Universities Scotland has submitted its response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the introduction of gender quotas on public boards, “Women On Board: Quality Through Diversity”.

We share the Scottish Government’s goal to harness and make best use of talent in our decision-making bodies, irrespective of age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, religion or socio-economic background. The higher education sector is progressing work to enhance the diversity of its governing bodies, developing new institutional goals for this.

Our response considers the following areas:

• the current gender balance of membership of university governing bodies;
• the actions being taken that are aligned with the policy intentions reflected in this consultation;
• the particularities of university governance structures including the varied routes to governing body membership and electoral processes; and
• the status of universities and its implications for the scope of any potential legislation.

Read Universities Scotland’s consultation response