Abstract:

Gender mainstreaming and managing diversity of the student (as well as employee) body is relevant for every institution of higher education. Some subject areas, such as STEM or social sciences, are even less probable to attract all genders or minorities than other subjects. In these fields, it is the responsibility of institutions of higher education to identify and lower barriers for the underrepresented groups to take up these subjects, to provide a gender and diversity adequate education, and to provide services to prevent dropout due to these factors.

This presentation introduces a good practice example of managing diversity and gender equality at a technical university of applied sciences. The “bridging diversity”-program, hosted by the Teaching and Learning Center, a department dedicated to student and lecturer support at the university, offers several measures at individual, group, and institutional levels. Depending on the nature of content and usage, these services are realised in a digital, face-to-face or mixed format. An intersectionality measure matrix is used to present the different kinds of support and the groups benefiting therefrom.

Keywords:

Gender, Diversity, Gender- and Diversity- Management, Equality, Support, Service, digital learning, e-learning, Blended Learning.