Diversity in everyday work at the university

Our cooperation, our organisation of research and education as well as the perception of our social responsibility are characterised by diversity-sensitive communication, mutual respect as well as democratic and non-discriminatory behaviour. As a result, all people at university – students, teachers, lecturers, scientists and administrative staff alike – have the same chance to develop their competences and abilities. At the same time, we are committed to the necessity of continuous and long-term reflection required to recognise diversity as a potential and to generate value from it. Presuppositions, attributions, stereotypes and prejudices influence our everyday behaviour and limit us in how we shape the space for the development of others. There are various opportunities for reflecting on these stereotypes which also provide important spaces for internal networking, exchange of experiences and reduction of insecurities. We see awareness for mechanisms of (individual, institutional and structural) direct and indirect discrimination, including the ability to reduce them, as a key competence that is central to respectful personal relations at a non-discriminatory and diversity-sensitive university.  

What is expected from our staff and students, what responsibilities are assigned to them and what competences and skills are attributed to them rests on an organisational culture of recognition, appreciation and promotion, rather than being subject to stereotypical presuppositions. Through diversity-sensitive structures and processes within the institution, spaces for participation and possibility, places of listening and being heard are created for everyone at the University of Graz. In this way, our university becomes a place where everyone feels comfortable and can develop their potential to the full.