Equality and the University Community

Photo: The League of European Research Universities

Translation: Sindri Snær Jónsson

At the beginning of this school year, the university's sixth Equal Rights Policy was accepted by the university council. The first policy was accepted in 2000, but equal rights issues have played a more prominent role in the University of Iceland's agenda in recent years. Equality has long been a topic of discussion within the university community, but the meaning of this umbrella term, "equality," has undoubtedly changed since the university opened its doors in 1911. At that time, a forerunner to a revolution in equality matters in Iceland was brewing. In the same year as the university opened, a law was put into effect which granted women full access to higher education. Despite this, women continued to be a small minority of the student body during the university's first decades, or around 5% in 1931, which can probably be attributed to the fact that not many women had acquired a high school diploma when the law passed. 

Equality regardless of gender

The number of women studying at UI grew slowly but steadily, and in 1975 there was a boom in female students at the university, as the percentage of women grew from 24,5% to 38,5% among university students. This growth can be attributed to the change taking place in Icelandic society at the time, such as the growing conversation about inequality between the sexes and women's education, the new feminist movement that was emerging and the women's strike on the 24th of October, 1975, named Women's Day Off (Kvennafrídagurinn). In 1976, Iceland passed its first equality bill, which was meant to ensure equal rights regardless of gender. A decade later, the Parliament set forth an agenda that aimed to take action regarding gender equality, and other equal rights related issues - which then focused more on the battle for equal opportunities for both sexes - became ever more prominent in public discussion, as well as the conversation within UI's administration. 

The percentage of women studying at the University of Iceland had grown exponentially, and in 1987, women took a big leap past the men in regards to gender proportions at UI and have been in the majority ever since. On the other hand, the population of women in administrative, lecturer and docent positions did not grow as quickly. In 1994, a survey assessing workplace conditions at the University of Iceland revealed a significant difference in womens' positions and conditions compared to that of men. There was a considerable difference in pay with respect to working hours and seniority, and degrees seemed to benefit the men more than the women. In light of these results, the University Council Equal Rights Committee was created in 1997. The committee created a draft for the university's first Equal Rights Policy and tried to bridge the gap between womens' and mens' equality in the university for both students and faculty. After the first plan was announced in 2000, the discussion, our society, and our definition of equality in education have changed quickly. 

International students and the university

Since its establishment, more minority groups than women have studied at the University of Iceland. Some of them can be spotted by reading UI's yearbooks; by flipping through the pages from the first half of the last century, you may come across a few international students’ names. The number of international students at the university grew from a tiny few to around 500 at the turn of the century, but today there are about 1500 international students from over 100 countries studying at UI. International students have long believed that there is a divide at the university and that the university's studies and social life are only oriented towards Icelandic students. The Student Council's International Officer, for instance, expressed her frustration in 2020 with how little BA-level psychology did to accommodate those who do not fully grasp academic Icelandic. It is up to every department to decide whether to allow international students to have access to dictionaries during exams, to have their exam questions in English or whether they get prolonged exam time. It is clear, though, that more needs to be done to meet the needs of international students, and to unite university community into one whole. The new Equal Rights Policy looks to further accommodate these students, as well as putting more emphasis on the International Committee's mentor program, where foreign students can apply for Icelandic tutors to help them acclimate to the university and to have more access to information. There is also a section of the policy dedicated to students’ right to examinations in English.. 

Modern requirements for equality

Two minority groups have been mentioned in the discussion about equality so far, but there are other groups of which there exist no records, who have not had the same access to higher education throughout the years. Just by looking at the main building, it’s clear that the needs of disabled people were not considered. The same is to be said about other university buildings, even the newer ones - for example, some classrooms in Veröld are accessible to students, but not lecturers in a wheelchair. Although we have come a long way since 1940, when the university's main building was opened, the current situation is still that many of the university's buildings are not accessible to everyone. The matters of disabled people have been put on the back burner for too long, and the Icelandic government has yet to put into effect the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was signed in 2007 and ratified in 2016. With the university's new equality agenda, the University of Iceland has made a dedication to better the accessibility between buildings and conducting accessibility assessments for every building at the university. Meanwhile, the Division of Operations and Resources is working to improve the accessibility database on the university's website so that there will be access to exact information (in the form of pictures, sound, and text) about the accessibility in every building. 

Lastly, it’s important to note that the modern debate surrounding the equality of the sexes has to make way for the people who do not identify with the gender binary and to fit these matters into the university's policy in the wake of recent societal changes. Part of the university's most recent Equal Rights Policy is also to assist teachers in grasping the gender diversity in our modern society, increasing the number of genderless bathrooms on campus, and updating the university's statistics to include more genders than two. Recently, the university's system was updated in order to be able to list your gender as non-binary or other than male or female. 

Actions in favour of equality within UI's administration, which for a long time revolved around men and women’s equal right to higher education, are in this way changing and evolving alongside a changing society. It is challenging to accommodate the diverse group of students studying at the University of Iceland, but the university's Equal Rights Policy for 2021-2023 is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. 

References

[1] The University of Iceland’s Equality Committee. (2004). Staða og þróun jafnréttismála 1997-2002. https://www.hi.is/sites/default/files/atli/baeklingar/jafnretti/stada_og_throun_jafnrettismala_1997-2002.pdf

[2] The University of Iceland’s Equality Committee. (2021). University of Iceland Equality Action Plan 2021-2023. https://english.hi.is/university/university_of_iceland_equality_action_plan. 

[3] The University of Iceland’s Equality Committee. (2018). Equal Rights Policy 2018-2020. https://english.hi.is/university/equal_rights_policy. 

[4] The University of Iceland. (2021). Fjöldi erlendra nemenda frá árinu 2001. https://www.hi.is/sites/default/files/sverrirg/erlendir_nemendur_fra_2001.xlsx 

[5] Board Proposal: the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities nr. 1637/145. https://www.althingi.is/altext/145/s/1637.html