Major investment in equality of academic leadership

Uppsala University is launching a special 'power package', with the aim of increasing the proportion of female professors and the proportion of women with management assignments.
"Equality is very much a quality issue; we wish to create openings in what is usually called the 'glass ceiling'," says Vice Chancellor Anders Hallberg.

When he had only just started as Vice Chancellor, Anders Hallberg emphasised when declaring his programme that he saw equality as an integrated part of the quality work that he put at the top of his agenda. The university's annual report showed that the proportion of female professors was not increasing at the desired pace, thus he wanted to investigate the possibility of using a special package of measures to attract gifted female teachers and researchers. It is important that staff be given the same opportunities for advancement to positions and assignments regardless of gender, whereby their skills and ability to contribute to the university's activities are best utilised.

"I'm aware that equality work can take time, but we should not be resting on our laurels with the plateau we seem to have reached at professorial level. That's why we're now giving equality high priority," says Anders Hallberg.

University management wishes through this commitment to highlight its wish to utilise the skills of all its staff. The package, which will be financed using central funds, involves five different components and has been drawn up by the university's equality committee in consultation with management. The five components are:
- Compensatory research support for women undertaking a certain type of management assignment.
- Customised management training for women preparing for expectations that may be encountered by women in managerial positions.
- Co-financing for units where women are being recruited to senior research posts in which women are underrepresented.
- Financial support for women at intermediate level, i.e. during the active qualifying phase, to facilitate promotion to professor in the near future.
- The requirement that temporarily recruited adjunct professors and teachers contribute to an increased proportion of women at professorial level.

With regard to permanent appointments, as before applicants' gender is not a determining factor, other than with otherwise equal qualifications. The aim of the power package, however, is to improve the conditions for more women achieving equivalent qualifications.

Contacts: Michael Thuné, Vice Chancellor's board for equality issues and chair of the equality committee, Tel. +46 (0)18-471 29 81, E mail: Michael.Thune@it.uu.se