Some people still shake their heads at the concept of diversity management. After all, isn’t it just about treating all employees equally?

Racism and discrimination are bad for public health. That’s according to the staff and students at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo. They are now taking steps to prevent discrimination.

All the Nordic organisations for universities and university colleges believe that the educational institutions should have the main responsibility. Our Nordic neighbours have dedicated frameworks and expert groups that set the direction for this work – Norway does not.

The Anti-Discrimination Tribunal made decisions in more than 600 cases in 2023 and 2024. Students and staff in higher education and research only reported 16 cases of discrimination or harassment based on ethnicity or gender. And only one was taken further.

How do we ensure that the best candidate for a professorship is hired, while still securing gender balance and diversity? A new study shows how committees that hire professors struggle to meet different expectations.

Why is it a good idea to draw up action plans for gender equality and diversity, and how should one do it? Learn more in these new films.

The EU project GENDERACTIONplus is set to host a conference on equality in February. Why is this conference so important for Norwegian research institutions?

While women actively participate in the practical work at their organisation, men dodge it.

“Diversity management is not only about the needs of minorities, but also about the other employees who might need adaptation when they’re going through rough patches in their lives,” says Professor Gro Mjeldheim Sandal.

“Yes, more researchers have parents with higher education. But you don’t have to be born into academia to succeed,” says Silje Fekjær, Vice-Rector at OsloMet.

However, researchers born in Norway to immigrant parents still account for less than one per cent of researchers. “Remember that this is a young group,” says Statistics Norway.

The EU flew in the face of those who believed that Nordic countries would dominate the gender equality scene in European academia in 2023.

Now is the time for a new survey of sexual harassment in the sector, according to the KIF Committee. This was one of the comments made by Ragnhild Hennum, the KIF chair and Dean, when she participated in the Ministry of Culture and Equality's input meeting.

In Norway we call it sexual harassment in academia, and in Europe it is known as gender-based violence.