SDG 10. Reduced Inequality

• Centre for Research and Promotion of Advocacy in Education, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
• Centre for Research on Intergenerational Justice, Social Responsibility and Sustainability, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
• Centre for Research and Innovation in Social Services, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work

• Empowering at-Risk Roma Girls’ Mattering through Reproductive Justice, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
• Integrating Special Needs Individuals into Digital-Holistic Education, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
• DIPLOMA – Development of Inclusive and Participatory Learning in Organisations through Multicultural Ambassadors (Erasmus+)

The admissions policy of the University of Bucharest is non-discriminatory.

• The Charter of the University of Bucharest (art. 19, par. 1 and 2) establishes the conditions of access to the university community, as follows: “Access to the university community by admission as a student or by holding a teaching or research position, as well as the exercise of managerial functions, is free, under the conditions of the law, and may not be prevented or restricted for reasons of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political or religious conviction. Student access to a study programme or course presupposes the existence of a certain level of knowledge, duly specified in the conditions of enrolment, or a minimum number of students.” Thus, according to the Charter of the University of Bucharest (art. 19, para. 1) “Access to the university community through admission … is free, under the law, and may not be prevented or restricted for reasons of sex, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political or religious conviction”. The methodologies for the organisation and conduct of admission contests to undergraduate, master’s and doctoral studies comply with the provisions of the Charter.
• 11, para. 2, lit. d of the Code of Ethics and Deontology of the University of Bucharest also specifies that it is forbidden in the university community “discrimination, understood as distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference, based on race, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, social category, beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, illness of any kind, belonging to a disadvantaged category, as well as any other criterion that has the purpose or effect of restricting, eliminating the recognition, use or exercise, on equal terms, of human rights”.

The University of Bucharest annually monitors the number of its applicants, including those from under-represented groups. Data on their number is managed through the platforms dedicated to these activities: the School Management Platform and the Admissions Platform. The UB also has an Office for Enrolment Monitoring, Reporting and Statistics, which manages all this data and provides it to the university and faculty management for analysis and specific action.

According to Article 2, point 2 of the Methodology for the organisation and conduct of the admission examination for undergraduate university studies, there are also special categories subsidised study places, such as those allocated to high school graduates from rural areas, for Roma candidates, for high school graduates from the social protection system and others.

The University of Bucharest has anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies and constantly monitors their implementation.

• The Charter of the University of Bucharest supports the discouragement of “defamatory language, obscene behaviour, discrimination based on ethnicity, race, gender, age, social origin, religion, political opinions, sexual orientation, or other conduct lacking ethical integrity.” (Article 7(1)).
• In Art. 11 (2) lit. d of the Code of Ethics and Deontology of the University of Bucharest states that “discrimination is prohibited, understood as any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, social category, beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, illness of any kind, membership of a disadvantaged category, as well as any other criterion whose purpose or effect is to restrict or eliminate the recognition, use or exercise of human rights on equal terms”.
• Another document which contains regulations against discrimination and harassment is the Internal Regulations of the University of Bucharest which contains in the second part the Rules on the respect of the principle of non-discrimination and the elimination of all forms of violation of dignity (art. 57-67).
• In 2021 the project team of the ATHENA – UB project developed the UB Gender Equality Plan 2022-2024. One of the objectives of the plan refers to Preventing and combating sexual harassment and gender discrimination (Ob. 7).

In 2021, the Committee for the implementation of the Gender Equality Plan at the University of Bucharest was set up, made up of representatives of the academic and administrative management, teaching staff, researchers and students of the UB. The committee held its first meeting in September 2021, during which a benchmarking exercise was carried out, discussing “issues related to the quantitative and qualitative data needs that have been and will be collected so that the strategies and activities to be included in the future gender equality plan are useful, feasible and adapted to the realities of the institution.”

The Ombudsman of the University also has the role is to advise, under conditions of independence, impartiality and confidentiality, all members of the university community who consider themselves to be treated unfairly.

