Our commitment to EDI

At Loughborough, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive, fair, and respectful culture in which all staff and students feel valued, are able to voice differing perspectives and realise their full potential.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is a core element in the University’s strategy. We will prioritise activities that identify and remove systemic inequities, associated with protected characteristics and marginalised groups, as well as promote and progress equity and inclusion.

We can deliver on these ambitions with the commitment and collective hard work of all members of our Loughborough community, and our senior leaders have specific responsibilities for this important work.

The terms Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion each have a distinct and important meaning:

  • Equity: the quality of being fair and impartial.  
  • Diversity: recognising that we all benefit when our community comprises people from different backgrounds and with different perspectives and experiences.
  • Inclusion: ensuring that everyone within our university can feel like part of its community.

We are on a journey of change, and we recognise that we have work to do to ensure equity, diversity and inclusion are reflected in everything we do.

We aim to create an environment whereby equity, diversity and inclusion is everyone’s responsibility, and we challenge behaviour which negates an inclusive culture. We are committed to honestly and openly identifying, dismantling, and redesigning our policies, processes, and structures to empower individuals.

As an institution, we recognise our legal duty to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, and victimization and to advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. We aim to do this through prioritising activity that eliminates systemic inequalities and individual harm for those with protected characteristics and other marginalised groups.

We are committed to developing a diverse leadership community and ensuring our leaders drive forward our equity, diversity and inclusion commitments.

We will also encourage the leadership and participation on decision making bodies of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and staff from marginalised groups including those who identify as women, non-binary, trans and disabilities, providing opportunities for their leadership where possible. 

Our commitment to staff

We will work together to create an inclusive, fair and respectable culture in which all staff feel valued.

Through mechanisms to eliminate discrimination and the use of positive action, we aim to achieve:

  • Improvement of the suitability and accessibility of campus resources and spaces for students, staff, and visitors with any form of disability.  
  • Increased diversity within the academic community and professional services.  
  • Better representation within the University’s decision-making forums.

Prioritisation of activity that eliminates systemic inequities and harm for those in the university with protected characteristics and other identified marginalised groups.

Our commitment to students

Our aim is to create a culturally diverse student community which embraces the inclusion of students from across the globe and who are taught by diverse staff. A culture in which all students feel valued, are encouraged to share their perspectives, and pushed to reach their full potential.

The Student Wellbeing and Inclusivity Service is available to help our students, as well as the Welfare and Diversity area within the Loughborough Students’ Union. These groups provide support and empower diverse and underrepresented groups to ensure an inclusive environment within LSU and the University.

Equity vs Equality

Equality means each individual or a group of students or staff is given the same resources and/or opportunities.

Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances, and it allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.

Equality is giving everyone a shoe. Equity is giving everyone a shoe that fits.
- Dr Naheed Dosani

Equality is used more in reference to the Equality Act 2010 and following that, to protected characteristics. Equity means fair outcomes for all, even those not falling under any anti-discrimination laws and processes relating to protected characteristics.