Million Plus

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) has been awarded a prestigious national award in recognition of its commitment to eliminating gender bias across its campuses.

The Athena SWAN Bronze award recognises the efforts of higher education organisations to  create an inclusive work culture for both men and women in academic, professional and support roles. The award also looks to provide equal opportunities for study, promotion and career development for everyone, including trans staff and students.

To earn the award the university has taken a number of important steps in the last five years to increase his its commitment to gender equality.

These include changes to allow positive career progression and promotion opportunities for all staff at the university. In 2015/16, for example, UCLan introduced two additional routes to promotion to Reader/Professor roles at the university, adding Teaching and Learning and Innovation and Enterprise options in addition to the well-established Research route. These created fairness for those whose work focusses on these routes. Currently, 33% of Professors are female, higher than the Sector benchmark (24.6%).

Read the article in full here.