Our university is a place of diversity, where people with different backgrounds, opportunities, and life experiences learn, research, and work together. Recognizing this diversity and implementing real equal opportunities are guiding principles for the continuous development of our higher education institution as a learning organization.

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is committed to minimizing structural barriers and the risk of discrimination or exclusion within its sphere of influence. At the same time, we work to design teaching, learning, research, and working environments in such a way that all university members can participate equally in processes and structures and develop their individual potential to the best of their ability.

Our aim is to continually develop the institutional framework conditions in order to create a higher education institution that not only recognizes diversity, but actively promotes it and views it as an asset.

The Diversity team will be happy to advise and support you in planning and implementing diversity-specific measures.

Between 2015 and 2017, JGU underwent the “Vielfalt gestalten” (“Shaping Diversity”) auditing process of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Donor’s Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany) for the first time and was awarded a certificate.

The audit aims to encourage higher education institutions and non-university research institutions to proactively address the challenges associated with student and employee diversity and view it as an asset for the institution. During the two-year process, it offers support in the development and implementation of a diversity strategy tailored to the institutional profile.

By linking organizational development, collegial advising, and external support, structural framework conditions, instruments, and measures designed to break down structural barriers and enable the participation of all members are conceptualized. Moderated reflection processes and institution-wide dialogs with leading members, students, and employees aim to promote diversity-oriented university culture in the long term.

In 2023, JGU successfully completed the re-auditing process and received a certificate for a further three years.

One of the first steps towards targeted diversity management at JGU was the development and implementation of a diversity strategy. From the outset, as many members of JGU as possible were involved in the development process in various participation formats.

The completed draft of the strategy was presented to the faculties and the Senate for discussion and approved by the latter on May 21, 2021.

JGU’s diversity strategy serves as the basis for a defined catalog of measures that will be successively developed further.

Diversity-oriented teaching sees diversity not only as a challenge, but above all as an opportunity and an asset–both for overall organization and for individual courses. Actively incorporating the different background and life experiences students have contributes to an inclusive and participatory learning environment that offers everyone optimal opportunities for development. In order to create a space for such possibilities, diversity-oriented teaching is aware of prejudices, sensitive to discrimination, and reflects on existing power imbalances and inequalities. Beyond the immediate university context, it prepares students for life in (professional) contexts in which diversity is a societal reality.

Linked below is the paper „Diversitätsorientierte Lehre – diversitätsorientierte Hochschuldidaktik“ (“Diversity-Oriented Teaching–Diversity-Oriented University Didactics”), developed with the Gutenberg Teaching Council (GTC), which contains a detailed definition of terms as well as various aspects of diversity-oriented teaching skills and implications for university didactics.

The following tips and ideas are intended to provide initial practical suggestions for designing diversity-oriented university teaching. We would also be happy to publish your personal advice or address one of your questions.

Diversity and (anti-)discrimination in teaching

Gender

Social interactions and discrimination

Accessibility

Health and well-being

Digital studying and teaching

This guideline focuses on low-discrimination and gender-sensitive case design as one of several fields of action for diversity- and gender-sensitive teaching in the field of Law. The guideline is based on an exchange with lecturers from the School of Law at Johannes Gutenberg University.

JGU’s Equality and Diversity Office first began conducting regular comprehensive diversity survey among students and doctoral candidates in cooperation with the Center for Quality Assurance and Development (ZQ) as part of the Stifterverband’s diversity audit in 2014.

The survey collects both quantitative and qualitative data on living and study situations. Among other things, the focus is on individual challenges and burdens, reasons for possible study extensions and experiences with discrimination. Awareness of and use of advising and support services, experiencing appreciation, and the responders’ identification with JGU are also recorded. Particular attention is paid to identifying structural hurdles and barriers that can influence completion of the degree program.

The results of the diversity survey provide an important basis for the critical reflection and targeted further development of existing strategies, measures, and offers in the areas of diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunities. They also provide early identification of new needs for action and contribute to the long-term promotion of a discrimination-sensitive and diverse university environment.

We are all in different study, work, and life situations and are therefore confronted with different challenges. Sometimes we need advising/support and/or networking in order to overcome these. Below you will find a variety of group-specific offers for JGU students.

This overview does not claim to be exhaustive. If you have any questions, suggestions or additions, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Student council:

The Diversity Working Group was established during the diversity audit and usually meets twice a year. In addition to reporting on its current activities, this institutionalized exchange between different stakeholders offers opportunities to network, discuss current challenges, look at the multidimensionality of diversity, analyze problems, generate joint ideas, and much more.

If you are interested in our work and want to contribute, please do not hesitate to contact us!

The following currently regularly participate in the working group:

  • Autonomous departments of the General Students’ Committee
  • Family Services Center
  • Gutenberg Council for Academic Careers (GCC)
  • The university’s religious communities
  • Human Resources Development
  • Mental Health Services for Students (PBS)
  • Diabled Persons’ Representative
  • Office of Accessibility
  • Welcome Center of the International Office (INT)
  • Center for Lifelong Learning (ZWW)
  • …

Since 2019, the university has been a member of the European University Alliance FORTHEM – one of 64 alliances funded as part of the European Commission’s Erasmus+ initiative. FORTHEM brings together nine universities from nine different countries with the aim of strengthening transnational cooperation in the fields of education, research, and innovation in the long term. The alliance has a wide range of opportunities for students, teaching staff and researchers.

The Equality and Diversity Office is an active part of FORTHEM and coordinates the Diversity & Inclusion Unit.

Our counseling services are also available in German. Would you like to talk to us in another language? Please get in touch with us.

Unser Beratungsangebot ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar. Haben Sie weitere Sprachbedarfe? Bitte sprechen Sie uns an.