UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 22 SEPTEMBER 2023
Birmingham City University’s (BCU) College of Jewellery, Fashion and Textiles has become the first department of its type in the UK to be awarded Athena Swan Bronze Award.
The Athena Swan Charter is a framework to support and transform gender equality within Higher Education (HE) and research, the College joins five others across BCU to hold the award.
The College’s application highlights important Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) challenges, identifying what is going well, and where more needs to be done.
Its four key priorities address the need to:
- Raise awareness of and embed EDI activity across the College
- Work towards greater transparency and parity in workload allocation
- Tackle career pipeline issues to ensure female staff are supported in their progression to senior roles, and develop research capacity
- Develop networking and community-building activities and opportunities to nurture a sense of belonging for all staff in the department.
The College’s submission was coordinated by a Self-Assessment Team (SAT), led by Course Director for Foundation Fashion and Textiles Louise Martin, alongside Senior Lecturer in Jewellery Rebecca Skeels and Course Administrator in ADM Matt Jordan.
Established in 2005, the Athena Swan Charter aims to encourage and recognise the commitment of universities to advancing the careers of women. All award applications are externally assessed by a panel drawn from across the HE sector.