Fairer

Committed to supporting female entrepreneurs

We are making progress towards creating a fair, socially just, and inclusive society and have recently become the first university and 200th organisation, to sign the Investing in Women Code, demonstrating our commitment to supporting female entrepreneurial activity. The code was established in 2019 following the findings of the initial Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, which demonstrated that up to £250 billion of new economic value could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as men. We are already leading the way in supporting female entrepreneurs by running a thriving student startup programme and an Entrepreneurial Researcher Programme; available to researchers and colleagues looking to turn their passion into a business.

Find out more about our support here.

We have a long-standing partnership with Jadavpur University in Kolkata built on collaborations in the Humanities and Social Sciences, which has delivered a series of successful projects based on food security and social justice. Building on work begun in 2021 with the creation of a digital learning resource, funding has been secured for further collaboration on the decolonisation of society and higher education. This partnership is just one of the ways we will continue to help build a better future by fostering understanding, equity, justice and dignity for all.

Find out more about this collaboration.

 

We are committed to creating a fair and inclusive society, and engage with external assessment and accreditations to ensure impactful action towards fostering inclusion. One such accreditation is the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index (WEI). Stonewall is a charity that promotes equality for LGBTQ+ people and the index provides a benchmark tool to help us create an inclusive working environment.  In 2022 we achieved the Stonewall Gold Award for our commitment to being an LGBTQ+ inclusive employer and ranked 148 out of the 403 organisations that took part. We continue to aspire to make meaningful, cultural change so that staff and students alike can thrive.

Find out more about our participation in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index.

We are building a new Multi-Faith Centre on Streatham Campus to create an innovative space which promotes respect, community and inclusion across the University. The centre will include a 50 person Muslim prayer space, as well as areas for quiet reflection, services and multi-faith activities. Sustainability and reducing carbon emissions are fundamental to the design of the centre. We are committed to reducing regulated carbon emissions, through a combination of sustainability initiatives throughout the design, construction and maintenance phases of the new building. This will include the use of highly efficient porotherm blocks, air source heat pumps and solar photovoltaic panels on the roof of the building.

Find out more about our new Multi-Faith Centre.

Our undergraduates will be trained to help year 8 pupils in local schools with their reading and writing. This new tutoring scheme will help to boost literacy in the South-West for hundreds of children. The project is funded by the UPP Foundation, the registered charity founded by student accommodation and infrastructure business, UPP, which has invested over £160,000 in grant funding for this scheme and seven other innovative pilot projects with charities and universities. Researchers will look at different models of tutoring and develop a discrete tutoring course in foundational literacy for year 8 pupils. They will then train up to 100 undergraduates to deliver small group tutoring to 300 pupils in local area.

Read more about the scheme.

The South West Social Mobility Commission is being established following the publication of the report, Social Mobility in the South West, which showed Devon, Cornwall and Somerset to have the lowest rates of educational attainment by disadvantaged pupils of any English region. Sir Michael Barber, Chancellor at the University and a world-renowned expert on government delivery, will chair the newly created South West Social Mobility Commission. The Commission’s work, supported by the University, will aim to transform life prospects for disadvantaged young people across the peninsula and help to influence decision-making by schools, local authorities and other organisations to improve social mobility.

Read more about our work to improve life prospects across the South West.

Our ambition to increase social mobility and break down barriers to higher education runs through everything we do. Our innovative programs help prospective students realise their potential, by providing access to a range of financial, practical and academic assistance. We are proud to have been recognised for our work in 2022, with a Silver Award for the ‘University of the Year’ at the sixth annual UK Social Mobility Awards. This award program is organised by leading societal change charity, Making The Leap, and was set up to recognise organisations that are prioritising social mobility through recruitment and progression processes, outreach within the local community, or by developing innovative ways to create change.

Find out more about the UK Social Mobility Awards 2022.