Greater transparency required for equality in higher education, says UCU

The union added that greater analysis was needed on equality, particularly as the report is to be the baseline for future years. Commenting on the report, UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Today's report is to be welcomed as we need much more analysis on equality in higher education. There is no reason why more women should not be in the top jobs in our universities and being properly paid for their work. Fair, open and transparent recruitment and promotion procedures are in everyone's interests, not just women.
 
'What is equally important for the future is that institutions act to ensure equality of opportunity at every point so that women and staff from BME backgrounds who are at the start of their academic career will face fewer obstacles in getting to the top than those who came before them. We would like to see mandatory equal pay audits as a start to unearthing out the scale of the problem. Greater transparency over promotions at work would also help give a clearer picture of who is getting promoted and why.'