1. Overview of the department and its approach to gender equality 1.1 Letter of endorsement from the head of the department September 29 th 2023
Head of Equality Charters at Equality Challenge Unit Athena Swan Charter Equality Challenge Unit First Floor, Westminster Tower 3 Albert Embankment
London SE1 7SP
Dear Sir/Madam, As Dean of Warwick Business School, I wholeheartedly support this application for a gold award. I have been closely involved in the work, ensuring our commitments to diversity, inclusion, and gender equality feature prominently in our CORE values statement, and our 2030 school strategy. This submission describes the scale of efforts we have made, and the impacts that have resulted, which I believe are wide-reaching. The activities reported are central to what we do. All members of the Executive Team have been closely involved since we began to lead the school in 2016/17. The chair of the EDIC sits in the Executive Team, as Pro-Dean (Faculty). As Dean, I have sat on the EDIC since 2016, and have been a member of the 2017 and 2023 SATs. The Pro-Dean (Teaching and Learning) has oversight of the s chool’s inclusive education strategy, and sat on the 2017 and 2023 SATs. Our Chief Operating Officer (COO) has been a member of the EDIC since 2016, the 2017 and 2023 SATs, and has been central to initiatives reported in the submission. A marked improvement in key metrics is observable from 2016/17 onwards. The team have been closely involved because inclusivity and diversity are key drivers of our strategy. We operate in a highly competitive field. The programme of work assessed in the submission is critical to how we strive to attract and retain talented staff and students. Quality and diversity are the drivers of everything we do educationally, from recruitment through to course review. All our courses are RAG rated and we develop and close courses to drive diversity. Our student intake is gender balanced year on year. The diversity of our staff population is likewise constantly monitored. From the last assessment, over half of all academic hires have been female (55%), but only 22% of leavers have been female. For the first time in our history, faculty are now gender balanced at all but the professorial grade, where only 6% of professorial leavers have been female since 2017. There have never been more female Assistant, Associate, or full Professors, in the department. As we have become more balanced, we have improved our performance on all key measures. Our engagement with the Athena Swan (AS) framework has been tremendously positive, providing focus and discipline. We were an early recipient of a bronze award in 2013 and the first business school to receive a silver award in 2017. We took the silver award seriously and have worked extensively to help other schools progress. Based on the idea that structural change requires sector-wide collaboration, we launched and continue to lead the Athena Swan Business School Network . Now into its 7th year this is an established feature of
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