The University of Worcester has received independent recognition of its commitment to gender equality.
The University has been granted an Athena SWAN institutional Bronze Award, following a rigorous application process. The Athena SWAN Charter was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise advancement of gender equality in Higher Education and Research and its awards are a strong reflection of an institution's support for and focus on issues of gender equality.
Professor Sarah Greer, the University's Deputy Vice Chancellor, said: "At the University of Worcester we are passionately committed to inclusion and the promotion of gender equality.
"The University of Worcester's many successes stem from the commitment of the whole University community to combine high quality education with a truly inclusive approach which puts people first and aims to help our students and staff to belong and flourish, whatever their background."
The University of Worcester has established a reputation as the most inclusive university in the Country. In recent years it has developed two unique inclusive venues, both firsts of their kind The Hive, the UK's first University and Public Library, and the University of Worcester Arena, the first indoor sports arena in the UK purpose designed to include the wheelchair athlete. Independent research has also established Worcester as one of the top universities nationwide, which best reflect society.
In the recent publication of gender pay figures, Worcester was revealed as the best of all universities in the UK, with the smallest average pay gap of any university, and with women represented equally across the Institution across all grades of staff.
To gain the Athena SWAN award, the University submitted an application providing a detailed picture of the Institution's academic workforce and its current approaches to advancing and supporting gender equality and an associated 4-year action plan setting out its steps to develop and enhance these approaches.
Dr John-Paul Wilson, Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor Research and the University senior lead for Athena SWAN, said: "We are extremely proud of this achievement. The application process itself is very robust and requires a huge amount of work and dedication from the Self-Assessment team who develop the application; this outcome is reward for that work but is also a strong reflection of our ethos and our institutional focus on inclusion and equality."
For more information on our application visit our Athena SWAN pages.