Vision text

What is diversity?

Diversity is variety. Every student and staff member has their own unique combination of visible and less visible personal characteristics. Managing diversity means using the qualities, talents, experiences, and competences of all students and staff members, taking into account the diversity of individuals and groups within the university. A diversity policy is centred on actively searching for talent in society and developing strategies to help that talent flourish. The aim of a diversity policy is therefore to stimulate and achieve proportional and equitable participation of students and staff.

Why choose diversity?

In the vision text below, Ghent University emphasizes its desire to actively and comprehensively work on diversity. This text builds on the mission statement in which UGent presents itself as a socially engaged and pluralistic university that is open to all students regardless of their philosophical, political, cultural, or social background.

Furthermore, this vision text aligns with the anti-discrimination declaration in which UGent opposes any form of indirect or direct discrimination, exclusion, segregation, racism, and unequal treatment. Finally, it also connects with the university’s educational vision, which aims to guide students toward becoming independent thinkers.

Diversity as added value for education, research, and services

Ghent University considers it its responsibility to make a major contribution to the knowledge society through research, education, and services. UGent is convinced that diversity—understood as recognising, valuing, and making use of differences—plays a crucial and central role in education, research, and services. A diverse population of staff and students provides added value in generating insights and stimulates creativity and innovation in research, teaching, and services. Diversity generates new ideas, different perspectives, and “daring to think” gains additional momentum.

UGent as a reflection of talent in society

The university chooses to stand firmly within society. Its mission is to seek out, utilize, and strengthen the talent that exists in society. It considers it a social responsibility to work toward the democratisation of education. Although the number of students attending university has increased significantly in recent decades, genuine democratisation has not yet been achieved: certain societal groups still do not sufficiently participate in higher education. Moreover, UGent aims to reflect social reality and demographic composition in both its student and staff population. Proportional and equitable participation of underrepresented groups is an important objective of the diversity policy. UGent believes that anyone who has the intrinsic capacity to pursue higher education should be given the opportunity to do so. It sees it as its task to provide a supportive and guiding framework so that all students with this potential can successfully complete higher education.

Key principles of the diversity policy

UGent’s diversity policy is built on five key principles:
(1) Accessibility, (2) Proportional and equitable participation, (3) Creating opportunities, (4) Responsibility, and (5) Excellence.

1. Accessibility

UGent strives for optimal accessibility of services and (educational) facilities for different categories of students and staff members. Accessibility can take many forms: we pay attention to physical, mental, financial, and digital accessibility, among others. We apply the “design for all” model. This model states that services and facilities should be designed or adapted not to the average user, but to a large group of users with different needs and requirements.

“Design for all” should not be reduced to individual customisation. “Design for all” takes into account various categories of users in advance. Individual customisation is applied when regular facilities are insufficiently aligned with the needs of an individual user. Although individual customisation can never be completely ruled out and will even remain necessary, “design for all” is intended to reduce the need for individual customisation. Knowledge of the needs and requirements of specific groups—as well as of mechanisms of disadvantage—flexibility, and differentiation are crucial conditions for implementing the “design for all” model.

2. Proportional and equitable participation

UGent aims to reflect the talent present in society and strives for proportional and equitable participation of underrepresented groups of students and staff.
Proportional participation means that the participation of groups at UGent is equal to their relative share in society.
Equitable participation refers to full social and academic integration of all students and staff members. This implies active efforts by UGent to promote awareness and consciousness on one hand, and participation and involvement of everyone on the other.

3. Creating opportunities

UGent does not view higher education as a competition in which support and encouragement are reserved only for winners, but as an expedition in which opportunities are created for all participants to complete the journey successfully.

UGent assumes that unequal starting opportunities are not an unavoidable fact, but arise because individual characteristics and environmental factors are misaligned. The university adopts a dual-track policy that focuses both on strengthening personal characteristics and on adjusting and changing environmental characteristics. In doing so, we aim to bridge the gap between personal characteristics and environmental conditions.

When focusing on personal characteristics, the strengthening of individual (learning) competences necessary to successfully complete university education or a career at the university is central. This takes into account the diversity and individuality of each person. Guiding students toward becoming independent thinkers, considering their background and talents, should lead to equitable pathways. It is acknowledged that study paths may be followed in different ways. The focus lies on talent development and differentiated support and guidance. Moreover, the learning process does not end upon obtaining a degree. UGent strives for lifelong and lifewide learning among its staff so that the development of existing talent can lead to a creative and innovative working environment.

In addition to strengthening the individual competences of students and staff, UGent also aims to structurally influence environmental characteristics, specifically the learning and working environment. UGent chooses a dynamic learning and working environment aimed at appealing to and utilizing the potential of all students and staff members. This requires a critical attitude and reflection toward the existing learning and working environment, and a willingness to engage in structural and continuous change.

4. Responsibility

Managing diversity is a competence and a societal responsibility for everyone: staff members, students, and graduates. In line with its general educational vision, UGent makes efforts to strengthen this competence so that its students, employees, and graduates can function in a diverse society.

5. Excellence

UGent aims to be a challenging and demanding learning and working environment for students and staff. Students and staff benefit from high standards and expectations. This encourages students to grow into independent thinkers and staff to excel in their responsibilities. A diversity policy, like a quality policy, strives for excellence precisely because it is based on everyone’s talent and aims at maximum development.

Ghent University, January 30, 2009

Ghent University considers this vision text as the general starting point for its diversity policy. Concrete objectives and actions will be included in a diversity action plan.