SDU's Gender Equality Plan - who and what?

RESPONSIBILITY:  The Executive Board defines and ensures the overriding direction and framing for SDU’s strategic equality initiatives. The Executive Board is responsible for ensuring the orientation and involvement of SDU’s advisory and collegiate bodies on an ongoing basis

TASKS:  The Executive Board

• Processes SDU’s GE Action Plans once a year
• Hosts and participates in review meetings with IGAB and GET once a year
• Ensures ongoing communication of SDU’s strategic equality initiatives to the organization

RESPONSIBILITY:  C-GEC is responsible for initiating the preparation of the annual GE Action Plans and for ‘Critical Friend’-visits at FAC and C-Adm. C-GEC has its own rules of procedure (in Danish) that specify its composition and mandate

TASKS:  On its first annual meeting, SDU’s GEC define and verify a comprehensive process plan for the preparation of the annual GE Action Plans at SDU, including: 

• Setting deadlines for forwarding the FAC / C-Adm GE Action Plans to GET, who will compile the SDU GE Action Plan on behalf of C-GEC
• Processing of the executive SDU GE Action Plan
• Determining the plan for ’Critical Friend’-visits to the respective FAC /C-Adm for the year
• Determining the time for the annual strategic discussion and approval of GE Action Plans by the Executive Board

Each year, the Central GE Committee visits half of SDU’s main fields (faculties and central administration) at so-called ‘Critical Friend’-visits, where representatives from C-GEC will meet with FAC / C-Adm management and local GEC to discuss and assess their equality efforts and questions / issues in relation to their GE Action Plan (one half one year, the other half the next year). These visits comprise the backbone in the follow-up of SDU’s local equality endeavours. The visits qualify C-GEC’s work as advisory body to the Executive Board. The visits will typically take place in the spring semester of the second year of the GEP cycle for the respective faculty / central administration. 
C-GEC is tasked with processing and proposing the draft for the executive SDU GE Action Plan, when it has been prepared by GET and before it is forwarded to the Executive Board.

RESPONSIBILITY:  The Deans and the University Director are responsible for initiating the preparation of the FAC / C-Adm GE Action Plan with inputs from HoD / HoDiv. The Dean / University Director is responsible for allocating resources for administrative support and data access and processing as well as for the preparation of the GE Action Plan. Dean / University Director is responsible for ensuring the orientation and involvement of local advisory and collegiate bodies on an ongoing basis

TASKS:

• At FAC, the dean initiates the preparation of the FAC GE Action Plan once a year. This takes place in collaboration with the local GEC and with input from departments regarding their local measures. The Faculty management can choose to initiate measures and activities that include the whole faculty. Please note, that the extent and requirements of the GE-AP differs in the two GEP-years.
• At C-Adm, the university director initiates the preparation of the C-Adm GE Action Plan once a year. This takes place in collaboration with the local GEC and with input from divisions regarding their local measures. The C-Adm management can choose to initiate measures and activities that include the whole administration. Please note, that the extent and requirements of the GE-AP differs in the two GEP-years.
• FAC / C-Adm forward their approved GE Action Plan to GET, who compiles the executive SDU GE Action Plan
• Dean / University director invites and hosts meetings according to the defined process plan. These meetings include a critical friend visit by C-GEC in the second GEP-Year.

RESPONSIBILITY:  Heads of Departments (and Heads of Faculty Administration) and Heads of Divisions have the responsibility of at least once every second year (GEP Year 1) identifying focus areas and defining objectives, that may be monitored and achieved within a to-year period. Note that, in order to ensure continuity and sustainable, long-term development, initiatives can be determined for longer periods than the two years of a GEP-cycle so this also entails objectives that have a longer timespan than the two years. The responsibility includes status reporting of the initiatives to the Faculty / C-Adm as input to the annual FAC / C-Adm GE Action Plans. HoD/ HoDiv is responsible for ensuring the orientation and involvement of local advisory and collegiate bodies on an ongoing basis.

TASKS:  Heads of Departments / Heads of Divisions

•  Formulate once every second year objectives for the department’s / division’s equality work and on this basis initiates 1-2 measures / activities within select focal areas, which may be implemented during the two-year GEP-cycle. HoD / HoDiv are expected to involve (select) faculty / staff in this work
• Involve relevant local actors, such as members of the local GEC
• Forward status reports regarding select measures to FAC / C-Adm for the annual GE Action Plan
• Invite sparring and support from the local GEC and GET

RESPONSIBILITY: Administrative divisions, functions and units in SDU’s Central Administration (including SDU’s Research and Innovation Office) in their capacity of having specific organizational functions and responsibility, have a special responsibility of ensuring that GE-perspectives are integrated in their concrete execution of tasks. As a general rule, initiatives undertaken in this context form part of SDU’s general strategic GE-efforts.

TASKS:  Heads of Divisions/units/functions

• Coordinates GE-initiatives and GEP-activities in relation to own organizational processes[2] and measures in collaboration with GET and deans / Executive Board
• Involves relevant internal stakeholders and bodies
• Reports overview and description of how GE is integrated into measures and processes as input to SDU’s annual GE Action Plan
• Invites the local and / or central GEC as well as GET for sparring and support

RESPONSIBILITY: FAC / C-Adm GEC provide support and collaboration to HoD / HoDiv and FAC / C-ADM management in their equality endeavours. GEC are responsible for communicating the annual process plan as well as ensuring the discussion of the annual GE Action Plan in the respective management.

TASKS:  FAC / C-Adm GEC

• Spars with HoD / HoDiv on their invitation
• Spars with Dean / FAC management, respectively University Director / C-ADM management
• Initiates GE activities and measures at FAC / C-ADM level according to agreements with Dean / FAC management, respectively University Director / C-ADM management
• Contributes actively to FAC / C-Adm GE activities and implementation
• Prepares the annual FAC / C-Adm GE Action Plan

RESPONSIBILITY: GET supports and contributes with process assistance and GE expertise to department / division and FAC / C-Adm GE initiatives. This also includes processing and secretarial support in the preparation of the annual GE Action Plans. GET serves as a contact point for SDU’s IGAB and hosts IGAB’s review-meetings with the Executive Board as well as SDU’s national GE-symposia and GEC-masterclasses

TASKS:  GET

• Compiles the executive SDU GE Action Plan on behalf of C-GEC
• Prepares the report of SDU’s GE efforts to the Executive Board
• Invites and facilitates SDU’s annual IGAB-events (October): review-meetings with the Executive Board, SDU’s national GE-symposia and GEC-masterclasses

Section A contains a follow-up on the previous GE Action Plan, such as activities, communication, policies, strategies etc.

This section includes remarks and recommendations from the ’Critical Friend’-visits (on FAC / C-Adm level from the Central GE Committee every second year, and at SDU-level from the annual IGAB visits).

Section C presents a status on selected focus areas / activities at all organizational levels. 

Measures and activities can take the form of strategic initiatives at both SDU, FAC / C-Adm, and / or department / division level.

Section D applies only to Faculties and SDU and is prepared every year. This section contains status and reflection concerning key indicators in relation to SDU’s employee- and student population, including the demographics of academic faculty and management; data-based reflections concerning recruitment, including key indicators in relation to new employees, and for academic faculty the demographics of qualified applicants, applicants and assessment committees.

Data is drawn from SDU’s Gender Statistics

Section E is a summary of sections A-D where the reported measures, activities and initiatives and the attendant reflections form the basis of the coming GEP-period’s action plan (which in the coming GE-AP will constitute Section A).

Section E is discussed at the meeting between FAC / C-Adm with representatives from C-GEC (the ’Critical Friend’-visits)