Page 6 - Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy

EDI STRATEGY 2024-26
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion
throughout the RVC is a stated objective in
our 2022-2026 Strategic Plan.
Over the last few years, we have strived
continuously to build an inclusive RVC. In
this journey we have been dedicated to
learning from our experiences, committed
to listening to the voices of our community
and strived to adapt our practices to be
more inclusive and equitable. We have –
and will keep on – creating opportunities
to engage with our staff and students on
a continuous basis on EDI related issues,
so that together as a community we can
shape our future direction.
Notable outcomes of our initiatives so far
include:
 We expanded our engagement with
various external equality charters that
are designed to drive forward cultural
and systemic changes, by establishing
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national and international frameworks
to promote equal opportunities for
students and staff with particular
protected characteristics. We have
renewed our Athena Swan Institution
Bronze Award, furthering our
commitment to Gender equity. We
have had internal initiatives such as
the Race Equality Task Group (RETG),
which engaged with the staff and
student community on issues relating
to race, and produced a report with
a series of recommendations for the
RVC. Following on from the RETG,
we signed up to the Race Equality
Charter. In addition, we have taken
up membership to Stonewall, the
Disability Confi dent Scheme and the
Hidden Disabilities scheme. These
all support our work towards Race,
LGBTQIA+ and Disability equity.
 We have signifi cantly reviewed our EDI
leadership and management structure.
These changes have been made
with the key objective of developing
and progressing our EDI work with a
strategic vision that holistically covers
the needs of students, staff and
all areas of the institution. We have
created of a new role of Vice-Principal
for EDI, with strategic oversight for
EDI. Furthermore, we recognised
the need for operational support to
advance our EDI work and committed
the fi nancial and human resources to
create the EDI Unit, initially comprised
of the Head of EDI and the EDI
Coordinator.
This is RVC’s fi rst EDI strategy; it is a
strategy for our whole community, and it
aspires to be accessible and actionable
across all our activities.
We live in a society that has deep
inequalities and different biases. It is only
The strategy rests on evidence base by all different participants acknowledging
developed from institutional data sources and understanding these biases that we will
such as the Race Equality Task Group be able to take the action required to create
(RETG), the RVC wide consultation through genuine, sustainable change and develop a
the Athena Swan survey and focus groups, diverse and inclusive community.
progress against our current Equality
Objectives and Action Plan, and information The EDI strategy does not stand alone;
and priorities in the wider Higher Education it will support the delivery of the wider
EDI landscape. In addition, the strategy has RVC strategy across its mission pillars
drawn on the requirements of our existing of education, research and clinical care
commitments under the University’s Access and will aim to refl ect the EDI objectives
and Participation Plan, the Athena Swan embedded in other sub-strategies.
Charter and the Race Equality Charter. Whilst building on our achievements to
date, the strategy aims to be forward
In setting out our vision for EDI we are looking and bold in articulating a vision that
mindful that many intersecting factors shape will see EDI genuinely embedded in all our
the individual identities and experiences of activities and in our institutional culture.
our community; these include the protected
characteristics as defi ned in the Equality Act The strategy aspires to focus not only on
(2010) and more, including - age, disability, our systems, and policies, but also on
sex, gender identity, race, religion/belief, our institutional culture, so as to allow
sexual orientation, socio-economic status, us to build momentum for sustained and
the experiences of being a parent or carer. sustainable positive change.