Fit for Future

Projects "Equal opportunities and inclusion"

Living inclusive infrastructure & barrier-free study and work environment

In order to ensure that existing buildings are barrier-free, a tour was carried out for the first time with the building owners and a disability organization. Recommendations for improvements are to be identified on future tours.

The Equal Opportunities Department aims to provide a point of contact for people with disabilities or chronic illnesses, offering clarification and advice. For example, support is to be provided in organizing compensation for disadvantages and best practices are to be networked and collected. In addition, university members are to be sensitized and informed about important topics. A two-hour online learning unit (iLUB) on the topic of "Digital accessibility in studies, teaching and research" is currently being developed to implement these goals. There will also be a course for university staff with teaching assignments to expand their skills in the area of inclusive teaching and accessibility.

uniaktuell-Artikel: «Menschen mit Behinderung haben das gleiche Recht auf Bildung» (German only)

uniaktuell-Artikel: Durch Selbsterfahrung für Behinderungen sensibilisiert (German only)

Science and leadership culture: Better Science Initiative

The initiative of the "Critical Excellence Discourse" working group draws attention to the problems of an accelerated science system and promotes the discourse on excellence at the university.

University: Science culture - University of Bern (unibe.ch)

A panel discussion with 60 participants was held in Junie 2024: Universität: Fixing Academia: Towards a Culture of Collaboration (unibe.ch).

A research paper on the topic of “academic culture in the Swiss higher education landscape” is being written by the University of Bern's ICFG; the results are due to be published in 2024.

The preparation of the submission to the Equal Opportunities 2025-28 federal program (October 2024) for the acquisition of third-party funding for the follow-up project of the Better Science Initiative is underway.

Support for management: tools for implementing the DORA declaration

A "DORA" working group, consisting of VRQ, VRF and VRI, will be set up to develop the following measures:

  •  Access to information material on the implementation of the DORA declaration, taking into account aspects of equal opportunities and inclusion
  •  Development of a tool to query the net academic age, which will be made available to the election committees (in collaboration with the Faculty of Humanities)
  •  Training for university staff on the topic of evaluation, possible biases and peer review (in cooperation with the ILUB)
  •  A microsite with further links and tools is currently being prepared
  • The anncouncement of the microsite and distribution of a video to the faculties and the entire university is planned for HS2024

DORA Declaration

Status: September 2024