EQUALITY GUIdE - KU Leuven

Chapter 1 ! Personnel development and organisational culture 65
Meal card 70.9 19.2 37.7 31.9 9.2 1.6 19.5
Scholarship 76 19.8 58.5 20 1.9 0.9 18.4
Loans 36.6 5 34 28.2 7.4 1.4 28.8
Reduced price at MIVB 75.9 40.4 51.5 24.9 5.1 1.3 17.1
Trust persons 32.1 1.2 37.7 29.1 4.1 0.7 28.1
Testing for learning
disability
24 1.6 26.5 31.4 10.7 1.9 29.3
Just over 14% (N = 199) of the respondents used the open question to make a remark.
The remarks were categorized into the following subjects:
! Positive remarks concerning the diversity policy, services and/or initiatives and general
diversity at the VUB: 22 remarks were about the fact that respondents considered
the initiatives or policy in general very positive. Some respondents said they
thought it is important that the university has such a policy and carries out initiatives
and projects. They think the university is doing a good job.
! Remarks concerning LGB people at the VUB: (N = 6) some remarks were made by
LGB students. Most remarks were about the LGB guide or the fact that some questions
in the survey about LGB were hard to answer since LGB people are not ‘visible’.
! Suggestions concerning diversity: a majority of the respondents (N = 84) used the
open question to make suggestions. These suggestions could be very specific, like
better administration, halal food in the restaurant, improvement of the job service,
more communication about particular services, less/more use of English, less/more
use of ICT, the organization of theme-days about diversity, including a course about
diversity in the curriculum, arranging a room for people from different religions,
active punishment of racist behaviour, the organization of more debates, etc. Other
suggestions concerned diversity in general, like getting more students from other
ethnic backgrounds into university or getting more women and ethnic minorities
into high academic positions.
! Criticism about diversity: 33 respondents expressed their reservations about diversity
and initiatives relating to it. One common remark concerns the use of quotas or
positive discrimination. Others stated that nothing should be done about diversity,
considering diversity a hot topic that annoys most people. Another classic one-liner
is that everyone should be treated equally and that differences should be ignored.
! Remarks/suggestions about working students or students over 26 years old: 12 remarks
were made about this matter. The general idea is that the facilities for evening
students should be larger and should make more use of ICT. Furthermore,
respondents also stressed the fact that students over 25 cannot use particular facilities
(e.g. reduced prices for public transport).
! Remarks about the social background of students: 4 remarks were made about the
fact that studying at university is hard for those who come from a family with a low
income.
! Remarks about the survey: 15 remarks were made about the survey itself. Most