Goal 10: Policies, processes and practices
The following page outlines specific policies, process and practices in support of Sustainable Development Goal 10 Reduced inequalities.
Non-discriminatory admissions policy
We have a public admissions policy which is non-discriminatory and details the logic for any appropriate positive discrimination, for example for students who are from deprived backgrounds. This has clear sections setting out our obligations for equality, diversity and inclusion.
Further information about our use of ‘contextual data’ in our admissions policy, where additional weighting is given to applications from under-represented social groups, is all openly available on our website.
Underrepresented groups –tracking applications
We measure and track applications and admissions of or all major underrepresented groups (and potentially underrepresented) groups. Our Access and Participation Plan outlines admissions statistics of different groups of students, especially those currently underrepresented within the University. It describes how these aspects are tracked during the admissions process to ensure fair access for all students, regardless of background.
We produce an annual report on Access and Student Success and use PowerBI reporting to look at the number of offers made to different groups of students.
We also produce an annual Equality Information Report which contains statistics on underrepresentation across age, disability, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
Underrepresented groups –recruitment
We deliver a range of programmes to recruit students, staff, and faculty from underrepresented groups.
Students are targeted through our widening participation programmes, such as Manchester Access Programme or Gateways Programme – which cover various school ages. We target various underrepresented groups based on socio-economic background, gender, ethnicity, race, care leaver status, if they are an asylum seeker, from a state school or from deprived areas. This is evidenced in our annual report on Access and Student Success.
Among our staff we want to ensure that local people, who are underrepresented in our workforce, have opportunities to work at the University and so we established an initiative called The Works to address this. As a Disability Confident employer, we commit to interviewing all disabled applicants who meet all of the essential criteria set out in the person specification.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee
We have an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) committee chaired by the University’s Vice-President for Social Responsibility, which is attended by representatives from around the University. We also have academic, faculty and central professional services leads and a number of diversity champions across campus.
Our EDI work is supported by staff in our central EDI team, whose role is to advise on and implement policies, programmes, and trainings related to diversity, equity, inclusion and human rights on campus. They also work with our governing bodies, and present annual data and information in terms of diversity of our workforce.
Support for underrepresented groups
We offer a wide range of support to staff, students and faculty members from underrepresented groups.
Our EDI team co-ordinates a variety of staff network groups that provide mentoring, peer support and socialising opportunities for various underrepresented groups such as women, BAME staff, those with a disability and more.
Our students are also provided with extensive mentoring and peer support – both for specific groups of students and more broadly. Examples include at our Counselling Service where we provide specific LGBTQ support, run peer-to-peer workshops on issues such as stress and anxiety and specific support for people with mental health challenges and disabilities.
Access and support for those with disabilities
We provide accessible facilities for people with disabilities. We work in partnership with AccessAble to provide a detailed access guide for all our buildings from a pan-disability perspective. Every venue is visited and assessed in person by a highly trained surveyor. All new buildings are also built to include disabled access during construction. Many buildings also have the Deaf Alerter fire alarm warning and PA system.
We support students with a large range of conditions that can affect their university life, we do this through access schemes, mentoring and other targeted support. Our University Support Plan is a confidential, tailored plan of support that the University will put in place for any individual with additional needs. We provide a Disability Adviser and Assistant Disability Adviser in the Disability Advisory and Support Service (DASS), who will be a main point of contact to discuss any disability and study related difficulties. We also provide specialist mentors to help people with disabilities complete various tasks (transition/ notetaking/l ab/ personal assistant support) as well as generally helping to settle into the new environment at university.
Where the University does not have in-house support, we source this from Quality Assurance Group accredited Non-Medical Helper providers.
Reasonable accommodation
We have a reasonable accommodation strategy for people with disabilities including adequate funding.
Our accommodation strategies include providing a variety of adjustments e.g., wheelchair accessible rooms; ensuites; hoists; vibrating pillows and deaf alerters/flashing lights; disabled parking; fridge in rooms to store medication and pastoral care.
We support also students with funding applications for the UK’s Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs) grants. These are non-repayable grants to help pay for the extra essential costs that people may have as a direct result of their disability.