Strategic equality plan 2024-2028

Foreword by the Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Cardiff University has a long and proud history of being a progressive and inclusive institution. That pride extends from promoting Millicent Mackenzie as Wales’ first female Professor in 1904 and opening our doors to Belgian refugees in 1914 to celebrating Professor Emmanuel Ogbonna’s role in creating the Welsh Government’s Anti-Racist Action Plan for Wales. I have the pleasure and honour of being the first woman Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University.

Our history of promoting social justice supports our contemporary journey towards equity and fairness, both within our University and in the context of our wider local and global communities. Our ambitions cannot be achieved in isolation, and we will work with others to tackle injustice and strive for fairness for all. Equity by definition cannot be pursued for particular groups and institutions only. That is why our Strategic Equality Plan takes a connected view of our large institution while also being committedly outward-facing.

Like all Higher Education institutions across the UK, Cardiff University is facing significant financial challenges. We know we need to live within our means and generate new sources of income so that we can deliver on our strategic objectives, invest in new activities and achieve academic and financial sustainability. In addition to this financial context, we know we are facing a decade of rapid change, to which we will need to adapt.  In the face of these challenges, achieving the objectives of our Strategic Equality Plan and achieving our ambitions for equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism are, for us, a non-negotiable.

The form and reach of our Strategic Equality Plan — which stands in a mutually supporting relation to the new institutional strategy, Our Future, Together — signals a step change from previous years. It touches all parts of our bilingual University’s activities, and it is underpinned by the recognition that it is the responsibility of every single member of our community to take steps to support its goals. It is purposely conceived as a Plan that locates global values in a distinctively Welsh context — committed as we are to being not only in, but of, Wales.

Our Plan lays out how we propose to enhance cultures and values of Cynefin, Tegwch, and Cyfrannu — Belonging, Equity and Contribution. These are the touchpoints in our Plan, which sets out who we want to be as an institution and what we need to do to get there. A clear Action Plan sits alongside, detailing what actions we will take and how we will monitor our progress.

I pledge to work with all of you to achieve the vision set out in this Plan.

1. Introduction

1.1 Context

Welcome to our Strategic Equality Plan 2024-2028. Its values, commitments and objectives were identified in University-wide consultations and conversations about what matters to us as a community, as an anchor institution in our capital city, as a University that is proud to be not only in but also of Wales, and as an international partner. Our new ten-year institutional strategy, published in July 2024, identifies community, place and the co-creation of equitable and sustainable futures for all as strategic priorities. This Strategic Equality Plan’s commitment to enhancing a socially just, diverse, inclusive and actively anti-racist culture supports those institutional goals.

Since our last Strategic Equality Plan, published in April 2020, we have faced a pandemic; global protests relating to race equality; wars in Europe, the Middle East and around the world; and an ongoing cost of living crisis. As a society we are facing a range of complex and interconnected challenges that affect everyone in our Cardiff University community. The impacts of these challenges are not felt equally. We recognise that entrenched inequalities in wider society are also felt within Cardiff University and are committed to taking bold steps to identify and tackle those issues.

This Strategic Equality Plan provides the blueprint for how Cardiff University will meet our ambitions for equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism. We have assessed external evidence to understand the key issues affecting wider society, including in the context of Higher Education, and have explored our internal data to understand how these issues are playing out in our own community. This evidence base underpins our proposed Equality Objectives.

1.2 Our values and vision

In developing this Strategic Equality Plan, we hold fast to the values that connect us as a community. We strive to be socially just, diverse, inclusive, and actively anti-racist, and to support academic freedom and freedom of speech within the law. We will actively work to overcome inequalities, celebrate our diversity, and work in an intersectional way to create an inclusive environment, so that everyone who works or studies at, or collaborates with, Cardiff University can fulfil their potential.

