The evaluation area IV assesses an area selected by the HEI where it wishes to receive feedback for the enhancement of its activities.
The audit team identified the following as the main strengths and recommendations:
Strengths
- The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Plan for 2022–2024 is ambitious and closely linked to Aalto’s strategy and core values.
- The processes and measures taken to increase equality and diversity in the recruitment process are extensive and well thought out.
- Excellent progress has been made in several areas, such as gender balance and parity in salary. Improvement measures are well identified by Aalto in the SER and during the audit team’s visit.
Recommendations
- To build broad EDI awareness, Aalto should invest in branding their EDI plan and initiatives to increase commitment throughout the Aalto community beyond those with formal EDI roles.
- Whilst the extensive set of EDI objectives is commendable, their implementation needs prioritising and scheduling. Including milestones in the EDI plan would serve to monitor the impact of EDI initiatives, incentivise and provide a sense of achievement to be celebrated by the Aalto community. The near-future EDI dashboard would serve well for this exercise.
- Aalto should consider the importance of role models, particularly in underrepresented groups.