“Diversity” is a multifaceted concept. Broadly, it refers to our ability and readiness to acknowledge and value the many interlinked differences and commonalities between groups of people, and to dismantle barriers that prevent people from being able to participate equally in society – including study, research, and work here at Freie Universität Berlin. 

Critical reflection on societal developments and the fulfillment of our social responsibilities are crucial to our role as an institution of higher learning. Our founding principles, key concepts, and values, and our profile as a university that stands for truth, justice, and freedom, all require that we honor and promote diversity in all aspects of academic life. This involves an ongoing self-critique in which we recognize and reflect upon the ways in which specific groups are excluded, in order to deconstruct and break free from these mechanisms of discrimination. This essentially means that diversity and antidiscrimination are two sides of the same coin.

We are proud to be able to look back on a long and successful history of promoting diversity and reducing inequality at our university. For example, in 2017 and 2021 Freie Universität Berlin was awarded the diversity seal of the TOTAL E-QUALITY Award, and we have successfully completed the audit family-friendly university regularly since 2007. At the same time there is still a lot that needs to be done to move closer to achieving our objectives:

• The equitable participation of all university members regardless of their positioning within various diversity dimensions or social categories,
• An accessible and nondiscriminatory teaching, learning, and working environment,
• An organizational culture that values diversity and fosters mutually respectful cooperation among all status groups,
• The sustainable implementation of structural equal opportunity.

The Executive Board of Freie Universität has allocated a specific responsibility for diversity, as well as for gender equity and international affairs to Vice President Professor Verena Blechinger-Talcott.The Diversity Office, Rebecca Mak, supports and advises the university’s management in all questions concerning diversity and leads diversity related processes and projects. A governance structure ensures the participation of a range of stakeholders from all status groups in the further development and implementation of our diversity work.

Diversity Strategy

The Diversity Mission Statement published in 2013 serves as a starting point for our diversity strategy.

The Executive Board approved the university’s first Diversity Strategy and Action Plan in February 2021. It outlines the university’s general approach to diversity and defines specific goals and measures for 2021 through to 2023. This plan helps to structure, summarize, and prioritize our activities. It creates transparency and provides members of the university with guidance and support in their efforts to work toward a discrimination-free environment in which study, research, and work at the university align with the principles of diversity.

Diversity Audit

From 2020 until 2023 Freie Universität Berlin is participating in an organizational development process as part of the audit “Shaping Diversity” (“Vielfalt Gestalten”) carried out by the Stifterverband Association. This process is supporting us to tackle issues related to antidiscrimination and diversity and to come closer to achieving our objectives. Our participation in this process signals our commitment to engaging with diversity issues and agreeing upon a university-wide organizational structure that truly does diversity justice. It attests to the strategic importance we at Freie Universität attach to diversity.

Diversity Website

A diversity website provides a wide range of information and resources about diversity (and antidiscrimination) at Freie Universtität Berlin. It includes an overview of services that provide support to students and staff in relation to discrimination. Members of the Freie Universität can register for the mailing list Diversity@fu to get occasional emails about new developments in the field of diversity and opportunities to participate in activities.