The University of Sydney has received its final four SAGE Cygnet Awards for gender and intersectional equity, focusing on recruitment, career development and progression, caring and flexibility, and safer communities.
This means the University is eligible to apply for a Silver Award, he next level of Athena Swan accreditation, and demonstrates the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity.
The University’s SAGE team collects evidence to demonstrate improvements to key gender equity, diversity and inclusion markers while also co-developing actions to address ongoing structural, systemic and cultural barriers which impact staff and students. In 2024, the SAGE Team received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence for ‘Diversity and Inclusion Champion’ for their collective efforts to engage more than 600 University colleagues to understand EDI-related barriers and co-designed action plans to improve the University’s culture.
Mark Scott AO, Vice Chancellor and President, noted that “The achievement of 5 Cygnets within a calendar year is not only an outstanding outcome from what is an ambitious program of work but it also demonstrates the commitment of colleagues across the university to all aspects of Diversity Equity and Inclusion.”
“The five areas examined for the purposes of the Cygnet submissions show a great effort by the University of Sydney to create an inclusive and safe environment for all staff and students. We still have work to do and I am confident that under the leadership of the SAGE team and the collective effort of colleagues we will continue to do good work to build a community of practice which supports an inclusive culture. We are now on our pathway to achieve Silver accreditation. I am immensely proud of the SAGE team and colleagues.”
Reflecting on the significant progress made, and the work remaining, Professor Lucy Marshall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Community & Leadership) noted:
“I am thrilled we have achieved this prestigious milestone and become one of only two organisations to reach it within one calendar year. These awards acknowledge our ongoing efforts to break down barriers and build a more inclusive and equitable university. Our SAGE team, along with the self-assessment team (SAT) members, have done incredible work to show our progress and improvements across a wide range of areas. Though there is more work to be done, these awards recognise the change and growth our community has been able to achieve.”
Continued progress in gender equity
The University was awarded Bronze status in 2018 and has since been working towards building on those strong foundations. To apply for the Silver Award, institutions are required to gain five Cygnet awards which serve as an audit and reflection on the actions implemented to address key barriers noted in the Bronze application.
The University earned their first Cygnet Award in August last year, and followed up with four new awards in:
- LGBTQIA+ inclusion
- Inclusive recruitment
- Equitable career progression
- Improvements in caring and flexibility arrangements
- Safer communities.
All Cygnets included several follow-up actions to address gaps and ongoing issues identified.
“The five Cygnet awards recognise the University of Sydney’s impressive progress in breaking down barriers that impact on equity, diversity and inclusion,” said Professor Dimitria Groutsis, Academic Director of the Athena Swan SAGE Program at the University.
“I am incredibly proud of the SAGE team and our dedicated and hardworking SAT members who together, worked hard to ensure our Cygnet success. We are now in a position to apply for SAGE Athena Swan Silver accreditation which signals our maturity in embedding diversity, equity and inclusion across and within all processes and systems.”
The SAGE Team has commenced work on the University’s Silver application, we look forward to sharing how you can contribute as we progress toward Silver in 2025.
Find out more
You can read all about USyd’s actions, outcomes and impacts in their full Cygnet Award applications, or read overviews in our growing library of progress and impact summaries.
