The week against racism focuses on racism in working life

A multidisciplinary project group from Turku UAS was commissioned to map the websites of the Finnish higher education institutions. The aim of the assignment, formulated by the Future Learning Design team, was to find out what kind of anti-racist content can be found on the websites.

In addition, the student project team published a list of suggested measures. In the case of Turku UAS, the team made a number of important findings, from the choice of images on the website to the multilingual nature of the lunch menus. The findings of the project group have already been taken forward. 

A key finding was that although most higher education institutions conduct anti-racism and equality surveys, the results are not published on external websites. The results of these surveys are therefore only available to the staff and current students of the institution concerned. However, such information could also be of interest to potential students. 

Overall, the project team reports that the findings of the project are that there is relatively little anti-racism content on higher education institutions' websites. Students would welcome more inclusive events and information packs. 

Marjo Joshi, Chief Advisor in Future Learning Design, echoes the needs identified by the project team: –It is important to increase awareness, training and support for anti-racism work in higher education. We want all our students to feel equally important and part of our community on an equal footing.

In its Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination Plan, Turku UAS is committed to acting as an organization that promotes equality and prevents discrimination.

"All persons are equal regardless of, for example, gender, age, physical characteristics, nationality, language, religion, beliefs, health, sexual orientation or any other reason related to the person. Every student and employee should feel that they are treated equally and on an equal footing" , states the plan.

One of the practical measures of our equality plan is that in late 2022 we decided on anonymous recruitment, which will be introduced in suitable recruitments.

We will also pay more attention to the orientation of employees who have moved to Finland and introduced positive discrimination in student recruitment in early 2023. 

We are working with the language and guidance service for immigrant students and International House Turku to ensure that our students with an immigrant background also receive support through them.  

We have also paid particular attention to the skills and awareness-raising of our staff. For example, we have organized Anti-Racism ABC training for staff. Later this spring, we will also be publishing an online course on multiculturalism for the staff and at a later stage, the course will be also available for students. 
 

The Red Cross campaign website has useful information about the week. The website and social media channels will be used to share information on how prejudice, discrimination and racism, especially in the workplace. The materials provide tips on how everyone can take action to tackle discriminatory practices in their communities and create a more equal working culture.

During the week, Turku will host a number of events, which are listed on the City of Turku website . Turku UAS will also communicate on the issue on its social media channels.