Imperial receives 10/10 in guide for lesbian, gay and bisexual students
21 July 2011
Imperial is one of only four universities to match all ten criteria in a checklist looking at whether university practices and policies are welcoming and supportive of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) students. The Gay by Degree guide is organised by Stonewall UK to provide some information on what different universities are doing to address the needs of their lesbian, gay and bisexual students.
UCL, Portsmouth and Wolverhampton are the other universities to meet all criteria, which include whether a university has an LGB Society, whether it offers specific advice to LGB students and whether it has a specific policy to protect LGB students from bullying.
Imperial has both an active LGBT student society, IQ, which works to provide support for students and organise social events, and a staff group, Imperial 600, which works to ensure the views of LGBT staff are represented in College practices.
The President of IQ, postgraduate Alfredo Carpineti from the Department of Physics said: “I’ve really enjoyed my experience as an LGBT student at Imperial. I’ve never felt discriminated and I’ve never met anybody who really cared about my sexual orientation. I’m very pleased, both as a student and as the President of the LGBT society, that the College is so actively engaged in making Imperial a place of equal opportunities and no discrimination.”
He added: “I find that surveys like the Gay by Degree Guide are very important both for the students and Institutions. They give the prospective students a good overview of the commitment of the university on equality policies and they challenge the universities to improve on these matters.”
Imperial’s success follows news in January that it had been placed in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index for the second year running. The Index is published annually to showcase the UK’s best employers for LGB people, based on the steps they are taking to create a work environment in which all staff feel secure and valued.
Read the full story on Imperial’s position in Stonewall’s 2011 Workplace Equality Index.
More details on Gay by Degree are available on their website
— John-Paul Jones, Communications and Development
Tags: Imperial 600
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