Online Training Course: Designing an Effective Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy in Higher Education

This session will enable you to meet your peers joining the course, explore the objectives for the 2-day programme and will allow you to develop your own learning goals for the course.

• What does a holistic approach to universal design look like?
• How can inclusivity be embedded within the development and delivery of services?
• How can institutions identify and overcome common barriers to equality, diversity and inclusion across the higher education experience?
• How can an institution offer provision which reflects the challenges to inclusion for distinct groups?

In this interactive-led session you will be taken on a ‘walk through’ of EDI delivery at a leadership and governance level to assess how institution-wide policies and strategy can delivery real action on the ground for both staff and students.

In this session you will assess the core features of a high impact EDI strategy and be given an opportunity to evaluate how your institution can be benchmarked across the sector. Be prepared to reflect on your institution’s practices and how improvement can be delivered at a leadership level.

This workshop will explore:

• Translating an EDI strategy into action on the ground
• Ensuring buy in and genuine delivery at all levels
• Leading a cycle of review and policy improvement
• Learning lessons from failings or challenges
• Benchmarking performance across the sector
• Assessing how effective policy design can deliver impact

This session will explore the specific duties and legal obligations of all higher education institutions under the Equality Act 2010 and the expectations in supporting staff and students according to core protected characteristics. The session will examine:

• Understanding core duties under the Equality Act and common failings in the sector
• Conducting an equality audit across your institution to ensure compliance
• How to go beyond meeting legal obligations and ensure positive action for underrepresented and discriminated groups

This interactive workshop will offer an opportunity to work in small groups to map out how inclusive your student experience and service delivery is. The session will allow you to consider what constitutes an inclusive environment at all stages of the student journey and will allow you to develop your roadmap for enhancement.

The session will explore:

• The central components of an inclusive environment
• Embedding inclusion in student services from the bottom up
• What should access look like on campus and in central facilities?
• What makes students feel safe and equal across their student journey?
• Approaches to tackling discrimination and harassment
• How are student support services delivered to groups with protected characteristics?
• Recognising and acting on weaknesses in inclusion

*Programme subject to change

Ahead of the start of Day 2, this session will allow you to reflect on key learning objectives, assess outcomes so far and consider how you may choose to facilitate change in your institution.

• What are students’ expectations on EDI and how does it form part of the student experience?
• How can the voices of those with lived experience be reflected in service delivery?
• What does a successful co-production model look like in formulating an EDI strategy?
• How can an institution harness insights from students to measure progress and outcomes at the ground level?

This practical workshop session will examine how equality, diversity and inclusion should be embedded within teaching and learning practice. The session will consider the role of pedagogy, curricula development and assessment design in ensuring equal access to engagement with a course.

This session will give you the opportunity to develop your key action list for departmental leaders and assess how an EDI strategy can be translated into action within course delivery. The workshop will explore:

• Universal design for learning in supporting inclusion
• Key action points for reviewing pedagogy
• Mapping out an approach to equal access to course support and resources
• Assessing common barriers for disadvantaged groups and how course leaders can overcome these
• Tackling microaggressions and unconscious bias
• Examining the role of decolonisation of curricula
• Assessing accessibility for groups with protected characteristics

• Assessing how an institution can measure performance and assess progress
• Exploring key indicators and goals in evaluating an EDI strategy
• Examining how to build a qualitative picture of experiences of equality and inclusion
• Using evaluation to deliver an action plan for interventions and improvements to services

This workshop session will be offer a practical session allowing you to examine the role of diversity in staffing and assessing how higher education institutions can enhance representation at all levels. The session will examine practices around recruitment, access and careers paths for staff in the HE sector.

You will have an opportunity to benchmark how the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion apply to your HR practices, management procedures and how staffing culture how interacts with your EDI programme.

The session will allow you to explore:

• Inclusion across your staffing journey
• Accessibility and equality in staff support and management
• The character of your staffing culture and how to lead change
• Barriers to entry and progression, including recruitment and promotion
• How the lived experience of staff can inform EDI transformation

*Programme subject to change