The Service

Introduction

The Equality and Diversity Service of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), a basic unit without its own legal personality, stands as an essential pillar for the implementation of inclusive and non-discrimination policies in all university settings. With a rigorous focus in fulfilling current regulations, the service provides expert guidance and necessary resources to establish a feminist, inclusive and diverse university. Therefore, it addresses everyone in the UAB community: PDI, PTGAS and the student body.

The Equality and Diversity Service assumes a set of duties to promote equality, diversity and inclusion at the UAB:

• Developing Action Plans: Conceiving, implementing and evaluating plans aiming to promote gender equality and inclusion in every aspect of university life.
• Counselling and Support: Providing integral support to implement equality and non-discrimination policies through academic personnel, administrative staff and student counselling.
• Diagnostic Research: Research for identifying and tackling inequality and discrimination present in our community.
• Specific Accompaniment: Support for people with special needs and learning difficulties, victims of gender violence, LGBTphobia and other forms of discrimination, ensuring full integration within the university context.

Awareness: Training, workshops, campaigns and other activities and actions to raise awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion.

The Equality and Diversity Service also develops and implements protocols and other resources, offers specialized training for teaching staff and actively participates in university networks that promote diversity and equality.

In the framework of equality policy design and implementation, the service works to elaborate, monitor and evaluate proposals for action aiming to correct inequality. Here, equality counselling, training, prevention and participation become key strategies to transform power imbalances at university from a gender perspective.

History

The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) promotes, as a principle, equal opportunities, non-discrimination and inclusion of people in exercising its duties, activities and processes. In order to comply with this principle, the UAB has

created different structures and entities to tackle any emerging needs relating to diversity, equality and non-discrimination.

The Observatori per a la Igualtat (Equality Observatory) was established in 2005 as a support and consultancy technical unit for the design and evaluation of gender equality and disability plans and policies at the university, as well as awareness on the subject. It has also been the reference entity for prevention and support services for victims of gender violence or LGBTphobia.

The 1992-1993 academic year, the Programa d’Integració dels Universitaris amb Necessitats Especials (also known as PIUNE, the Special Needs University Students Integration Program) was established, aiming to support disabled students or special education needs.

Finally, in 2002, the Unitat d’Assessorament Psicopedagògic (also known as UAP, the Unit for Educational Psychology Counselling) was established as an entity aiming to inform, counsel, and orient the student body, as well as offer tools and resources to improve learning.

In 2024, in order to fulfil current regulations (especially the new Organic Law of the University System stating that universities must have a Unit for Equality and Diversity among their basic structures) and to meet the needs detected in the field of equality, diversity and inclusion, the UAB takes one step further, creating a basic unit that both integrates and strengthens all of the university’s administrative structures dedicated exclusively to gender equality, LGBT+ rights, support services for disabled people or with special education needs, called Equality and Diversity Service of the UAB, which is planned for in the UAB Statutes.

The purpose and duties of this structure are based on the specialisation and expertise of these entities, the compulsory fulfilment of current regulations and the needs detected these past few years on the field of diversity management, especially regarding mental health and gender identity and expression.