NU President Professor Waqar Ahmad urged the academic community to make a “conscious decision” to champion equality.
“Equality and diversity are critical to any fair and successful society or organisation. NU must exemplify this in spirit, policy and practice. Like most other institutions, we need to do more to create and sustain a culture that enables all members of our community to excel, in an environment that is safe and nurturing. Gender and social equality is everyone’s business,” he said.
President Ahmad highlighted the role of NU Anti-Harassment Committee in identifying issues and enabling a community-wide conversation on this matter. He also introduced plans to establish an Equality and Diversity Unit that will work on creating a supportive space for all university members, including administrative staff.
He happily noted that NU boasts a balanced gender ratio among students, including STEM majors, which is a much better ratio than in the UK. However, the gender disparity at senior levels raised a concern with only 35% of teaching staff being women, and even less so being full professors. The discussion also focused on involving more men in gender equality initiatives, reframing gender equality as a community-wide issue rather than a “women’s issue.”
