Equality charters
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is embedded in all that we do. Charter marks provide a public opportunity for us to focus on equity strands, to celebrate successes and stretch our ambitions.
Charter Marks, Awards and Accreditations
As a University we focus some of our work through commitments to various Equality Charters. They all work slightly differently but involve some form of application and are supported by an action plan.
You’ll find below a list of our current and most recent awards and accreditations.
Race Equality Charter
The Race Equality Charter (REC) is an initiative led by Advance HE. Launched in January 2016, the Race Equality Charter aims to improve the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic colleagues and students within higher education. REC provides a framework through which institutions work to identify and self-reflect on institutional and cultural barriers standing in the way of minority ethnic colleagues and students to succeed.
The University signed up to the charter in September 2018. Since then, we have been busy working on the application and action plan. We have engaged widely with our colleagues and students through surveys, interviews, focus groups and open events giving our students and colleagues opportunities to share their experiences and their vision for our future. We have also worked closely with Schools and Professional Services to develop robust actions based on the data, to drive change in each area and across the institution.
Athena Swan Charter
The University of Salford became the 100th signatory to the Athena SWAN Charter in 2012 making a very public commitment to improving outcomes for women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine. The University reaffirmed its commitment to the revised principles as part of its application for a Bronze Award submitted in November 2015. In 2016 the University successfully achieved a bronze level Athena SWAN Award which acknowledged the steps taken by the University to address gender equity and reflected confidence in our Action Plan for effecting change. We successfully renewed our Institutional Bronze award in April 2022.
Stonewall
Stonewall is Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ charity. Their Diversity Champions programme is the leading employers' programme for ensuring all LGBTQ+ colleagues are accepted without exception in the workplace.
In February 2022 we were delighted to announce that the University received two prestigious Stonewall accolades for our commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace. We were named as one of the Top 100 Employers and we were also one of 132 employers to receive the Gold Award – a brand new Stonewall accolade for 2022.
Disability Confident
The University of Salford is an accredited 'Disability Confident' employer, a government backed scheme managed by Jobcentre Plus. This scheme promotes and recognises good practice in the recruitment, selection and retention of disabled job seekers. We have made the following commitments:
- To interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy and to consider them on their abilities
- To discuss with disabled employees, at any time but at least once a year, what you can both do to make sure they can develop and use their abilities
- To make every effort when employees become disabled to make sure they stay in employment
- To take action to ensure that all employees develop the appropriate level of disability awareness needed to make these commitments work
- To review these commitments every year and assess what has been achieved, plan ways to improve on them and let employees and Jobcentre Plus know about progress and future plans
We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for job applicants who declare they have a disability and meet the essential criteria of the job they are applying for. In addition, we support disabled people in the workplace by providing equipment or making reasonable adjustments.
AccessAble
AccessAble (formerly DisabledGo) is an award-winning disability organisation with the reputation of working with many public sector bodies such as HEIs, FECs, NHS Trusts and Local Authorities. It provides a website which hosts detailed access guides and a wealth of information designed to give people the detail needed to make a confident choice while accessing services and venues in their community. Our profile on the AccessAble website has detailed access guides on a large range of building at our various UK campuses. Theses guides provide comprehensive information including access information including corridors, doors, access to other floors, toilets, lifts, ramps, stairs and photographs,