Age, gender, cultural background, sexual or gender identity, health impairment: Diversity has many faces in society. The Hochschule Niederrhein (HSNR) has been actively living and promoting these dimensions for years. For its commitment, the Stifterverband has therefore once again awarded it the "Shaping Diversity" certificate.
HSNR had successfully gone through the auditing process for the diversity audit "Shaping Diversity" and had been certified for the first time in 2018. With evidence of various measures that have been taken since then to strengthen diversity in everyday university life and are still planned, the certificate has now been extended for three years with the re-audit.
Above all, a decisive step was to create a dedicated organizational unit. The Sustainability and Diversity Office, which was still called the Office for Equal Opportunity when it was founded in 2020, is a central point of contact for students and employees for their concerns and needs.
In addition, international students with different educational biographies are accompanied by an international coordinator at each faculty, for example.
Many buildings now have electronic door openers so that people in wheelchairs can easily enter the building at the touch of a button. With "PrideProgress@HSNR" there is a queer network for all employees and students who feel part of the LGBTQIA+ community. On Christopher Street Day, HSNR always demonstrates solemnly for acceptance and tolerance.
"The re-audit shows the university is on the right track. However, there are still many ideas that we can develop further. A catalog of tasks awaits us," says inclusion officer Anna Rings.
Among them are structural changes. The rooms in the Behnisch House in the city center, into which the Central Student Advice Office will move in the fall, will have barrier-free toilets. Barrier-free desks for lecturers, the further development of online teaching, an advising navigator on the homepage and pronouns in email signatures are further steps that the university has already initiated.
