Equity

Equity, greater diversity at all levels, and inclusion in every aspect of how we work and what we achieve.

We are committed to creating a culture of respect and belonging so that everyone is meaningfully included in the University’s ways of working and way of life, addressing under-representation or exclusion of voices that should be heard. Guided by our values to be inclusive, innovative and responsive, we ask of ourselves and others that we take personal responsibility for our behaviour and hold each other to account for our words and actions to achieve the equity, diversity and inclusion that will make us an even better university.

Our aim is to become the university of choice for people who want to work or study at a university committed to being anti-racist and culturally responsive to the needs of our students, learners and employees.

An equitable student experience is paramount, and our students should see themselves reflected in their learning experience and curriculum content, as well as have their identities and experiences recognised as part of everyone’s learning.

We regard diversity in our workforce and student body at every level to be key to a successful university. Diverse student groups enable better learning and diverse teams have higher levels of productivity and problem-solving success. To address inequity and enrich learning and our work at the OU, we will use meaningful data and make credible commitments to inform our strategies and policies with ambitious equity, diversity and inclusion principles that have real effect.

We aim for far more than mere compliance, but our plans will be aligned with relevant equality legislation across the four nations, our equality scheme and charter action plans.