The Equality Act places all public bodies under an active duty to promote equality and requires them to set themselves at least one objective which they believe they ought to meet in order to further any of the aims of the General Equality Duty.
The University has agreed a suite of objectives reflecting Oxford’s strategic priorities in relation to recruitment, progression and equality of opportunity, as set out in the Strategic Plan. The overarching equality objectives aim to:
- Increase the proportion of women in senior roles;
- Improve the recruitment and retention of BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) staff;
- Promote the visibility and inclusion of LGBT+ staff and students; and
- Widen undergraduate access and admissions.
The majority of our targets for the 2016 to 2020 period were renewed in March 2020, pending a comprehensive review of the University’s equality priorities. Progress towards the 2020 targets will be reported in the next Equality Report (March 2021).
New objectives will be consulted on during 2020/21 in light of:
- Progress made towards the current objectives in 2019/20;
- Action planning for institutional equality charters; and
- Ongoing work to implement the University’s Strategic Plan.
Please see the annual Equality Report for an overview of progress towards our equality objectives as well as data on current staff and students, recruitment and admissions.