We actively promote an inclusive and diverse academic environment. We value and celebrate diversity in all its forms, promoting equal access and opportunities for all. Through inclusive programmes, initiatives and policies, we aim to create a context in which every individual feels respected, represented and able to fully contribute to the richness of our community.
There are numerous forms in which discrimination against people and their consequent social exclusion can occur. We try to fight them all.
The Rector has delegated Professor Roberta Lombardi to follow this issue.
You can contact the Single Guarantee Committee (CUG), if you believe you are a victim of harassment, moral or psychological violence, direct or indirect discrimination relating to gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, language, religion, disability, political opinions, personal and social conditions.
Support for disabilities, attention to learning disabilities and special educational needs
Worldwide, one in five people has a disability. The quality of people's lives is conditioned by the surrounding context. We have always been committed to creating an accessible world.
All our premises guarantee the possibility for people with reduced or impaired motor or sensory abilities to access them and use the spaces and equipment. We also adhere to the PEBA (Plan for the Elimination of Architectural Barriers), with which we monitor, design and plan interventions that allow us to reach an optimal threshold of usability for everyone.
We have employed a disability advisor, who helps to identify needs and define personalised solutions based on the type of disability. We support students with a specific tutoring service.
Those with a disability are also helped with financial aid provided by EDISU, and total or partial exemptions from paying fees.
We have also opened the DSA (Specific Learning Disorders) Help Desk, which deals with reception, integration, orientation and study support.
Fight against Poverty
Being a social elevator in the region means facilitating changes in social status and dynamic integration between different classes, activities and professions within our community.
Eastern Piedmont is itself a resource-rich region, but faces serious economic and employment challenges. There are many families who have an equivalent disposable income below the poverty threshold.
We think of these families, of their capable daughters and sons who deserve to access university education.
EDISU is the body that, by its very nature, supports the right to study with financial support in the form of grants, reimbursements, exemptions, contributions, loans, places in residences, subsidised canteens, etc.
However, we too give our contribution to support students with reduced financial opportunities. Compared to universities close to or similar to ours, our fees are the lowest. We have established a No Tax Area; we offer total/partial exemption from fees; reductions and subsidies; support and grants.
We collaborate with the City and Territory Group and the Antonicelli Cultural Union to raise awareness among citizens on the issues of poverty.
Fight against sexism, respect for gender identity and sexual orientation
Sexual discrimination is always lurking, it runs subtly through prejudices, and can manifest in different contexts.
The Gender Report is a document that offers a broad representation of the gender balance of our University and is an essential tool for integrating the gender perspective into all policies. The Gender Equality Plan is the document that defines our strategies for eliminating gender asymmetries, indicating concrete projects and actions aimed, for example, at putting an end to gender violence, combating sexist stereotypes, bridging the gap of gender in recruitment and career progression, and to achieve gender balance in decision-making processes. We also decided to equip ourselves with guidelines for the use of non-discriminatory language.
Every year, through the CUG, we celebrate International Women's Day (8 March) and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November) with "Women's Stories". We inaugurated a red bench in the Rectorate headquarters, a symbol of the fight against all violence against women. Seminars, happenings and demonstration videos underline the commitment of our University on these issues.
We also joined "Lift your gaze...", a regional basic awareness course for health workers in the management and care of women subjected to abuse.
We ensure that all students in gender transition have the possibility of activating an “alias” career, allowing them to take advantage of a temporary identity that reflects their chosen gender.
For citizens we organize cycles of meetings and open lessons, such as "Gender perspectives on the challenges of the present", to delve deeper into the discussion linked to gender culture in its many facets.
Fight against ethnic, racial, language and religious discrimination
Our University defines itself as open and secular. We have reached around eighty nationalities among our students. We have 10% female and international students out of the total student population.
We are among the signatories of the Inclusive University Manifesto, promoted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). We believe in development cooperation to improve the conditions of the global system, in particular in areas considered weak; this is why we are part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network
We also participate in RUniPace, Network of Italian Universities for Peace, to promote diffusion of the culture and practice of positive peace through research, teaching, training and third mission activity.
We are members of Scholars at Risks, the international network of universities created to promote academic freedom and protect scholars whose lives are in danger, or whose research and teaching work is severely compromised.
We are deeply committed to the fight for the release of Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian doctor and former researcher at our University before moving to Sweden, accused by his country's regime of espionage and collaboration with Israel and, later, sentenced to death
We are partners of the “Memory Train” project, which annually offers a trip for our students to the emblematic places of persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazi and fascist regimes. The journey is prepared through a path of in-depth analysis, reflection and debate, which also includes simulations and role-plays.
We are the leader of the international project "Anti-racist pedagogies", which aims to define and generate a "catalogue" of practices and models for an anti-racist pedagogy of teaching US literature in Italy. It is intended for Italian high school teachers and American Literature teachers in Italy and the United States.
Declaring ourselves secular does not compromise the respect we have for all religions. Proof of this is the International Master’s in Religion, Politics and Global Society,, already in its third edition and the numerous seminars we hold every year for citizens , including those in collaboration with MEIC Vercelli.
Fight against age stereotypes
The Ageing Project, in addition to being a project on the health aspects of ageing, also considers the issues of discrimination (ageism) and disability. Conferences open to citizens are regularly held to raise awareness of the issue.
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