DPR News
First HEA National Race Equality Conference
UCC's delegation at the conference - Chair of the Race Equality Forum, Dr Amanullah De Sondy, Dr Anne Gannon, Human Resources and Professor Nuala Finnegan, Dean of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Studies - were delighted to contribute to the first HEA National Race Equality Conference in University of Galway where the Anti-Racism Principles for Irish Higher Education Institutions were formally launched. UCC has been invited to sign these Principles to acknowledge that racial inequalities are a reality in our higher education institutions, to commit to embedding a culture of race equality in UCC and to establish platforms for open dialogue on advancing race equality.
The conference provided an essential and exciting opportunity for institutions to share experiences and ideas for progress. The work of the Race Equality Forum at UCC was acknowledged as was Dr De Sondy's leadership at national level and work is currently underway to develop a race equality network. Much of the emphasis of the conference was on the need for action, rather than words. These actions will involve training and awareness-raising, policy work, improving diversity among our staff base, developing support structures and strong career development for staff from ethnic minority backgrounds, improving and refining our data collection processes to name but some of the initiatives. We look forward to working with our partner institutions in Higher Education to make progress in this vitally important area.