British values

• Leadership and accountability
• Joint decision making
• Team meetings
• The right to protest and petition
• Receiving and giving feedback

Democracy in action

We promote giving students a voice and ensuring the student voice is listened to. This includes allowing feedback to be received and given. Unitu allows students and apprentices to give feedback to improve their experience. This ensures students and apprentices voices are heard and positive change is made. 

We also have a Students' Union, which includes a Course Rep and School Presidents Hub. This provides students with everything they need to fulfil their role and develop their expertise. They also provide knowledge on all parts of the academic experience. The Students’ Union runs Student Elections. This gives students and apprentices a say with regards to School Presidents, the Students' Council and Society Committee positions.

The Students’ Union allows students to share their ideas through the Your Big Ideas page. Your Big Ideas is a way to make meaningful change on campus. Students and apprentices can submit their ideas online and share with their friends and course mates. If a Big Idea achieves 50 or more votes in favour after 28 days, it will be taken forward. It either goes to an appropriate meeting such as Students’ Council or by meeting with the appropriate person(s) to help make an idea a reality. If a Big Idea gets approval at Students’ Council, it will become Students’ Union policy and the Students’ Union will work on making it happen.

The Students’ Union also has a Disabled Students Forum. This is an opportunity for students with disabilities, both visible and invisible, to speak directly to University services about their experiences on campus. This helps bring about positive change which will help shape their University journey.

• Legislation
• Agreed ways of working, policies and procedures
• How the law protects you and others
• Codes of conduct

The rule of law

We have our own policies and regulations, and codes of conduct, in line with legislation. This includes the Equality Act 2010, which all members of the University of Lancashire community are expected to abide by. This protects and maintains academic quality and upholds the rights of everyone.

Our student charter also reminds students of our commitment to students and their success. It encourages students to take responsibility for their own success through:

• Having good attendance;
• Being open to feedback;
• Respecting other people’s views and differences; and
• Engaging in their studies.

Our student protection plan outlines the measures we have put in place to protect the interests of students and prospective students.

The summary of student policies intends to draw students’ attention to the key policies. It explains their purpose and why they are important so all students are aware of rules and regulations within the University.

• Embracing diversity
• The importance of religion, traditions, cultural heritage and preferences
• Stereotyping, labelling and prejudice
• Tackling discrimination

Respect and tolerance

We embrace diversity and understand religions, traditions, preferences and cultural heritages. It is at the heart of what we do. We recognise that our diversity is our strength and work hard to ensure that equality, diversity, and inclusion are part of everything we do.

The Yes to Respect campaign promotes diversity, inclusivity and unity at the University of Lancashire. It encourages students and apprentices to work together for a shared goal: respecting each other regardless of differences such as race, religion, disability and sexual orientation. The campaign also promotes the fact that we do not tolerate sexual harassment or violence. Every student has the right to work, study and live in an environment where they feel respected.

We also promote inclusivity. We offer inclusive environments including:

• Oasis Faith and Spirituality Centre (including prayer rooms)
• Family rooms with breastfeeding facilities for parents
• Accessible and gender-neutral toilets
• Rooms with Hard of Hearing systems

We are committed to enabling access to all individuals. We strive to remove barriers for those with disabilities as far as possible to ensure an inclusive environment. Our Inclusive Support Team offers confidential support. We put in place reasonable adjustments and support to access. This means students can thrive in their academic studies and university life.

The Students’ Union has several different societies for students to get involved in. There are over 70 Societies to join, from political and campaigning groups, to expressing your creative passions, trying new hobbies, or meeting people who share your nationality or religion. Joining a society is the perfect way to meet like-minded people, make friends, and get involved in social activities.

• Equality and human rights
• Personal development
• Respect and dignity
• Rights, choice, consent and individuality
• Values and principles

Individual liberty

We promote the dignity and respect of students through the student dignity and respect policy. This includes a zero tolerance to all forms of abuse and violence. The policy enables students to identify and understand what makes up this type of unwanted behaviour. It supports students to feel comfortable in reporting this behaviour. It helps students understand what support they will receive. The policy provides advice and guidance to all parties. This includes reporting students, witnesses and responding students or individuals.

Our equality, diversity and inclusion policy shows our commitment to delivering a welcoming and inclusive culture. One which promotes inclusion, tackles inequalities and values diversity. It outlines our duty to:

• Stop unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation;
• Advance equality of opportunity between people from different groups;
• Foster good relations between people from different groups;
• Challenge discriminatory behaviour; and
• Strive to achieve good practice and best outcomes for staff, students, visitors and the community

Bullying, harassment, sexual assault, domestic abuse, hate crime and discrimination are never ok. Our Report + Support online platform aims to tackle these issues. It enables people to report incidents anonymously or request support from an advisor. If you choose to talk to an advisor, they will be able to talk through the options and support available to you, in confidence. It also contains a lot of useful resources. This includes advice on what to do if you feel you have been affected by any of the issues and details about how the University and other services can help.

The Students’ Union is also a third-party reporting centre for hate crime. This means advisors are trained to support students in reporting any hate crimes or incidents that happen to them or that they witness. This also includes any form of online harassment. We want students to feel safe regardless of their disability, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or gender identity. We will always take a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of hate crime.

Our freedom of speech policy underpins our values and practices equality of opportunity, transparency and tolerance. It believes in the protection of knowledge and the freedom of speech and enquiry. The Education Act 1986 outlines our requirements in taking such steps to ensure that freedom of speech within the law is secured for its members, students, and employees. This allows everybody the right to freedom of expression. It also allows the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without the interreference by the public authority and the University.