Invitation to complete a survey on discrimination in higher education institutions in Latvia

At this moment there is no official data widely available in Latvia that would reflect cases of discrimination and statistics in universities and colleges. The obtained survey data will be used to create an inclusive environment in higher education institutions in Latvia, implementing anti-discrimination measures and promoting an inclusive environment.

"When thinking about sustainability in higher education, it is essential to improve not only efforts in the environmental field, but also to raise awareness on the need to take care of social sustainability, being aware of the diversity of society and creating an inclusive environment," emphases Renārs Kairis, chairman of the UL Eco-Council.

The Head of LSA's Social Affairs, Līva Vaivade, states that "discrimination against a student can have consequences on his/her academic performance, mental health, and possibly reduce desire to study and attend a higher education institution. Such situations cannot be tolerated, and it is necessary to act in such a way that the student in the higher education environment realises that he/she will not be discriminated against, because of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, culture, language, religion, functional disorders, socioeconomic factors or age and appearance." 

Information provided in the survey is anonymous and the data obtained in the survey will be analysed and used only in an aggregated form, in accordance with Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data.

Students and employees of the University of Latvia and other higher education institutions are invited to fill out the survey by 26 May of this year.

The survey should take approximately 5 to 15 minutes to complete.

Survey

Initiators of the idea to create survey about discrimination are UL Students' Council. Project managers are Renārs Kairis, chairman of the UL Eco-Council, Head of Social Affairs of Students' Council of the University of Latvia in 2021/2022, and Līva Vaivade, the Head of LSA's Social Affairs.

The survey was developed in cooperation with the UL Career Centre experts Dace Siliņa and Līga Valinka, Centre MARTA expert Madara Mazjāne, representative of the disabled and their friends society "Apeirons" Ivars Balodis, Riga Technical University psychologist Viktorija Gaina, Dean of the RSU Faculty of Rehabilitation Signe Tomsone, RSU Political Science Department researcher Elizabete Vizgunova.

The translation of the survey into English was provided by Venstpils University Translation and Language Technologies students Undīne Bētere, Ivo Stepiņš, Līva Teterovska and Dārija Semjonova.