Equal Opportunities and Diversity at KIT
The active promotion of equal opportunities for women and men has a high priority at KIT and is a cross-sectional task in the entire organization.
More equal opportunities mean more diversity!
Especially science relies on diverse approaches, perspectives and expertise in order to find solutions to the global challenges of our time, such as the energy crisis, climate change, or the mobility of the future.
Promoting equal opportunities is essential to win the brightest minds from all career stages for jobs in research, administration and technical support facilities as well as to support all employees to reach their full potential.
It is our mission to (further) develop innovative and effective measures on the way to more parity and to advance the topic of equal opportunities in strategic projects. Therefore, the President is responsible for and accompanies the topic.
On behalf of the President, the Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management (CDM) initiates and develops new measures as well as projects for more equal opportunities or further develops and implements already existing activities. The KIT Equal Opportunity Officers, who are directly assigned to the President, perform a significant advisory and control function within the frame of their legal duties by being involved in all matters related to equal opportunities within scope of their participation rights. In particular, within the scope of their right of initiative, they provide new impulses to further promote equal opportunities at KIT.
"As KIT, we stand for excellence in research and teaching - equal opportunities and diversity are key factors for success."
- Professor Dr. Kora Kristof
Cultural change
The lived cultural change at KIT serves as a catalyst for our equal opportunity work – to this end, we rely on participation processes, gender awareness and the development of gender competence.
Career Promotion
At KIT, we live equal opportunities and offer attractive career paths to excellent women of all experience levels and nationalities.
Further development
We are successfully developing our equal opportunity work to establish equal opportunity programs on the basis of extensive analyses and evaluations.
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Gender Equity 1: Cultural change towards more equal opportunities
In this EXU project, we promote the cultural change towards more equal opportunities, an intensive discussion at KIT, and joint reflection on this topic. The project also enables subject-specific equal opportunity activities in order to increase the number of women at all career levels in (mid-term).
Project to implement the results of the evaluation of the equal opportunities policy
To identify starting points for the further development of our equal opportunities work, we evaluated our equal opportunities policy in 2018 with external support. The results of the evaluation were processed and implemented in close coordination by several KIT equal opportunity stakeholders.
Gender Equity 2: Recruitment of excellent female professors
The recruitment of female professors is supported by this EXU project through the funding of an additional budget for appointments to recruit excellent female professors. Additionally, a newly established network promotes the visibility as well as the networking of female scientists.
Project to establish diversity mainstreaming
Existing activities to promote diversity will be systematically expanded and networked in the sense of diversity mainstreaming, e.g. through diversity monitoring or the development of diversity competencies among managers. The goal is to further develop diversity as a cross-sectional task throughout the university and to integrate it as a core element in all processes and structures. The project is funded by the German Rectors' Conference (HRK).
Excellence through diversity – increasing employer attractiveness through diversity-sensitive employer branding and personnel marketing:
Employer branding and personnel marketing communicate KIT's attractiveness as an employer to the outside world. Through targeted measures, this attractiveness is sharpened - especially for the recruitment of women and international top executives - and the diversity-sensitive recruitment of personnel is expanded. The project, which is funded by the Helmholtz Association, will be implemented starting in 2024.
"There are equal opportunities for all students, staff and professors at KIT, regardless of gender, nationality or appearance. When I supervise students or younger scientists, it is important for me to take their diversity into account and to communicate with them personally and give advice that matches their own interests and personality."
JProf. Dr. Xian Liao
Institute for Analysis
"The high proportion of male students at KIT also contributes in part to the fact that young people like to refer to the city of Karlsruhe as "Kerlsruhe". The reason for this is the technical and scientific studies, which have so far attracted more men. I see that this is exactly where KIT starts with the topic of equal opportunities in order to counteract the prejudices and to promote change. Through offers such as Girls' Day, study ambassadors, and student labs, young women are made aware that these courses of study are also open to them. Cultural diversity is also present at KIT, which sheds a different light on the importance of equal opportunities in my everyday university life."
Janina Zhang
Student engineering education B.Sc.
"For me, equal opportunities are an important aspect when choosing an employer - and at KIT, many people are already committed to equal opportunities in science and administration! I think that's great, and it has to become a matter of course. Personally, I already get in touch with the topic of equal opportunities on a daily basis and enjoy it a lot: when accompanying scientists towards the next career step or as a trainer of workshops."
Ines Köhler
Personnel development consultant & diversity trainer
"I myself have three daughters aged 16, 19 and 24, so the issue of equal opportunities is very important to me personally. The KIT particularly impressed me with the good working atmosphere and the interaction between the colleagues - everyone is welcome everywhere."
Uwe Weber
IT administration IPEK
"Equal opportunities at KIT mean for me to focus on the value of the work and not on gender, origin or faith. I am respected and appreciated for my work both at KIT and at my institute."
Monika Jans
Manager Technical Services IPEK
"Diversity enables creativity. Everyone can equally support and contribute to the values and goals of KIT and receive individual support in doing so. The active promotion of women, especially in the scientific and technical environment, is the way to achieve a balanced gender ratio."
Bettina Auer
Training Marketing
“I believe that equal opportunities do not mean only giving equal chances to everyone, but providing more support to the ones with less access to these chances. We must put more effort on empowering women already at school level, shifting the mentality that engineering is not a “only-boys-job”, but there are exceptionally talented female engineers examples, and that they can be as much talented as (if not more!) their male colleagues. With a clear equal opportunities mind-set KIT aims to attract exceptionally talented people, particularly female researchers, providing them the instruments and training for a successful engineering career.”
TT-Prof. Dr. -Ing. Giovanni De Carne
Head of the "Real Time System Integration" group
"I like working at KIT because the academic environment is attractive to me and KIT deals with socially relevant issues and global challenges such as climate, energy, and mobility. I particularly enjoy meeting a wide variety of people of all nationalities here, whether they are colleagues from the administration, researchers, or students. I learn something new every day, which is for me the most important thing about my job."
Tu-Mai Pham-Huu
Head International Communication
Further Information
- Website of Equal Opportunities Officers
- Equal Opportunities and Diversity Management Website
- KIT Family Portal
- KIT Senate Commission for Equal Opportunity and Diversity
- International Affairs (INTL)
- Women Professors Forum (WPF) at KIT
- Network for Female Scientists at KIT (WiKIT)
- Representative for Disabled Persons (SBV)
- Working Group "Against Sexualized Violence and Harassment"
- Gender Consulting
- Gender Monitoring Report
- KIT Equal Opportunity Plan (2022-2026)
- Online Training for the Development of Gender Competence
- Network for Pupils Activities
- KIT Career Website
- Evaluation of KIT's equal opportunity policy
- Center for Digital Accessibility and Assistive Technology (ACCESS∂KIT)
- KIT Representative for Students with Disabilities and Chronic Diseases BBC
Vice-President Digitalization and Sustainability
Responsible for equal opportunities on the Executive Committee
Acting Head of the Department Qualification of Scientific Staff, Head of the Department Gender and Diversity Management
Equal Opportunities Officer (usually scientific area)
Equal Opportunities Officer (usually non-scientific area)
Equal Opportunities Officer (usually non-scientific area)
Equal Opportunities Officer (usually scientific area)