Diversity and inclusion @ FEB

Who we are

The FEB Diversity and Inclusion Committee is committed to thinking and reshaping the faculty’s existing processes from a diversity and inclusion perspective and is engaged with the outline of future practices promoting an inclusive and diversity culture within the FEB.

Do all students and staff members have sufficient opportunities to develop their full potential? Is the education offered tailored to a diverse inflow? Do we offer sufficient support for an increasingly diverse audience? Our FEB team determines its own plans and strategies supported by the University’s Diversity and Inclusion Policy Cell. We communicate in English.

Anyone who is enthusiastic about supporting us in further developing the FEB diversity policy and creating an inclusive environment for everyone is very welcome to join.

You can contact us at diversity.eb@ugent.be

FEB Diversity and Inclusion Committee

• Ilse Ruyssen (Diversity coordinator), co-chairs: Selien De Schryder and Lauren Eeckhout
• ZAP: Bart Defloor, Veronique Limère, Kursat Önder, Greet Van Hoye
• AAP: Catherine Acosta Garcia, Laura Hill Cabrera, Nazanin Foroozesh, Pablo Muylle, Julia Mokhtar, Merel Van Bouchaute
• ATP: Lies Vermeesch
• Students: Jona De Blay, Grégory Pinnoo, Nimuë Cocquyt, Julian Peire, Joeri Hoerée, Eva Van Iseghem

Read more about the Ghent University Diversity and Inclusion initiative

Mission, vision and objectives

The mission and vision of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee is fully aligned with those of Ghent University, as stipulated in the Diversity Policy and Action Plan 2019-2023.

Mission

The FEB is constantly working on an inclusive learning, working and research environment in which all members of the Ghent University community feel at home and can develop their talents, so that they can excel in education, research and service provision. This is the only way for our faculty to be an innovative and fully-fledged global player.

Vision

Within today's super-diverse society, diversity is becoming the norm at the FEB by attracting diverse talent, creating value through research and meeting the needs of different groups. In this context, intersectionality is applied by means of multiple sociological parameters. The purpose of this is to make the different policy actions inclusive and avoid stigmatization of certain target groups.

Strategic objectives

This mission and vision will be realized through four strategic objectives:

1. The FEB has an institutional culture which facilitates the super-diversity present in society.
2. The FEB increases support for diversity and facilitates the implementation of an integrated and inclusive diversity policy.
3. The access of students and staff from underrepresented groups is widened and supported.
4. The throughflow of students and staff from underrepresented groups is increased and supported.

The FEB Diversity and Inclusion Committee has the task of shaping the central Diversity Policy and Action Plan at faculty level. The FEB Diversity and Inclusion Committee is committed to thinking and reshaping the faculty’s existing processes from a diversity and inclusion perspective and is engaged with the outline of future practices promoting an inclusive and diversity culture within the FEB.

The committee sees it as its primary task to remove the barriers that can stand in the way of students and staff during their education or career and to shape an inclusive learning, working and research environment based on consultation, participation, and broadly supported decisions.

Our initiatives

The Faculty of Economics and Business Administration is undertaking numerous actions to initially achieve two goals. On the one hand, efforts are being made to increase the intake and progression of students from various backgrounds by identifying and eliminating specific obstacles that these students experience.

On the other hand, the committee raises awareness about the importance of diversity and inclusion among staff members by means of training courses and a learning network with diversity and inclusion as central themes.

Without being exhaustive, we highlight 4 initiatives below.

1. Threshold research among students

In the academic year 2020-2021, the committee (after consultation with the monitoraat, the director of education and Stuveco) started a series of in-depth interviews among students with a migration background at the FEB to gain insight into the barriers that affect the significantly lower throughflow figures for this group. Once all obstacles have been identified, the faculty diversity& inclusion committee will look for solutions.

2. Graduate Support Network

In October 2020, a survey was sent to the OAP and completed by 130 respondents. The interesting results revealed a number of practical problems. Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go in terms of integration and social cohesion within the department or research group. Some indicated to have experienced racist behavior in the workplace, a lack of psychological support and a lack of English-language communication

3. Learning network Diversity

The diversity committee wants to create a learning network with diversity as the central theme. Initially, the committee wants to bundle the existing – but fragmented – expertise on diversity and inclusion within the FEB and give all colleagues and students the opportunity to call on this.

There is an initial list – which is far from exhaustive – containing all relevant publications on diversity of FEB colleagues. This is a warm appeal to email your own work on diversity and inclusion to diversity.eb@ugent.be . All information will be included in a Biblio list 'FEB Expertise on Diversity and Inclusion'. In the future, the committee wants to list the extent to which diversity in teaching materials is addressed.

4. Awareness of the importance of diversity among staff members

Training to bring diversity to the attention of FEB staff members is also a high priority on the committee's agenda. The diversity committee has already organized several sessions of the Active Bystander Training. The impact of bullying, intimidation and other transgressive behavior can lead to stress, anxiety and (mental) health problems. Often bystanders do not intervene because they do not know what is expected of them or how they can respond. The award-winning Active Bystander Training teaches participants techniques to act effectively when they are victims or witnesses of transgressive behaviour.

The workshop Bias Interrupters for selection committees is also an important training. In theory, a selection committee always tries to select the best candidate for a position, but in the meantime scientific evidence shows that this is not as easy as it seems.

Research shows that people are less objective when making selections than previously thought. Classic recruitment procedures often even lead to the selection of the wrong candidate. This is mainly due to implicit bias, stereotypes that we all have. This bias is an unconscious factor in our selection procedure, unless we actively learn to recognize the bias and take action. In the interactive workshop you will learn to look at the role implicit bias plays in the recruitment of academic staff. We discuss the current recruitment methods and look at how they can be adapted – where possible.

(Ongoing) realisations

• silent room at the FEB: a low-stimulus room, for anyone who needs some peace and quiet
• diversity awareness campaign for FEB staff
• D&I newsletter for FEB staff
• set-up of a "sense of belonging" working group
• session on career perspectives and work-life balance for women

“Diversity leads to excellence. Coming into contact with a multitude of views and people enhances insights, leads to better analyses and therefore solutions. Diversity is thus about the composition of the workforce and student body based on a number of demographics and socioeconomics such as gender, nationality, worldview, sexuality, ethnicity, age, cultural background, disability, and so on.
But committing to greater diversity - and thus improving the reflection of our super-diverse society within an organization and eliminating inequalities - is not enough in itself, inclusion is crucial. "Inclusion is about valuing the input of different perspectives of diversity."
- Badra Djait, central coordinator Diversity and Inclusion at Ghent University