Meeting of the UniGR Council at the University of Liège
The seven partners of the Université de la Grande Région met at the Château de Colonster (ULiege campus) to take stock of current collaborations and outline the future of the consortium.
As a public university open to the world and is anchored in the scientific, cultural and economic development of its region, the University of Liège relies on its three pillars: teaching, research and civic engagement.
ULiège trains responsible citizens who are provided with cutting-edge knowledge and critical thinking, are able to share knowledge and can push forward an increasingly complex world.
ULiège develops and promotes excellence in research, multidisciplinary and direct engagement with its instruction.
Global exposure is a top priority at the University of Liège. The institution offers a wide range of international mobility opportunities to students, researchers and staff, enabling them to enhance their cross-disciplinary skills and language knowledge.
ULiège: an experience of daily living. Located in 3 cities and 4 campuses, the university is a key player in terms of the environment and mobility.
In February 2022, the University of Liège, as a lucid and responsible institution, chose to participate with 45 European institutions in the UniSAFE survey in order to collect data on the prevalence of gender-based violence in the academic and research world. More than 42,000 students and staff responded to the survey, making it the largest research survey conducted in the European research community.
The survey consists of several parts, each corresponding to a type of violence, namely: physical, psychological, economic, sexual, sexual harassment and cyber harassment. Of the 42,000 participants in the survey, 62% believe that they have experienced at least one of the above-mentioned forms of violence since they started working or studying at their institution.
The most frequently reported form of violence is psychological (57%). In addition, almost one in three students and staff members reported having experienced at least one episode of sexual harassment at their institution (31%). The figures for other forms of violence are 6% for physical violence and 3% for sexual violence. Finally, one in ten participants stated that they had experienced economic violence.
Among the participants who declared having experienced at least one episode of gender-based violence, only 13% reported it to the authorities. 47% of the victims said they did not know whether the behaviour identified as violent was serious enough to be reported, while 31% said they did not know at the time of the incident whether the behaviour constituted an act of violence or not.
A total of 2152 voluntary responses were recorded, including 648 staff members and 1504 students, i.e. 6.39% of the total population of the institution. Of the respondents, 76% felt that they had been a victim of at least one form of violence since they started working or studying at ULiège.
Similar to the overall results, psychological violence was the most frequently reported (67%), followed by sexual harassment (42%). Next came economic violence (10.5%), online violence (9%), physical violence (8.5%), and sexual violence (6%). It should be noted that among the respondents who said they had experienced at least one form of violence, 83% said they had not reported the incident to the authorities (the two main reasons cited being the same as those given in the general results).
Three out of four participants felt that sexual and gender-based violence was not (or only to a small extent) a problem at ULiège. 66% stated that they were not aware of policies within the institution. Of the participants who said they were aware of the policies, 71% found them clear and explicit and almost half found them effective.
As a reminder, these figures are based on the voluntary participation of 6.39% of the total population of ULiège. They should therefore be seen in proportion to this participation rate.
From this survey, it appears important to continue and reinforce our efforts to fight against all forms of violence within our institution. On the proposal of Florence Caeymaex, Advisor to the Rector Anne-Sophie Nyssen, the Board of Directors on 12 October 2022 created a Gender and Equality Council in charge of proposing an institutional strategy, launching and implementing projects in this area of gender and equality policies
The issue of harassment is one of the priorities of the Gender and Equality Council. The aim is to establish criteria for identifying violence, to propose or impose training, to improve the institution's responses and support for victims. It will also be a matter of communicating much better on the existing aids and recourses.
The seven partners of the Université de la Grande Région met at the Château de Colonster (ULiege campus) to take stock of current collaborations and outline the future of the consortium.
ULiège and its partners FOREM and IDELUX are inaugurating a sustainable housing technology platform on the Arlon campus to meet the needs of the wood and construction sectors.
Des représentant·es politiques sont venus ce 19 avril à la rencontre de la communauté ULiège pour débattre de thèmes liés à la vie universitaire, en vue des élections.