1.3 Equality legislation

The general duty

The Equality Act 2010 places an equality duty on public sector bodies such as Cardiff University. In carrying out our functions, we must have due regard to the need to:

• Eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited under the Act;
• Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; and
• Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

The General Duty covers the following protected characteristics: Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Pregnancy and Maternity, Race, Religion and belief, Sex and Sexual orientation, Marriage and Civil partnership (in respect of the requirement to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination).

Strategic equality plans

As a listed body in Wales under the Equality Act 2010, Cardiff University is required to draw up a Strategic Equality Plan at least every 4 years. This Plan sets out how we aim to meet our commitment to equality and how we will meet legal obligations contained within the Equality Act 2010.

2. Our approach

2.1 Developing our equality objectives

In summer 2023 we sought initial feedback on our proposed Equality Objectives from staff and students to hear views on whether these were the right areas for us to focus on. From autumn 2023 the University consulted widely with staff, students, the local community and other stakeholders through ‘Y Sgwrs Fawr – The Big Conversation’ to help us shape our future and develop a new University strategy. The feedback and insight gained from these engagements have informed our Strategic Equality Plan, Equality Objectives and our underpinning action plan.

Headline findings from these consultations include:

• The need to ensure that no protected characteristic is prioritised over another, with a strong steer towards intersectionality.
• Terminology and definitions are important, and the language we use needs to be more active and more accessible. Our community is calling for up-to-date, relevant, consistent and inclusive language and terminology.
• We need to improve our knowledge and understanding of disability, accessibility and dignity.
• There was recognition that our data needs to be substantially enhanced if we are to understand our community’s needs, identify and swiftly address inequities using an evidence-based and data-driven approach, measure our progress and hold ourselves to account.
• Our reporting and complaints procedures were identified by staff and students as difficult to navigate and use.
• There was a gap in the proposed plan around action on violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence (VAWDASV).
• There was an emphasis on the need for the Strategic Equality Plan to enshrine academic freedom and freedom of speech within the law.

2.2 Introducing our overarching themes

We are the largest University in Wales, located in the capital city of our small and ambitious nation. We are proud of the rich and diverse history of Cardiff University and its longstanding commitment to inclusion and promoting equal opportunities. We are a multilingual institution, operating in both Welsh and English, that is part of a global and multilingual community.

Our Strategic Equality Plan 2024–2028 is an opportunity to reflect on what type of institution Cardiff University is, what we want it to be, and what steps we need to take to make this a reality. We will adopt a whole-institution approach to achieving our Equality Objectives, recognising that our diverse community comprises staff and students in Colleges, Schools and Professional Services teams in various locations across our campus, our external partners nationally and internationally, and the local communities with which we work. Every individual in our community is a valued member or partner of our University, and brings with them a unique mixture of lived experiences, characteristics and perspectives.

We want to support every member of our community to feel confident in their sense of belonging, strengthening trust in Cardiff University as an institution. We recognise that this requires us to be transparent in how we operate and that we must promote clear and understandable processes and systems that are fair, equitable and easy to navigate. We want Cardiff University’s campus and all its varied activities to nurture a sense of familiarity, comfort and safety. We will robustly tackle identity-based harassment, violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence on our campus, and support those who are impacted. This ambition can be meaningfully articulated using the Welsh concept of cynefin. Our Strategic Equality Plan outlines how we will build Cardiff’s culture as one of cynefin.

Cynefin (pronounced kənˈɛvɪn or kuh-nev-in) can be understood to mean the place where we feel we belong – a familiar habitat to which we are accustomed and in which we feel rooted. It signals a trusted relationship with a particular, recognised environment and its multiple interconnected relations.

Cardiff University’s diversity is one of our biggest assets and is the key to our future success. We are committed to ensuring that everyone in the University has access to equal opportunities, including in recruitment, career development and degree awards. We must value the talent that we have in our community, while supporting individuals to achieve their goals. We call this tegwch, meaning fairness or justice.

Tegwch (pronounced teːɡʊχ or teg-ookh) is defined as equity, fairness, justice or impartiality.

