The University of Groningen has a rich academic tradition dating back to 1614
– a history which includes the first female student in the Netherlands and the first woman to become a university lecturer.
The University has over 4100 members of staff (2008 figures), of which 57% is male and 43% female.
There are two staff categories:
academic personnel (WP: 51%) and support and administrative staff (OBP: 49%).
The higher the job level of academic personnel, the lower the percentage of women at that level is.
For quite some time now, the lack of women being promoted to higher positions such as associate professor/University Reader and professor has been a theme for management and administrators in the academic world.
Attempts have been made to improve these figures through stimulation programmes such as NWO’s Aspasia, with measures related to gender-neutral appointment procedures and criteria, and with the Rosalind Franklin Fellowship programme.
However, recent policy assessments have shown that the numbers of women being promoted are still lagging behind target.
The measures taken thus far at the University of Groningen have all mainly been – and still are – aimed at academic staff, as the discrepancy between the number of women being awarded PhDs and those being appointed is obvious.
Among the support and administrative staff at the University, women are in the majority with 53%.
Yet here, too, the higher the job level, the lower the percentage of women is.
The ratio between men and women among OBP is in balance up to and including the sub-top level, with 60% men and 40% women.
The top, however, could easily see improvement in its figures of 87% men and 13% women.
On 10 June 2009, the President of the Board of the University signed the ‘Talent to the Top Charter’ on behalf of the Board.
The University has thus committed itself to taking concrete measures, or to continue current ones, towards bringing more women on board, retaining them and putting them on track for promotion.
The University of Groningen intends to apply this policy to both OBP and WP staff.
To this end, the University has taken a base measurement and passed it on to the Charter organization.
The base measurement can be found in the menu on the left.
