What do university and college students and staff think about diversity and inclusion? To answer this question, 19 university and college journals collaborated and created a questionnaire that will be distributed at every institution. This way we not only get a picture of higher education, but we can compare the results for each institution. For this we need your help: fill out this questionnaire – it will take about 10 minutes. for students click herefor employees click here.

Searching for Diversity and Inclusion is an initiative of Editors Department at the Head of Higher Education Media. Ries Agterberg, Head of the Department, explains why this topic has been chosen: “Diversity is a much discussed topic, both within and outside higher education. To what extent is diversity policy necessary, and if so, how far can you pursue diversity policy? Does higher education go too far or Not fast enough? The Minister of Justice recently said in a lecture Which He woke up Threats to academic freedom in universities. Is that correct? With this research, we want to discover how students and staff think about diversity and inclusion.”

survey
The survey is about, among other things, where the university/college should prioritize when it comes to diversity and inclusion. What do students and staff think of measures taken so far, such as gender-neutral toilets? Where is there room for improvement?

In 2020, there was a heated debate in the House of Representatives about a National Action Plan For more variety and inclusion. In general, there were two streams. Someone said: Do not pay attention to the variety and the original, because it is only about quality. The other said: Sometimes quality does not appear in the foreground because some people are deprived. What do students and staff think?

More than just collecting opinions, research also provides a space to share your own experiences. “Are there students and staff who feel excluded or feel discriminated against? And if so, do they know where to go?”

Policy
Reconnaissance is not the only thing the department is doing within this project. The journals also conduct research in university and college policy. What are the priorities set by the councils? The survey can help us understand the potential mismatch between institutions’ priorities and students’ and staff’s ideas about diversity and inclusion.

The Kring project was made possible with the support of press stimulus fund, an organization that supports investigative journalism in the Netherlands. The Circle has received more than 100,000 euros for this. The survey was compiled based on interviews with editors of all participating journals and was prepared by Newcom Research Agency. All answers are processed anonymously. Respondents can, if they wish, indicate that a journalist from their organization can contact them to discuss their experiences in more detail.

Do you want to participate in the survey? then press here for students And the here for the staff. Survey is open until October 20. The results can be found in a series of articles later this year.