Race Equality Policy

Index:    

• 1. Introduction and statement of intent
• 2. Scope of the Policy
• 3. The Policy
• 4. University Responsibilities
• 5. Individual Responsibilities
• 6. Where to seek advice and further information
• 7. Monitoring
• 8. Relevance to other University Policies
• 9. Useful contacts

Appendices

• Appendix A: Race Equality Action Plan
• Appendix B: Definition of race discrimination
• Appendix C: Equality Monitoring
• Appendix D: Race Equality Group Remit

October 2009

Titles used in this policy maybe subject to change. The titles are accurate at the time of printing. 

Please feel free to use the information contained within this Policy by acknowledging the University of Glasgow and/ or the appropriate source.

1. Introduction and statement of intent

1.1 The University of Glasgow is committed to racial equality including promoting and implementing equality of opportunity in the learning, teaching, research and working environments.

1.2 The University recognises the valuable present and potential contribution made by staff and students of diverse ethnic, racial and national backgrounds, to the benefit of the University community in respect of its learning, teaching, research, management, administration and support service activities.

1.3 The University seeks to eliminate all forms of direct and indirect race-related discrimination, victimisation and harassment and supports the creation of a learning and working environment based on good race relations.

2. Scope of the Policy

This Policy covers all members of the University community, including:

• All members of staff(1) holding a contract of employment, honorary staff, and staff from other institutions on placement at, or visiting the University
• All students, including visiting and placement students
• Visitors, including external persons or agencies using the University’s premises
• Contractors working at the University
• Individuals working or acting on the University’s behalf, including suppliers of goods and services.

(1)
All staff include - full and part time, sessional, and honorary staff.

3. The Policy

3.1 The University aims to ensure its community is treated with fairness, dignity and respect in relation to race equality.

3.2 The University has developed the Policy in compliance with and in the spirit of the relevant legislation(2), including the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

3.3 Race, ethnic and national background will not be considered as one of the criteria in any decisions concerning student admissions, progression and support provision

3.4 Race, ethnic, or national background will not be included in the criteria applied to staff recruitment and selection, career development, promotion and staff development opportunities.

3.5 The University aims to create a learning and working environment based on good relations between people of all racial, ethnic, and national backgrounds with a shared commitment to challenging and preventing stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and promoting respect for all.

3.6 Monitoring by ethnic and national origin (together with information on disability, gender, ethnic origin, and where practicable, on religion/belief and sexual orientation) will be recorded by the University to ensure that all people applying for jobs or for entry to degree programmes and courses are being fairly treated (Appendix C).

3.7 Under-represented groups are encouraged to apply for work and study at the University.

(2)
Including the Human Rights Act 1998.

4. University Responsibilities

The University will ensure that:

4.1 Staff and students are made aware of the Race Equality Policy through the University’s web pages, publications and general training, where appropriate.

4.2 Publicity material reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of the University’s community.

4.3 Staff and students are treated fairly, regardless of their ethnic, race and national background and the University will take prompt action over alleged racial discrimination or harassment. Existing procedures for staff and student complaints, grievances and discipline will be applied to ensure that they are handled in a just, fair, open and timely manner.

4.4 Staff involved in (staff) recruitment, (student) admissions and selection panels receive prior and follow-up training on race equality and ethnic diversity matters.

4.5 External contractors are made aware of their responsibility in relation to equality and diversity including race, ethnicity, and national background and will be required to comply with University policies and regulations.

4.6 Learning and teaching material, where practical, includes positive, non-stereotypical content for students.

4.7 As part of the Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) process, all University policies will be checked to ensure that no one receives less favourable treatment based on their ethnic, racial or national background(3).

(3)
The Equality and Diversity Unit (EDU) is responsible for providing guidance and support on how to conduct EIA on policy and practice.

5. Individual Responsibilities

The co-operation of all University staff, students, contractors and (where practicable) visitors is essential to ensure the success of the Race Equality Policy. All individuals are:

5.1 responsible for making themselves aware of the University’s Race Equality Policy

5.2 asked to participate in training which supports the implementation of the university’s Race Equality Policy, as appropriate

5.3 at all times responsible for their behaviour and expected to treat others with dignity and respect. This includes cases where alleged or proven discrimination, harassment, bullying or victimisation has occurred in relation to race, ethnicity or national background

5.4 expected to be committed to supporting the University’s determination to eliminate race discrimination.

