Equal Opportunities and Diversity

The University of Göttingen has the objective of facilitating all its employees equal opportunities and protection against discrimination, regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation, religion and belief, disability and chronic illness, ethnic and social origin and irrespective of their different experience backgrounds, household and family constellations and life situations. The University thus improves the frame conditions for all and promotes the further development of its organisational structure and culture.

Equal opportunities and diversity are important leadership tasks and deeply anchored in the profile and strategy development of the University. The University pursues a comprehensive strategy to optimise tasks, structures and processes in line with equal opportunities and diversity. The focus is on all fields of action, in particular research, studies and teaching, promotion of early career researchers and personnel development as well as infrastructure. The University looks back on many years of equal opportunities policy. It has continuously incorporated new requirements and needs as it has further developed and expanded its programmes, measures and activities. In addition to equal opportunities and compatibility of family and work, diversity has also become a central cross-sectional task of university development.

The University has received several awards for its equal opportunities and diversity policy. These successes, e.g. in the Programme for Female Professors, as well as the signing of the Charter “Family Life and Academia” and the Charter of Diversity, and the implementation of the Diversity Audit "Shaping Diversity", have contributed to raising and developing the University profile in this area. Its strengths lie in the institutionalisation of central and decentralised structures as well as in its continuous professional and quality development, among other things through systematic equality assurance monitoring. The University combines individual support programmes with measures for structural and cultural change. Measures are differentiated according to scientific fields, institution and target group and optimised in line with societal and higher education policy changes. Centralised activities are systematically linked with decentralised ones in order to generate synergy effects.