Macquarie University has earned its first SAGE Cygnet Award for their work improving gender equity in the academic promotions process.

The Award recognises the significant changes Macquarie has made over the past seven years to improve fairness and transparency of the academic promotion process and encourage more inclusive hiring practices.

The University’s academic promotions scheme was redesigned in 2017 as a strengths-based, transparent promotion framework, with performance reviews aligned to promotion criteria. Aiming to address bias and support diverse career paths, the new promotions criteria model drew on Ernest Boyer’s four areas of scholarship, assessing Discovery, Teaching, Application, Integration, and Leadership and Citizenship.

The university provided ongoing workshops and information sessions in order to provide clear guidance on the new model to applicants and assessment committees.

The new process enabled the university to improve gender parity in academic promotions, leading to a nearly doubling of applications and successful candidates for women year over year since 2017, while maintaining high success rates of around 85-90%.

The foundation of a cultural shift

SAGE CEO Dr Janin Bredehoeft congratulated the university on successfully fostering more equitable promotions.

“This bold project demonstrates Macquarie University’s commitment and to building a strengths-based, transparent and inclusive academic promotions program.”

“It involved redefining what is valued and rewarded: this is no easy feat, but it is the foundation for a cultural shift towards equity.”

Professor Lucy Marshall, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, said that having more transparent and equitable promotions pathways is empowering for staff.

“By recognising a broader range of contributions across four areas of scholarship – Discovery, Teaching, Application, Integration – as well as Leadership and Citizenship contributions, we have nurtured real cultural change that encourages women to step forward and advance their academic careers.”

Building on an organisational strength

Professor Eric Knight, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (People and Operations), says the award is reflective of the University’s ongoing commitment to fostering an inclusive academic environment, grounded in gender equity and diversity.

“After redesigning our academic promotions scheme in 2017, we have maintained our focus on improving our processes and reinforcing an inclusive culture where diversity is rightly coveted as an organisational strength. We’re proud to support academic women at Macquarie to progress their careers and I thank everyone who has been involved in driving the positive change that has now been recognised by SAGE.”

Next steps

This first Cygnet Award places Macquarie on the path towards Silver SAGE Athena Swan accreditation. The University’s next submissions will focus on evaluating the Flexible Work Framework and enhancing support for LGBTQIA+ staff.