Staff responsible for schemes of work, teaching content and resources should demonstrate sensitivity to all issues of race diversity and ethnic or national background. 

6. Where to seek advice and further information (see section 9)

Where staff and students perceive that they have been unfairly treated in respect of race, ethnic or national background, the following protocol applies:

6.1 Staff should speak to their Line Manager in the first instance. Further advice can be sought from the Human Resources Service, Equality and Diversity Unit and Trade Union.

6.2 Students should speak to their Adviser of Studies in the first instance. Further advice can be sought from the SRC Advice Centre, Equality and Diversity Unit and Senate Office.

7. Monitoring

The Race Equality Group (REG) will monitor the implementation of the university’s Race Policy. Based on outcomes of monitoring the REG may recommend actions to the University’s Equality and Diversity Strategy Committee, as appropriate.

7.1 The University will monitor race equality for staff and student processes, including:

• Staff: recruitment and selection, access to promotion, training, grievances and disciplinary procedures
• Students: Recruitment and International Office (RIO), Planning Office and Senate Office will monitor race equality in respect of admissions, retention, progression, degree classification, complaints, appeals and discipline
• The Careers Service First Destination Survey of graduates will incorporate race equality categories.

7.2 Information collected for equality groups will be reported in the University’s Equality and Diversity Annual Report.

8. Relevance of the Race Equality Policy to other University policies

8.1 This Policy forms part of the University’s suite of equality policies which reflect the University’s approach to equal opportunity and diversity: www.gla.ac.uk/services/equalitydiversity/

8.2 Staff-related policies information can be found on the University’s Human Resources Service web page: www.gla.ac.uk/services/humanresources/policies/

8.3 Information on student policies can be found on the University’s Senate Office web page: www.gla.ac.uk/services/senateoffice/academic/studentpolicies/

8.4 Whilst it is the intention that staff issues be addressed locally, there may occasionally be disagreement. In this event the help of the Equality and Diversity Unit or of Human Resources may be sought. If the matter is not resolved, the member of staff may consider the use of the Grievance procedure: www.gla.ac.uk/services/humanresources/policies/a-g/grievance/

9. Useful contacts

Appendix A

Race Equality Action Plan
Section 1- Corporate Issues

Section 2 – Students

 Section 3 - Staff

Glossary of Acronyms

CC - Corporate Communications
CoS - Clerk of Senate
EDSC - Equality and Diversity Strategy Committee
EDU - Equality and Diversity Unit
EIA - Equality Impact Assessment
HAN - Harassment Advisors Network
HESA - Higher Education Statistical Agency
HoS - Head of School
HR - Human Resources
LTC - Learning and Teaching Centre
RIO - Recruitment and International Office
RRAA - Race Relations Amendment Act 2000
SMG - Senior Management Group
SRC - Student Representative Council
StaDS - Staff Development Service
UG - University of Glasgow

Appendix B

Definitions and coverage of the Race legislation

The Race Relations Act 1976 and the Amendment 2000 Act consider discrimination on racial grounds as unlawful. The legislation covers colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins.

A person can be a member of several racial groups at the same time.

B1.  Race discrimination can arise in four ways:

• Direct discrimination
• Indirect discrimination
• Victimisation
• Harassment

Direct discrimination

Direct race discrimination occurs when a person treats another person less favourably on the grounds of colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin.

Examples:

• Refusing to serve ethnic minority clients
• Expressing that black minority people are unwelcome
• Ignoring racial harassment of employees.

Indirect discrimination

Indirect discrimination occurs when a provision, criterion or practice is apparently neutral but places ethnic minority people at a disadvantage compared to others, which:

• a smaller proportion from the victim’s racial group can comply with
• is detrimental to the victim because s/he cannot comply with it
• cannot be justified. 