We are an outward-facing University that recognises that the things that we do, and the decisions we make, have an impact on lives and communities that are not bounded by our campus. We will ensure that our education, research, innovation, operational, and civic mission activities have a positive social impact and that through them we actively promote our values in the service of being socially just, diverse, inclusive, and actively anti-racist. We will engage with and learn from each other and from the local communities in Cardiff, understanding and celebrating differences and sharing new ideas. We call this commitment cyfrannu, meaning to contribute.

Cyfrannu (pronounced kəvˈrani or kuv-ranee) is defined as the act and culture of contributing. It encapsulates the impact we have outside the University through our education, research, innovation, civic mission and operational activities.

2.3 Whom this plan is for

Our Strategic Equality Plan is designed to support three specific groups whom the University has a duty to work both with and for:

Our students

Our Strategic Equality Plan will foster our students’ sense of belonging to Cardiff University, celebrate their diverse viewpoints and experiences, and enhance their student life and learning experiences.

Our staff

The objectives outlined in our Strategic Equality Plan will help nurture a culture where we become an employer of choice with a vibrant and international staff body that is more representative of the diversity in our city region.

Our local communities and external partners

By delivering on the objectives in the Strategic Equality Plan, the University will be more meaningfully integrated into our city region, co-locating and co-creating on multiple platforms with communities and partners – local, national and global.

3. Equality objectives

We will work towards achieving three overarching Equality Objectives during this period, which will enable us to create positive change for everyone in our community – covering all protected characteristics and taking an intersectional lens – and fulfil our equality duties:

Objective 1: Build cynefin, a place where everyone in our community feels they belong, ensuring that studying and working at Cardiff University nurtures trust in the institution, a familiarity with how we operate, and a belief that diverse contributions are valued, celebrated and recognised.

Building cynefin means creating an environment of psychological and physical safety, trust, respect, wellbeing, and accessibility-with-dignity for all.

What success looks like

• People feel valued in their work and studies
• People are treated with respect and dignity
• Diverse contributions are sought and recognised
• The mental load spent on overcoming systemic challenges is eliminated.

How we get there

• Support our diverse community to feel a sense of belonging and trust in Cardiff University.
• Embed a culture of equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism, ensuring everyone in the University community is treated equitably, and with dignity and respect.
• Create a welcoming and accessible campus.
• Provide a safe, welcoming, accessible and inclusive environment that allows everyone in our community to bring their authentic self to their work and studies.
• Promote an inclusive understanding of Welsh culture and the use of the Welsh language in all our activities.
• Ensure that we encourage and celebrate diverse ideas and perspectives from staff and students across all of our activities.
• Promote an open, transparent and evidence-based dialogue on equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism, while enshrining academic freedom and freedom of speech within the law in our ways of working.
• Ensure that our policies, processes, practices and decision-making build cynefin and are fair, clear, consistent and supportive.
• Promote a culture that does not tolerate identity-based harassment and violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence.
• Provide support for those who experience or are impacted by identity-based harassment and violence and take action to eliminate this from Cardiff University.

Objective 2: Establish tegwch, providing equitable opportunities for everyone in Cardiff University to achieve their goals.

Achieving tegwch means addressing structural and systemic barriers to equal opportunity. In this state, everyone is recognised and rewarded as equals, diverse viewpoints are considered in policies and decisions, and staff and students are not held back and disadvantaged by structural inequalities.

What success looks like

• A reduction in disparities in the experience and outcomes of our students based on their characteristics and background.
• The staff body is significantly more representative of the local area across all grades and job roles.
• Gender pay gaps and pay gaps related to other protected characteristics are reduced.
• Student numbers are increased in underrepresented groups on our taught and research programmes.
• A diversity of perspectives inform our policies and decision making.
• Staff and students have equal opportunity to pursue their studies and careers through the medium of Welsh.

