DMU's EDI strategy: Equality for all

De Montfort University (DMU) has one of the most diverse staff and student populations of any higher education institution in the UK. We value this difference and want to support all students and staff in reaching their full potential in a fully inclusive environment where difference is accepted, valued, celebrated and supported. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) will be front and centre of everything we do.

We have organised our strategy into two broad themes: Developing our Culture and Enabling Equity and Fairness for all.

Developing our Culture

This is about developing the behaviours, spaces, and sense of belonging in which every single person can expect to feel safe and supported; where staff and students can expect to be treated with dignity and respect as well as being valued for their difference.

In this section of our strategy, we make the following commitments:

• We will build an understanding of the reasons behind unequal outcomes, and equip staff with the tools and knowledge to address any disparities in experience, representation and outcome, enabling us to stay at the forefront of the sector.
• By identifying, developing and supporting talent, we will strive to ensure that our staff at all levels reflect the diversity of our students. This will enable our students to see themselves reflected in all parts of their university, empowering them to achieve their full potential.
• Our work will be informed by evidence, which will include data and the lived experience of our students and staff. Through this we will develop our initiatives, policies and approaches to achieve fair and deserved results. These systems and processes will build diversity into their design architecture, thereby enabling the best and most innovative decisions to improve outcomes for all.
• Discrimination and harassment will not be accepted. We will further develop safe and secure methods for staff concerns to be raised and resolved, and further enhance existing processes for students.
• We will further enhance recruitment, staff development, and promotions processes to ensure they are equitable.

Enabling Equity and Fairness for all

This is about ensuring that our processes, rules and regulations allow all to succeed, reviewing everything that we do and in doing that, recognising that historically the status quo has resulted in inequitable outcomes for minoritised groups of staff and students.

Enabling equity and fairness for all will allow our staff and students to meet their full potential and succeed, regardless of background and personal identity.

In this section of our strategy we make the following commitments. We will:

• Create equitable opportunities to succeed by better understanding our students’ journeys and barriers and significantly reducing differentials between groups in continuation, attainment and progression.
• Ensure diversity of researchers is sought and utilised in our work.
• Ensure teaching and curriculum has diversity at its core.
• Ensure our research informs approaches to inclusion and equity both nationally and globally.
• Celebrate diversity and empower our students and staff to feel safe.
• Enable dignity and respect to be embedded in the DNA of the university and ensure the behaviour of our staff and students reflects this.
• Significantly enhance the visibility and understanding of how to deliver fairness for all, unlocking talent and creating equitable outcomes.
• Improve staff and students’ understanding of how to create fairness of opportunity, and become skilled to navigate a globalised world.
• Work towards embedding diversity at all levels in our decision-making processes.

See our success indicators.