A values-based university

Values have been at the heart of Griffith’s identity from its inception. Alumni and staff from the earliest years echo the sentiments of students and employees today: at Griffith, we strive to live our values in our teaching, research, and engagement.

Far from such values becoming outdated, they are now more important than ever. In addition to deep discipline knowledge and skills, the digital age will necessitate graduates who are more ethically sophisticated, more capable of human connection, and more creative. Such graduates will not only benefit their communities as employees and entrepreneurs but as conscientious and engaged citizens.

As we face the future, Griffith remains committed to these values, which have been part of our fabric for decades.

Our values underpin all of the commitments in this strategy. Over the next six years, we will make a focused investment in: First Peoples, environmental sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and social justice.

Key actions

By 2025, we will:

First Peoples

  • Undertake an ambitious recruitment strategy including recruitment of senior First Peoples leaders and develop a framework for recruitment of Indigenous academic and professional staff across the University.
  • Reach 2% of our academic and professional staff being Indigenous, with a clear plan to reaching population parity after this.
  • Provide a more coherent framework for teaching Indigenous content and cultural competency in our degrees and creating appropriate cultural training for students and staff.

Environmental sustainability

  • Develop an action plan to align Griffith with the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change by halving carbon emissions by 2030 and reducing them to zero by 2050.
  • Establish an expert group to develop options for energy that will allow us to comply with the targets of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
  • Develop an integrated plan to protect our flora and fauna, recognising that we are the stewards of diverse ecosystems across our campuses.

Diversity and inclusion

  • Review our policies, practices, built and digital environment to ensure accessibility for students and staff with a disability.
  • Embrace diversity, including in recruitment, promotion and professional development, and enable a culture that ensures that all staff and students, including those who are culturally and linguistically diverse, differently able, LGBTIQ+, Indigenous, and female, are provided with a safe and supportive environment.
  • Review and strengthen our policies on academic freedom and freedom of speech to ensure that they protect diverse viewpoints.

Strategic commitments: social justice

  • Utilise the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework for articulating and measuring our impact with respect to social justice.
  • Develop a focused plan to implement key SDGs throughout the University.
  • Consider the ethical and social implications of our actions and ensure that relevant policies, especially around procurement, responsible investment, and travel, align with our values.

Key outcomes

By 2025, we will have:

  • Reached a target of 2% of both professional and academic staff being from a First Peoples background.
  • Developed and implemented a clear plan to half carbon emissions by 2030.
  • Built on our current successes to ensure that staff and students from a wide variety of backgrounds are able to fulfil their potential at Griffith.
  • Been ranked in the top 200 universities in the world for implementation of the SDGs.

FIRST PEOPLES' INCLUSION

Griffith has led the way nationally in its support for and numbers of Indigenous students, celebrating diversity, practicing inclusiveness and encouraging participation with Australia’s first tertiary student support unit for Indigenous Australians and the First Council of Elders. Accomplished First Nations staff include Dr Kerry Bodle, who received the 2019 Outstanding Indigenous Alumnus Award.

Find out more about GUMURRII Student Support Unit

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