Some employees refuse to participate in the diversity “ barometer ”

Universities want to gain insight into the cultural diversity of their employees. This is why they are going to share personal data with the CBS statistical office. But not everyone wants to participate in this “barometer”.

Do scientists and employees with an immigrant background have an equal opportunity at university? Probably not. Right now national action plan for more diversity and inclusion, the firm and academics hope to do something about it.

Bind
But concrete figures are not yet available. To enter Menu To determine how many teachers and staff have an immigrant background, some universities participate in the “Cultural Diversity Barometer”.

Here’s how it works: Universities share some data about their employees (like date of birth, address, faculty and position) with Statistics Netherlands. The statistics office couples this data is then added to its own origin data and returns anonymized data files. Universities will then know how many employees have an immigrant background.

The idea is controversial in the House of Representatives. Including VVD satirize maintain “ lists ” of the ethnic and migratory origin of education personnel and previously convened with the CDA in a movement refrain from doing so. The motion was carried.

Opt out
However, at least five universities participate in the barometer. But staff who oppose it can refuse: just as with registration in the donor register, there is an “opt-out”. Employees can indicate by email that their data cannot be shared with Statistics Netherlands. Otherwise, it will happen.

Several hundred employees were indeed opposed, according to a visit from the HOP. For example, 48 employees of Erasmus University Rotterdam decided not to participate. At VU University, there were a few more: 60 people did not participate. In Leiden, around 70 employees went offline, tell the university’s head of diversity in an interview with Mare. 159 employees filed a complaint with the University of Amsterdam.

Suspended
The discussion is particularly lively at the University of Utrecht. So far, the most refusers have attended: 430 of the 5,461 employees contacted do not participate. But the University Council has also expressed concerns about employee privacy. This led the university to temporarily suspend data delivery to Statistics Netherlands, reports NRC.

The UU board sees no reason to stop the project, a spokesperson said, but will send more information to the university board first. If necessary, a further discussion on the barometer will take place at the end of April, before the data is shared with Statistics Netherlands.

Parliamentary questions
Last week pronounced a teacher from Utrecht is concerned about the objection procedure in Elsevier Weekblad. Employees do not have more than three weeks to unsubscribe, he warned. What if someone just missed that email on the barometer?

The VVD has Parliamentary questions asked about the project, written brand new education spokesperson Hatte van der Woude on Twitter. “Students and university employees cannot be reduced to their origins, and certainly not if they have not given explicit permission.” She wants to know, among other things, whether this barometer is authorized if the House of Representatives disapproves of the retention of data on diversity.

No new data
And what about confidentiality? Statistics Netherlands has announced that no new data will be collected for this project and that privacy legislation is in place. Incidentally, the results are only shared by groups of at least 250 people. The data of the small faculties will thus be merged.

The Diversity Action Plan was signed by nine parties, including the science financier NWO, the science society KNAW, the university association VSNU, the National Network of Women Professors and the Promovendi Netwerk Nederland.

Universities want to gain insight into the cultural diversity of their employees. This is why they are going to share personal data with the CBS statistical office. But not everyone wants to participate in this “barometer”.

Do scientists and staff with an immigrant background have an equal opportunity at university? Probably not. Right now national action plan for more diversity and inclusion, the firm and academics hope to do something about it.

Bind
But concrete figures are not yet available. To enter Menu To determine how many teachers and staff have an immigrant background, some universities participate in the “Cultural Diversity Barometer”.

Here’s how it works: Universities share some data about their employees (such as date of birth, address, faculty and position) with Statistics Netherlands. The statistics office couples this data is then added to its own origin data and returns anonymized data files. Universities will then know how many employees have an immigrant background.

The idea is controversial in the House of Representatives. Including VVD satirize maintain “ lists ” of the ethnic and migratory origin of education personnel and previously convened with the CDA in a movement refrain from doing so. The motion was carried.

Opt out
However, at least five universities participate in the barometer. But staff who oppose it can refuse: just as with registration in the donor register, there is an “opt-out”. Employees can indicate by email that their data cannot be shared with Statistics Netherlands. Otherwise, it will happen.

Several hundred employees were indeed opposed, according to a visit from the HOP. For example, 48 employees of Erasmus University Rotterdam decided not to participate. At VU University, there were a few more: 60 people did not participate. In Leiden, around 70 employees went offline, tell the university’s head of diversity in an interview with Mare. 159 employees filed a complaint with the University of Amsterdam.

Suspended
The discussion is particularly lively at the University of Utrecht. So far, the most refusers have attended: 430 of the 5,461 employees contacted do not participate. But the University Council has also expressed concerns about employee privacy. This led the university to temporarily suspend data delivery to Statistics Netherlands, reports NRC.

The UU board sees no reason to stop the project, a spokesperson said, but will send more information to the university board first. If necessary, a further discussion on the barometer will take place at the end of April, before the data is shared with Statistics Netherlands.

Parliamentary questions
Last week pronounced a teacher from Utrecht is concerned about the objection procedure in Elsevier Weekblad. Employees do not have more than three weeks to unsubscribe, he warned. What if someone just missed that email on the barometer?

The VVD has Parliamentary questions asked about the project, written brand new education spokesperson Hatte van der Woude on Twitter. “Students and university employees cannot be reduced to their origins, and certainly not if they have not given explicit permission.” She wants to know, among other things, whether this barometer is authorized if the House of Representatives disapproves of the retention of data on diversity.

No new data
And what about confidentiality? Statistics Netherlands has announced that no new data will be collected for this project and that privacy legislation is in place. Incidentally, the results are only shared by groups of at least 250 people. The data of the small faculties will thus be merged.

The Diversity Action Plan was signed by nine parties, including the science financier NWO, the science society KNAW, the university association VSNU, the National Network of Women Professors and the Promovendi Netwerk Nederland.