1. Introduction

The University of London

The University of London is an inclusive and diverse community of 48,000 students in 190 countries. We have campuses in London and Paris, over 100 Recognised Teaching Centres in 44 countries, students studying face-toface and online, and over 1 million alumni. Our global network of students is supported by our staff and alumni who help them develop their study skills and deepen their learning, develop their employability skills, and look after their health and wellbeing. We continue to offer bursaries and forms of financial support and support them in volunteering and giving back. We have over 3,500 students in intercollegiate halls in London, from across Member Institutions, enjoying the best pastoral care and personal development programmes to help prepare students for independent life. The University of London was founded upon the principles of equality and established to provide education to all, based on merit. We are very proud of the fact that we were the first university to admit students regardless of their gender, race, or religion, the first to admit women to degree programme special examinations and, in 1865, the first to give students the opportunity to study our degrees anywhere across the globe.

Our approach to equality and inclusion

Our commitment to equality and inclusion remains a key institutional value enshrined in our Statutes. We recognise that embracing equality and inclusion is critical to the success of the University and that we can only achieve our vision of being a world-class, forward looking, confident university by recruiting, supporting, and developing staff and students from the widest variety of backgrounds. We want to be a place where everyone can fulfil their full potential. Our strategic focus on equality and inclusion provides us with an opportunity to attract and retain high-quality staff and students and support higher levels of achievement in students from a broader range of backgrounds. When this is coupled with the simple moral argument that no one should experience inequality because of who they are, the case for supporting and promoting equality and inclusion becomes imperative for us. However, we recognise that we can always do better to ensure equality and inclusion and that real change does not happen overnight. It requires cultural and operational change and for all of us at the University to work together. A lot of this is about making small changes that deliver a big impact and this has been the focus of our equality and inclusion activities in 2019-20. In this context, the aim of our annual Equality and Inclusion Report is to take stock and provide a summary of our main equality and inclusion-related actions that have been taken over the last year to deliver the objectives that were set out in the University’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (2016-2019).

The Strategy has eight key diversity and inclusion objectives that cover all areas of the University’s functions by focusing on four distinct thematic areas of Leadership, Employment, Student services and Central services. These key objectives are listed in the table below:

Objective Thematic Area

1 Demonstrate leadership on diversity, promoting the benefits of inclusive practices Leadership

2 Advance equality of opportunity at all levels, including within senior management Employment

3 Be an employer of choice for all, with high levels of staff satisfaction and performance Employment

4

5

6 Provide a working environment that empowers all our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential Employment

Recruit and support students from the broadest pool with accessible and inclusive teaching programmes Student services

Adopt an inclusive approach to facilities management, working towards developing fully inclusive facilities when building new and improving accessibility for all users of our existing estate Central services

7 Embed our commitment to diversity and inclusion into all our central services

8 Ensure systematic consideration of equality and diversity in our planning and compliance with our duties under the Equality Act (2010) Central Services

The Equality and Inclusion Strategy is supported by an internal action plan that sets out the activities that we will focus on to deliver the objectives. This action plan is a live document that is used to plan and monitor our progress against the objectives in a clear and transparent way. Central services