Victimisation

The Act safeguards people who exercise their rights, including those who help others, in pursuing complaints regarding race discrimination.

Harassment

Harassment under the Race legislation occurs when the harasser engages in unwanted conduct on the grounds of race or ethnic or national origins, which has the purpose of, or effect of, either violating another’s dignity or creating a degrading, intimidating, hostile, humiliating or offensive environment for the victim.

B2.  Instructions to discriminate

Where a person has been instructed to discriminate on the grounds of race, this is unlawful and deemed less favourable treatment. The legislation protects the person who has also been disadvantaged as they refused to carry out instructions which they believe will discriminate against others on the grounds of their race.

B3.  Vicarious liability

Under the Race legislation both the individual and the organisation are liable for acts of discrimination. For instance Section 32 of the 1976 Act made employers vicariously liable for acts of unlawful discrimination by their employees, even if the employers did not approve or know about the acts in question.

However, employers will not be liable if they can prove that they took reasonable steps to ensure that staff are made aware of the legislation and what actions can be taken where there is failure to apply good practice.

B4.  Genuine Occupational Requirements (GOR)

The Race Relations Act allows employers to lawfully discriminate in recruitment, promotion or transfer to a job, and training for a job when there are genuine occupational requirements, examples include: actors, models, and provision of personal welfare services.

B5.  Monitoring

The Race Relations Act 1976 (Statutory Duties) (Scotland) Order 2002 came into force on 13 March 2002 and requires public bodies to monitor staff, applicants for jobs, promotion and training by ethnic group, and to publish the results each year.

For public bodies with at least 150 full-time staff they must also monitor and analyse by racial group any grievances, disciplinary action, appraisals leading to benefits or penalties, training and staff leaving.

Public bodies must also publish Race Equality Schemes setting out their proposals for complying with these duties.

B6.  Responsible body

The governing body (University Court) of an institution within the higher education sector is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act.

Appendix C

Equality monitoring

C1.  Introduction

The University is committed to promoting equality in all its activities and aims to provide a work, learning, teaching and research environment free from discrimination and unfair treatment.

Legally (disability, gender and race legislation) the University is required to:

• promote equality of opportunity
• eliminate unlawful discrimination
• promote positive attitudes
• foster good relations between different communities.

The equality legislation also requires public authorities, such as universities to conduct Equality Impact Assessments on policies and practices, including learning and teaching.

The Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) is a systematic and evidence based process which verifies that policies and practices at the University are fair and inclusive. It aims to meet the legitimate needs of the diverse groups that make up the University community of students and staff.

Equality monitoring is a key process for the successful implementation of equality and diversity policies, action plans and implementing Equality Impact Assessments. Monitoring assists with highlighting positive or negative trends within our University.

Racial origin, like gender and disability, is a matter of fact and it is not unlawful to categorise people. However, it is against the law to treat people unfairly because of their background.

The monitoring categories used at the University are in accordance with the Census Office and the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA). The University is required to provide annual statistical returns to HESA.

C2.  What does the University intend to do with the information collected?

The University will use the monitoring information to assist with measuring the quality of experience for diverse groups of students and staff, including identifying:

• the needs of students and staff
• how these are being met/ addressed
• whether there are implications for staff development for raising awareness of students and staff to ensure there is no stereotyping
• whether additional resources are required.

The University envisages using the information to work with staff and students to address their needs and thereby help to mainstream equality and diversity and also effectively discharge our legal responsibility.

Appendix D

Race Equality Group

Remit

• To promote cultural change whereby race equality is incorporated into all the University’s functions and activities
• To oversee the implementation and impact assessment of the action plan associated with the Race Equality Scheme (RES)
• To oversee the further development of the University’s RES as appropriate
• To act as a channel of communication where matters involving race issues can be considered and/or referred to appropriate bodies for action
• To oversee the preparation of the annual progress report
• To review the Race Equality Group membership and remit annually and to co-opt additional members to the Group as may be required.

Reporting line

The Equality and Diversity Strategy Committee but liaising widely with other committees, managers and officers to promote race equality.

 For an up-to-date list of the membership please contact the Equality and Diversity Unit.