EQUALITY GUIdE - KU Leuven

Chapter 1 ! Personnel development and organisational culture 35
Attitudes towards diversity
! I think it is good that there is a preference for
hiring minority groups if they’re equally competent.
! I have no problem with
• working with a colleague from another
culture;
• working with a colleague of the other sex;
• working with a colleague who is LGB;
• colleagues wearing religious attributes.
! It’s the VUB’s task to form critical, independent
thinking people.
! It’s the task of the VUB to form people in an
open atmosphere of free inquiry, freedom,
tolerance and diversity.
! Kreitner, Kinicki & Buelens,
1999
! Diversity Forum
! VUB 58 mission statement
The Diversity Forum: composition and tasks
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel’s Diversity Forum was founded in 2003 by Prof. Frank Winter,
adviser to the chancellor, and acted as a sort of think-tank for policy matters. Prof. Machteld
De Metsenaere took over the chairmanship of the Forum in 2004. The Diversity Forum consists
of approximately 25 people from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Erasmushogeschool
Brussel who, through their function (student, staff) and/or expertise are interested in
thinking about the diversity policy. They meet monthly and discuss specific themes about diversity
and equal opportunities besides the progress of ongoing projects. The Diversity Forum
forms the basis of the diversity policy plan of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, in which short- and
long-term policies about diversity at the university are outlined.
The people of the Diversity Forum brought up themes and items they thought would
be important to measure in the survey.
3.4. Putting the information into a survey
Once the information from several sources had been collected, the items were put
together into themes. This resulted in four parts: in the first part, factors regarding the
organizational climate that influence the diversity policy are investigated. In the second
part, the well-being of the respondents is examined. Both the first and the second part
can be seen as methods to measure the effects of diversity management. In the third
part, attitude questions are asked about diversity in general, about diversity projects
that are undertaken at the university and about facilities and services at the university.
The purpose of this part is to examine whether the respondents are actually interested
in diversity. The last part asks for personal data.
58
http://www.vub.ac.be/downloads/Organiek.Statuut.pdf.