The University of Bucharest undertakes multiple actions to provide support to underrepresented groups into the academic community, and this includes mentoring, couseling or peer-support programmes. Among the UB’s actions supporting underrepresented groups we mention:

• Career counselling, vocational guidance, psychological counselling and assessment, aptitude assessment offered through the Department of Career Counselling and Guidance (DCOC);
• Screening or comprehensive psychological assessment services for different clinical conditions, psychotherapy, psychological or educational counselling and crisis assistance offered to students, academic and administrative staff of the UB by the team of the Clinic for Psychological and Educational Assistance and Intervention (CAIPE);
• Coaching and personal development services in the area of social and emotional competences, professional counselling and career guidance and remedial learning programmes and development of critical thinking and scientific reasoning skills and academic writing skills offered by the UB Learning Centre (LC) team.

The University of Bucharest undertakes multiple actions to facilitate the access and provide support for people with disabilities.

• The UB is implementing the BlindHUB project between October and September 2022, in partnership with the Romanian Association of the Blind, which aims to facilitate access of blind and visually impaired people to the labour market and to the university education environment. The project team proposed:
• The development of an IT application (BlindHUB) to provide information, guidance, career counselling, digital mediation on the labour market and university environment for blind and partially sighted people;
• training in self-presentation and job interview skills using BlindHUB for at least 200 blind and partially sighted people by organising 10 seminars at national level with the participation of employers and universities;
• setting up and equipping with IT and accessibility technology of two BlindHUB Centres – professional development communities for blind and partially sighted people.
• There have also been measures taken to facilitate the access of blind people to information on the UB website. To centralize all these actions, a dedicated webpage was created detailing everything available at the university for students with special educational needs and disabilities, that can be accessed here.
• At the beginning of the academic year 2020, the CONNECT volunteer network was launched as part of the project “Quality inclusive education in the academic community of the University of Bucharest, with a focus on people with disabilities”. The main objective of the network is to support young people with disabilities in the process of accessing administrative and educational services offered by the university. They benefit from the support of student volunteers within the network. The project team has also set itself the target of carrying out accessibility and modernization works in the UB faculties’ premises from the academic year 2020-2021. At the same time, the aim was to extend the step-hear technology guidance system for the visually impaired in the faculties. The project also provides for accessibility interventions in educational and housing spaces for students with disabilities. More information on the objectives of the project is available here.
• The University of Bucharest has developed facilities for people with disabilities (access ramp in the building) in the teaching, research and other activities areas. UB dormitories have been equipped with rooms for people with disabilities, elevators, facilities for people with disabilities. Also, according to art. 17 of the Methodology for accommodation in the University of Bucharest hostels, students with severe or accentuated disabilities have priority in the selection process for accommodation, according to law 488/2006.
• The administrative departments of the UB responsible for various aspects of student life (Department of Dormitories and Student Activities, Department of Counselling and Career Guidance), as well as other UB units (Clinic for Psychological and Educational Assistance and Intervention, University of Bucharest Learning Centre) ensure the welfare of all students, including those with disabilities.

Project CNFIS-FDI-2021-0583 –  Access to quality education within the academic community of the University of Bucharest – “OS1. Expanding support infrastructure and increasing institutional capacity for the inclusion of students and staff with disabilities through awareness campaigns, dedicated training programs and supporting volunteering at institutional level.”

The University of Bucharest offers mentoring services in the admissions process, which are also available to candidates with disabilities. Other candidates have access to these services as well. As previously outlined, visually impaired candidates have access to admission documents and similar information in a format adapted to the screen readers they use. The CONNECT volunteer network also provides support in this direction.

The University of Bucharest implements a consistent accommodation policy towards people with disabilities.

• The university dormitories include rooms specially prepared for this category of students and the university buildings have been modified to allow for easy access (e.g. ramps or lifts). Students with serious and severe disabilities and their companions can benefit from free accommodation.
• The University of Bucharest has set itself several objectives through the Development Strategy 2020-2023, aiming at ensuring minimum rights and conditions for students (Ob.I.2), social involvement of the University and inclusion of disadvantaged groups and individuals (Ob. II.5), with the following associated indicators: I.2.8. Total number of accommodation places for people with disabilities (with accessible bathrooms); II.5.1. Number of accessible buildings for people with disabilities/year; II.5.2. Number of people with disabilities accessing educational resources/year (e.g. participating in UB events, study programmes, etc.). In this way, the UB aims to ensure that in the coming years students with disabilities will be able to enjoy university life on an equal footing with other members of the community. Such spaces and resources are already accessible in the University of Bucharest, and their number will increase in the coming years, with projects being developed to this end.