prompts for embedding equality and diversity in widening participation policy

Alignment of institutional equality & widening access activities in strategy and policy

Strategy

• How does the institution a) identify its strategic equality and diversity vision, mission and priorities and b) how are these incorporated within the overall institutional strategy?
• How does the institution reflect on alignment of its strategic equality and diversity vision, mission and values to the duty to pay ‘due regard’, embedded within the public sector equality duty?
• How does the institution ensure its intended approach is effectively implemented across all functions, to align with and support an integrated approach within strategy and policy development and with equality priorities?  

Communication

• Are institutional equality outcomes, related reporting and initiatives widely shared and discussed across the institution at all levels (including committee and board levels), to help embed aims and promote an understanding of the relevance to specific functions and teams?

Systems and processes

• Are there currently clear and effective institutional processes to consider and align different types of equality and widening access activities, reporting and self-evaluation; are there opportunities to further enhance systems and processes to improve effectiveness?  
• What approaches are currently used to consider, reflect on and evaluate the impact of institutional equality outcomes and activities, rather than solely reporting achievement of progress with specific initiatives and broader equality activities?    

Training and development

• What equality and diversity training and development is required and in place, to ensure that staff at all levels understand and imbue the institution’s equality, diversity and access values within their day to day work, enabling effective embedding and alignment of equality within strategic work and activities?

Other specific key considerations to support equality reporting

Equality Impact Assessment (EIA)

• Is EIA currently used effectively as a strategic tool, to a) identify equality impacts and opportunities and b) inform strategic equality and diversity priorities and direction, based on robust evidence, data, involvement and consultation?

Partnerships and collaboration

• What systems and processes exist to support both internal cross team or functional working and collaboration on equality and access issues, and relevant external partnership collaboration?
• Is there a shared understanding of the work, remits and overlaps applicable to different institutional teams with similar equality or access aims, including discussion or joint working forums?
• Does the institution have separate or shared initiatives for students compared with staff, and is there scope for greater collaboration and synergies?  

Data and evidence

• Does the institution have robust processes for data gathering, analysis, measuring and evaluating impact for all PCs and other access issues, to consider barriers, under-representation, disparities across subject areas, student employment outcomes, staff representation within institutional roles and functions etc.
• Does the institution routinely gather and use data and evidence to underpin institutional understanding of equality and access issues and to highlight key questions, leading to the identification of priorities?
• Is ‘intersectionality’ of PCs and other access issues considered within data gathering and analysis, to help highlight specific types of compounded disadvantage (e.g. SIMD linked to ethnicity)? 
• What methods of consultation and feedback are used with both students and staff, partners and other relevant organisations to ensure that qualitative as well as quantitative data and evidence is examined and helps inform institutional priorities and activity within broader equality work and EIA?