Plan d'actions 2017-2020
The policies of equality between women and men within the UniNE is on-going since 2000, with various initiatives which have borne fruit. However, inequalities persist and efforts must be maintained to expect equality in the long term.
- Master : 63% of women and 37% of men
- Corps intermédiaire : 56% of women and 44% of men
- Corps professoral : 25% of women and 75% of men
The Direction of the University of Neuchâtel has entrusted to the Equal Opportunity Office the draughting of Planning Equality 2020: Action Plan for the implementation of Equal Opportunities during the period 2017-2020. The implementation of this plan is supported by the co-financing of the Federal Programme P-7.
Parallel to the dimension of gender, the UniNE has put in place measures in favour of other dimensions of inequality, such as situations of handicap, linguistic diversity or socio-economic origins.
The objectives and actions of the period 2017-2020 have been set in collaboration between various entities, in particular between the Rectorate, the Deans and Central Services. Numerous workgroups, reflection sessions and workshops conducted between the end of 2014 and mid-2016 attest to the general determination of the UniNE to work together for the application of equal opportunities, in particular in the following domains:
Encouragement of young academics
An academic career is a challenge for every member of the new generation, but female researchers are less spontaneously guided. They see themselves denied the informal support that would increase the probability of pursuing the scientific path (cf. Leemann and Stutz, 2008). Positive measures of encouragement, such as financial support and mentoring, can serve to overcome these inequalities. Further, in faculties including few women professors, beginning female researchers lack role-models to identify with, to thus motivate the pursuit of their academic career (cf. Latu et al., 2013).
Objective: to encourage and support young female academics during their scientific careers
Targeted Public: young female researchers starting at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels
Organising one's professional life or studies can prove complicated for a person with family responsibilities. The UniNE is engaged in furnishing a stimulating and flexible work and study framework, allowing the balance between different obligations. The institution offers in particular support measures taking care of children (daily, intermittently, during school vacations) and tools to support a better work-life balance; and it enhances family task-sharing between men and women.
Objective: the support of parents balancing their family life and their professional life or their studies.
Targeted Public: parents (current and future) of the university community
Institutional anchorgae of equal opportunities
Discrimination anchored in an institution, be it conscious or unconscious, constitutes the most difficult obstacle to surmount. The elimination of these biases presupposes a cultural change of the whole of the university community. It is therefore all the more important to accompany projects in other fields of action with measures aiming for the long-term institutional anchorage of equality.
Objective: to assure the engagement of the university for the long-term implementation of equality.
Targeted Public: Central Services and organisations with decision-making powers
Assuring equality of treatment in the case of other forms of inequality or of discrimination due, for example, to situations of handicap or social background, will be beneficial not only to target groups and the whole of the university community in terms of integration and cohesion, but also to the UniNE in terms of innovation and exemplarity.
Objective: the elimination of discrimination and favouring the inclusion of every member
Targeted Public: the university community
