History & Successes

With its "Gleichstel­lungs­konzept für Parität", an equal oppor­tu­nity concept for achie­ving gender parity, Osna­brück Uni­versity success­fully entered the fourth round of the "Professorinnen-Programm" and received the "Gleich­stel­lungs­starke Hoch­schule" award as one of the best 22 entries nation­wide. Now that some prior third-party funded projects have been con­so­li­da­ted by UOS ( Family Service,  Female Promotion Pool,  mentoring for young female academics), the funds raised will be used to fur­ther develop the  empowHer program and  Equality Control­ling as well as to es­ta­blish gender-sensitive appoint­ment manage­ment, among other things.

Under the direc­tion of Dr.ⁱⁿ Sabine Jösting, the fourth round of the Dia­log­ini­tia­tive has begun, in which the Minis­try of Sci­ence and Cul­ture, the State Uni­versity Con­fe­rence and the State Con­fe­rence of Equal Oppor­tu­nity Repre­sen­ta­tives at Uni­ver­si­ties in Lower Saxony are wor­king to­ge­ther on the stra­te­gic deve­lop­ment of gen­der equa­lity. As part of the fourth round (2024-2026), the pro­ject part­ners are fo­cu­sing on the inter­sec­tional orien­ta­tion of gender equa­lity work.

As one of the ten best entries to the "Profes­sorinnen-Programm III", Osna­brück Uni­ver­sity re­ceived the "Gleich­stel­lung: aus­ge­zeich­net!" award for its Gleich­stel­lungs­zu­kunfts­konzept. The funds raised, amoun­ting to 2.5 million euros, made it possible to con­tinue exis­ting mea­sures ( Family Service,  Female Promotion Pool,  mentoring for young female academics,  MentUOS), to set up the  empowHer program, the  Equality Controlling, as well as pro­jects for the stra­te­gic fur­ther de­ve­lop­ment of gen­der equa­lity work.

Since Novem­ber 2018, Osna­brück Uni­ver­sity has been a sig­na­tory to the "Charta der Vielfalt", a volun­tary commit­ment to pro­mote diver­si­ty, appre­ci­a­tion and par­ti­ci­pa­tion in the work­place. In sig­ning it, Osna­brück Uni­ver­sity is joi­ning the goal of cre­ating a wor­king en­viron­ment that is free of preju­dice and in which all employees expe­rience respect and recog­nition regard­less of age, ethnic back­ground and natio­na­lity, gender and gender identity, phy­sical and men­tal abili­ties, reli­gion and ideo­logy, sexual orien­ta­tion and social back­ground.

On the occasion of Dr.ⁱⁿ Sabine Jösting's tenth anni­ver­sary as central Equal Oppor­tu­nity Rep­re­sen­ta­tive and head of the Equal Oppor­tu­nity Office, a jubilee book was published in which the va­ri­ous levels of gen­der equa­lity work at UOS are high­ligh­ted, Sabine Jösting looks back on a decade in office and gives an out­look on the fu­ture of equal oppor­tu­nity efforts at Osna­brück Uni­versity.

At Osna­brück Uni­ver­sity, sexua­lized dis­cri­mi­nation, harass­ment and vio­lence will not be to­le­ra­ted under any cir­cum­stan­ces and will be sanc­tioned accor­dingly. The di­rec­tive, which came in­to force in 2015, con­tains a defi­ni­tion of terms and a spe­ci­fic com­plaints pro­ce­dure that all mem­bers and affi­li­ates of the uni­ver­sity as well as visi­tors to uni­ver­sity faci­li­ties and events can use in the event of harassment.

With its gender equa­lity concept Osna­brück Uni­ver­sity success­fully entered into the second round of the "Profes­sorinnen-Programm" and thus acquired funds amounting to 1.3 million euros for the further expan­sion of gen­der equa­lity work. In addition to the con­ti­nu­ation of mea­sures from the first round of the program ( Family Service,  Female Promotion Pool,  mentoring for young female academics), this also made possible the con­cep­tion and imple­men­tation of the  MentUOS program for female Master's students.

The "For­schungs­orien­tierte Gleich­stel­lungs­standards", a set of research-oriented stan­dards of gen­der equality, were a volun­tary commit­ment adop­ted by mem­bers of the DFG in 2008 for the las­ting in­te­gra­tion of gen­der equa­lity struc­tures in the aca­de­mic commu­nity and higher edu­ca­tion. Based on the inte­rim and final re­ports, the DFG placed Osna­brück Uni­ver­sity in the group with the highest degree of the stan­dards' imple­men­ta­tion in 2011 and 2013. In 2022, the volun­tary commit­ment was expan­ded into the  research-oriented equa­lity and diver­sity stan­dards.

The "Professorinnen-Programm" is a federal and state program designed to increase the proportion of female professors and strengthen gender equality structures at universities. In the first round of the program, Osnabrück University received a positive application for its gender equality concept and was able to raise third-party funding of 1.4 million euros. Until 2013, these funds financed the work of the  Family service, the  Female Promotion Pool  and the  mentoring for young female academics, which is now based at  ZePrOs .

The family-friendly uni­ver­sity audit cer­ti­fies uni­ver­sities that im­prove the com­pa­ti­bi­lity of work and stu­dies with family life. Osna­brück Uni­ver­sity was au­di­ted for the first time in 2008 and set it­self the goal of buil­ding a family-friendly uni­ver­sity cul­ture. From 2017 to 2020, UOS held the per­ma­nent cer­ti­fi­cate of the audit and con­tin­ues to ad­here to the goals of family friend­li­ness even after its expi­ra­tion.

Dr.ⁱⁿ Sabine Jösting is unani­mously elec­ted by the Senate of Osna­brück Uni­ver­sity as the new full-time Equal Oppor­tu­nity Rep­re­sen­tative and takes up her post and the posi­tion of Head of the Equal Oppor­tu­ni­tiy Office on Au­gust 1, 2008. In 2012, she is ini­tially re-elected for a second term of office, followed by a third star­ting in 2019.

Usha Maria Govil is succeeded by Daniela de Ridder, who becomes Women's and Equal Oppor­tu­nity Repre­sen­ta­tive at Osna­brück Uni­ve­rsity in 2007. She re­signs from office in 2008 to enter the Ger­man Par­li­ament.

While the full-time status of the Women's and Equal Oppor­tu­nity Repre­sen­tative was not re­quired by the Lo­wer Saxony Higher Edu­ca­tion Act until 2002, it was al­ready re­ques­ted in 1998 by the Women's Assem­bly, the Commi­ssion for the Ad­vance­ment of Wo­men and four fe­male mem­bers of the Senate and there­fore imple­men­ted early at Osna­brück Uni­ver­sity. Usha Maria Govil became the first full-time female office hol­der in 2000 and, after being re-elected in 2003, re­mained the Women's and Equal Oppor­tu­nity Re­pre­sen­tative at Osna­brück Uni­ver­sity until 2007.

After the Commission for Equal Oppor­tu­nity of the Osna­brück Uni­ver­sity Senate pro­posed that the office of Women's Repre­sen­ta­tive be insti­tu­tio­na­lized in April 1990, Christiane Tillner was the first person appoin­ted to the post on February 1, 1992. She was elec­ted to the po­si­tion by the Senate and re­leased from her pre­vious po­si­tion at the uni­ver­sity. At the same time, she takes over the manage­ment of the Women's Office, which was set up in the winter term of 1991/92 to support the Women's Repre­sen­tative. She is re-elected in 1994 and holds office until 1998.