By 2030 our University will be recognised as a centre for excellence in delivering equitable opportunities and outcomes for all of our people and communities.
It's essential that we continue to engage and listen to our community. Through multiple surveys and events, such as the Anti-Racism Listen and Learn sessions and Insight sessions, we have developed an inclusive and ambitious strategy that empowers our people's voices and drives positive change.
Thanks to the close links we have fostered with our student, staff, and wider community, we have created a strategy that gives power to them, especially those from marginalised groups.
Our new Equity and Inclusion Strategy has been designed to deliver our commitment to our people, our culture, and our community as laid out in Vision 2030. We aim to:
The strategy proactively seeks to deal with issues, both on a societal and University level. It will achieve this through continuous engagement, and ensuring our students' and staff's voices are heard and supported by effective policies.
Training and procedures will be put in place to equip and empower our leaders to create an inclusive and thriving learning environment at all levels within the University.
It's crucial that we establish collaborative networks to ensure that we, as a University, work together to drive the Equity and Inclusion Strategy forward.
Here is an example of what we've achieved so far:
We also held our first ever Equity and Inclusion conference, CCCBeU, in April, which brought staff and students together to hear their stories and experiences. There will be many more conferences to come, so keep an eye out for future events.
It's an exciting time for CCCU, and through Vision 2030 and our Equity and Inclusion Strategy 2024-2027, there's a lot happening to ensure that our goals come to life.
For the 1st time our student and staff demographic data will be presented together in the Equity and Inclusion Annual Report 2024, highlighting our achievements and next steps for 2025.
We have partnered with Advance HE to develop a new Institutional Equality Impact Assessment Process to ensure we proactively identify discrimination, against our underrepresented communities, increasing accountability and impactful change.
Lastly, we are starting the process of applying for the Race Equality Charter, which aims to help universities to support in the progress and success of our Black, Asian, and minority ethnic students and staff.
Stay posted for what else is to come through our Equity and Inclusion Strategy.
We are fully committed to short and long-term actions to improve our race equity and culture for all.
Through our Closing Our Gap strategic initiative, we continue to reduce the attainment gap for our Black, Asian, and ethnic minority students.
Through Black History 365, we also recognise, appreciate, and celebrate Black History throughout the year, not just in October.
What’s more, the CCCU BAME Student Network provides a space for our Black, Asian, and minority ethnic students to support each other and to promote race equity and diversity.
We are proud members for the Athena SWAN Charter and have an overall Bronze Award, recognising our commitment to promoting gender equality throughout the University.
We are also a founder member of the South East Action Learning (SEAL) group. Here, the programme brings aspiring women leaders together, building a strong network of women who support each other in their career aspirations.
What’s more, we continue to support women by:
We are committed to hiring and retaining staff with disabilities and are part of the Disability Confident Scheme. We ensure reasonable adjustments are made so that job applicants with disabilities can fully and fairly participate in the recruitment process.
Our disabled students remain at the forefront of our priorities and are continually supported through our Student Disability Service and Mental Wellbeing Team. The team also helps with Disabled Student Allowances (DSA), learning and placement support plans, dyslexia support, and reasonable adjustments for assessments.
Other support to ensure disability equality include:
We strongly advocate for all our LGBTQIA+ staff and students. We have been a Stonewall Diversity Champion for over a decade, and we continue to work hard to promote an LGBTQIA+ inclusive workplace for all staff.
We also sponsor Pride Canterbury and work with them each year in preparation for the wonderful celebration of LGBTQIA+ identity in our vibrant and inclusive city. Our sponsorship of Pride Canterbury grows stronger every year and we are proud to be a part of the Pride community.
What’s more, we ensure that our LGBTQIA+ staff and allies feel support through the CCCq LGBTQIA+ network. CCCq has actively shaped the University’s policy and practice in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Our student LGBTQIA+ society also plays an active part in our University community and provides a safe space for all students to express themselves, have fun, and connect.
Whilst we are an institution with a Christian foundation, we welcome and celebrate all religions and beliefs.
There are prayer rooms available for all staff and students on our main campus, and our Chaplaincy provides support, help, and encouragement to our CCCU community.
Regardless of someone’s religion or belief, the Chaplaincy provides an open-door policy for everyone within the University, providing support for students and staff. They also offer information about, and contact details for, local churches and other faith groups, highlighting their inclusive and welcoming community on campus.
The CCCq network is made up staff who are members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community. Their thriving community has a lively Teams chat where members can chat to and support each other easily. There are also events that occur throughout the year, highlighting the network's emphasis on social connection within and beyond the University.
The DSN is a network for disabled staff members and those who are affected by disability. The network welcomes all disabilities, whether they are visible or non-visible.
The DSN advocates for staff who are met with barriers and obstacles, and propose changes when necessary. With the goal of making university a welcome and inclusive place for staff with disabilities, the DSN are champions for our colleagues in this network.
There is also a real emphasis on celebrating our disabled staff, recognising their hard work and contributions to the CCCU community.
The Global Majority Staff Network is committed to anti-racism, equity, and building solidarities. They seek to promote, support, and improve the Global Majority staff and student experience at CCCU. This includes shaping and responding to race equality strategy, policy, and practice.
The Interfaith Network is a safe space for people of all faiths who believe that people work best when they are able to bring their whole self into the workplace . As a network it seeks to be a place where people feel welcomed and recognises the fact that inclusion of faith or belief is a positive aspect of a person’s wellbeing and approach to work and colleagues.
They host and promote interfaith dialogue and events whilst also supporting individual faith-based communities in living out their faith on campus.
The Interfaith Network is distinct and separate from the Interfaith Council.
The CCCU Staff Parents and Carers Network welcomes colleagues who have off-campus responsibilities for children and others.
The network hosts a thriving Teams site where parents and carers can communicate and support each other. There is also guidance on the platform that is always available to help those in the network.
The Women's Network has been set up to focus on women from across the University. It seeks to inform the development of University policy and procedures relating to the working lives of women, and enables women to:
Women academics face many obstacles when pursuing a research career. As a result they are more likely to be in precarious research positions and less likely to become professors or be submitted to REF exercises.
The Women's Research Network was created to advocate for the underrepresentation of women in active research. The aims of this new staff network are to:
The 'We Need to Talk About Class' is CCCU’s staff network dedicated to working class colleagues, emphasising the contributions working class professionals make to tertiary education, as well as the obstacles faced due to class.
As a staff network, they seek to engage with class analysis and celebrate working class culture and identity.
The Neurodiversity Network is a newly established staff network at CCCU. They meet on a regular basis, whilst maintaining a friendly Teams chat for their members to keep in touch and seek support.
Their key aims are to:
Our staff members are integral members of our CCCU community, with many societies available to them. Find out more about staff societies.
Our people
We commit to amplifying the voices of our people, particularly our underrepresented groups.
Our culture
We commit to continue driving a culture that enables all staff and students at CCCU to thrive and belong.
Our University
We commit to drive equity and inclusion across all areas, influencing every stage of the student and staff journey through an evidence-based approach.