The University of Southern Queensland has earned a Cygnet Award for their work supporting academic women’s career development.

The university introduced a range of initiatives to tackle the gender disparities they identified in senior academic roles. In 2018, STEMM women outnumbered men at levels A and B but steadily decreased from level C up, and non-STEMM women outnumbered men at most levels except the highest level (E). It was clear women were underrepresented in senior positions across disciplines.

After several years of intervention, changes have started to take hold: the ratio of women to men at UniSQ’s highest academic levels (D and E) has moved closer towards gender parity. STEMM women’s representation has increased 8% at level D and 12% at level E, and non-STEMM women’s representation has increased by 13% at level E.

UniSQ’s programs and activities provided more career development support for women, including the Early Career Researcher Program, Early Career Academic Women’s Development Program, Senior Academic Women’s Development Program, mentorship support, grant-writing support, and the HEA@UniSQ Program for teaching fellowships.

The university was proud to receive this Award.

“The University of Southern Queensland is committed to supporting women to progress in their academic careers,” said Professor John Bell, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation).

“I congratulate all those across our University who have been involved in delivering career development programs and resources for academic women, and look forward to seeing equity in academia continue to improve into the future.”

Overall, UniSQ documented a positive impact of these initiatives, with academic women reporting feeling better supported to thrive, progress and seek promotion in their careers.

SAGE CEO Dr Janin Bredehoeft congratulated the University.

“UniSQ has brought in a wide range of support structures to close the scissor effect, increase women’s promotion application and success rates, and improve retention rates. They’ve gathered useful data on outcomes and we can see positive change in the areas they decided to tackle.”

“It’s great to see this clear improvement.”

This is UniSQ’s third Cygnet Award. It complements their previous Cygnets in improving the STEMM career pipeline and more inclusive onboarding.