How we get there

To achieve this objective, we will:

• Take action to ensure our student and staff body is diverse and representative.
• Design and deliver programmes that recognise and respond to the needs of our students, empowering them to achieve their potential.
• Support students throughout their student journey into, through and out of University, enabling them to thrive both within and beyond the classroom.
• Ensure that all staff are equally supported to achieve their career goals.
• Take action to reduce pay gaps.
• Take action to ensure membership of our Committees and other decision-making bodies reflects the diversity of Cardiff University.
• Promote opportunities for everyone in our community to learn and use the Welsh language in their work and study.

Objective 3: Embrace cyfrannu. Through a culture of cyfrannu, we will take an outward-looking approach that ensures that our education, research, innovation, civic mission and operational activities help tackle inequality and racism at local, national and international levels.

Achieving this objective means that our education, research, innovation, civic mission and operational activities address real-world global and local challenges, including the climate crisis, and actively contribute to addressing inequity in all its forms. It also means that we share with and learn from our communities and collaboration partners, understanding new ideas and concepts and diverse viewpoints, and that circles of learning and the sharing of good practice occur.

What success looks like

• Through our education, research, innovation and civic mission work, knowledge is disseminated accessibly, widely, creatively and impactfully for the benefit of others, to address inequity in all its forms.
• Collaborations with research partners, funders, communities and civil society continue to tackle real-world global and local grand challenges.
• Our day-to-day operations support our ambitions to be a socially just and sustainable institution.

How we get there

To achieve this objective, we will:

• Contribute to the Welsh, UK and international evidence base on what action works in promoting equitable outcomes for all.
• Use our research, innovation, education and civic mission activities to tackle structural and socio-economic inequalities in Cardiff, Wales and the world.
• Equip students with the knowledge and skills to tackle social inequalities and promote equal opportunities for all during and after their time at Cardiff University.
• Continue to develop a climate-conscious approach to procurement, estates and travel.

4. Implementing and monitoring our equality objectives

Responsibility for our Equality Objectives lies with the University Executive Board with oversight from the EDI sub-Committee and Governance Committee. The University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor is the Executive Sponsor responsible for our Strategic Equality Plan.

Implementation of this Plan is a University-wide initiative but will be driven by the University’s EDI Hub, which will take a programme management approach to its delivery. Oversight of our progress will be monitored through the University’s governance structures.

Detailed scrutiny on our progress towards meeting our Equality Objectives will be published in our annual report by 31 March each year on the University’s website. In line with the Equality Act 2010 Specific Duties, we will publish detailed employment information and student equality data reports. This data will support us to assess our progress towards achieving our Equality Objectives.

Get in touch

For further information or to provide feedback on this Strategic Equality Plan, please contact:

EDI Hub
e-mail: EDIhub@cardiff.ac.uk

Objective 1: Build cynefin, a place where everyone in our community feels they belong, ensuring that studying and working at Cardiff University nurtures trust in the institution, a familiarity with how we operate, and a belief that diverse contributions are valued, celebrated and recognised.

Objective 2: Establish tegwch, providing equitable opportunities for everyone in Cardiff University to achieve their goals.

Objective 3: Embrace cyfrannu. Through a culture of cyfrannu, we will take an outward-looking approach that ensures that our education, research, innovation, civic mission and operational activities help tackle inequality and racism at local, national and international levels.

Following the publication of this strategy, the University will publish an accompanying action plan that sets out how we will meet the strategy’s objectives, including what metrics we will use to establish a baseline and continually review our progress. We will also develop an equality, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism data strategy that will underpin the monitoring and implementation of this Strategic Equality Plan.

The following sources of evidence will be used to assess our performance:

• Data on our workforce;
• Data on our students;
• Our staff survey;
• National Student Survey, Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey and Postgraduate Research Experience Survey data;
• Student feedback;
• Feedback from the local community;
• Our Charter Mark status

As noted above, we will publish an annual monitoring report to track our progress towards meeting our objectives and the actions outlined in this Strategic Equality Plan, providing transparency on our progress. We will use this to further develop and refine our action plans, which we will iteratively review to ensure we stay on track to meet our Strategic Equality Objectives.