{"id":147901,"date":"2022-12-09T14:24:47","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T13:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=147901"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:33","slug":"success-of-diversity-policy-can-only-be-measured-by-monitoring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/12\/09\/success-of-diversity-policy-can-only-be-measured-by-monitoring\/","title":{"rendered":"Success of diversity policy can only be measured by monitoring"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research universities and universities of applied sciences are doing their utmost to create diverse, inclusive environments. However, monitoring the perception and effectiveness of diversity and inclusion proves difficult in practice. Professor Jojanneke van der Toorn explains why it is essential for good policy.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJowan de Haan<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cIf you don\u2019t know what\u2019s broke, you won\u2019t know what to fix\u201d, says Jojanneke van der Toorn, associate professor of Social and Organisational Psychology at Utrecht University and professor by special appointment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Workplace Inclusion at Leiden University.<\/p>\n

She is also a Research Leader for the Netherlands Inclusivity Monitor<\/a>, which provides organisations with insight into their diversity policy and inclusivity. \u201cThe starting point is to pinpoint what you hope to gain by fostering diversity and inclusion. Are you looking to enhance performance, or is there more of a moral motive, such as ensuring equal opportunities for everyone within the demographic options? Both options are possible, but if you want to formulate concrete targets, it\u2019s important to reflect on what your motive is. This will allow you to develop targeted activities and analyse whether what you\u2019re doing is having the desired effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knowing what you want to achieve<\/h2>

Van der Toorn is seeing a lot of efforts in terms of diversity and inclusion in higher education, but it is often unclear what results the institutions hope to achieve with specific measures, and there is usually no careful monitoring of the effects. For example, there are efforts to increase diversity among staff and students, to make education more inclusive, to ensure that international staff and students feel at home, to provide guidance to first-generation students,\u00a0to facilitate staff and students with a disability, to encourage women\u2019s career progression and to stamp out prejudice of any kind. These are just some examples. These are all realistic goals, but Van der Toorn points out that many of these measures are not accompanied by clear indications as to what objective they serve or whether the objective is also being met.<\/p>\n

An investigation at 21 research universities and universities of applied sciences by the higher education media revealed that current hot topics<\/a> include racism (intentional or unintentional) and gender identity. The emphasis in the not-too-distant past was more on fostering the emancipation of women and ensuring that international staff and students feel at home. Van der Toorn has realised this as well. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a shift. Whereas diversity objectives used to be focused primarily on binary gender and, to a certain extent, nationality, there\u2019s now more attention for ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity. Incidentally, these dimensions of diversity are not being recorded within the organisation, which makes it harder to set targets and monitor effectiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cultural Diversity Barometer<\/h2>

Van der Toorn highlights the importance of analysing diversity and perceived inclusion within research universities and universities of applied science. This provides insight into what is going on within the organisation and has the capacity to reveal any inequality or differences between groups of staff and students. Anyone engaged in monitoring activities will be able to take targeted measures, taking the specific situation within the organisation into account.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to gain an understanding of support among executive board members, management, staff and students. That doesn\u2019t mean that new policy is only necessary or possible with universal support, but taking opposition seriously will enable you to identify the source of any objections and take these into account.\u201d Van der Toorn cites the introduction of all-gender toilets as an example. \u201cA former student said that some of her female Muslim friends were against the idea of making all toilets all-gender. When she asked what exactly the problem was, the women stated that they were annoyed that they wouldn\u2019t be able to take off their headscarves in an all-gender toilet. Installing mirrors in the toilet cubicles themselves would remedy that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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