Why Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences is facing the critical gaze of the Stifterverband

Recognising and valuing the diversity of people and lifestyles, not excluding people on the basis of their origin, gender, religion or appearance and enabling everyone to participate in a self-determined way. All of this may sound obvious, but in many places it is not. Sometimes it can be helpful if someone from outside takes a critical look at existing structures and identifies where there is room for improvement. Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences has sought support from the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e.V. and is developing a strategy to promote diversity in the long term as part of the diversity audit.

Back in 2013, the university publicly set an example for diversity and signed the Diversity Charter. Since then, it has participated in the annual nationwide Diversity Day and offers information stands, discussion rounds and workshops for university members. However, this only represents a small part of what actually happens at the university. "With the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Diversity, a department has been created in which many aspects of diversity come together," says Gudrun Zimmermann, who heads the department. She and her colleague Claudia Krieten are the contacts for anyone who needs support or has an idea about how the university can promote diversity. For example, the "StudiTalk" programme with its student exchange groups and language tandems was created in discussions with students. However, it is about more than a multitude of individual measures that are created in various places. "Diversity should be visible and tangible at the university and viewed in a sustainable way. We want to create more links between the people who are already working, teaching and researching on the topic in different areas," says Zimmermann. 

In order to develop an overall strategy, the university has applied for the "Shaping Diversity" auditing process. The first step is to take a look at the initial situation: What is the composition of university members? Which structures already exist, which are missing? Development goals are formulated that are to be achieved in the course of the process. While the Stifterverband specifies the structure of the auditing process, the content is designed by the university members. Everyone is invited to become active. This is a speciality in Bremerhaven. "Normally, a steering group develops measures that are then implemented. However, we want to make the process more open and learn together how we can promote diversity and make it visible. Everything that is developed in the audit flows directly into the work in the departments," says Gudrun Zimmermann. Talking with those affected rather than about them - that is the motto. In this way, a wide range of ideas and perspectives are to be incorporated into the strategy. 

The goals that the university wants to achieve are called "Horizons" in Bremerhaven - based on the corporate design. The aim is to train everyone's skills, break down barriers and make diversity visible at the university. For each horizon, the participating university members have developed ideas in workshops that are to be implemented. They discussed who could take on tasks so that the ideas could be implemented directly. All participants also check the current status and what might not be so easy to implement. There are also monthly meetings with the auditor, who looks at the process from the outside and provides support. 

At the moment, there is still a lot of work to be done by everyone involved. The many ideas from the workshops need to be put down on paper. The university is due to be audited in spring 2024. "Things are looking pretty good for us at the moment. We have such great expertise in-house. We just need to make them visible and then utilise them," says Zimmermann.