The launch of the Senior Academic Leadership Initiative (SALI) is much welcomed and endorsed by the Technological Higher Education Association (THEA), the advocacy and representative body for the technological higher education sector in Ireland.
Speaking about the launch, Dr Joseph Ryan, Chief Executive of THEA stated: “We warmly embrace the spirit underlying this initiative. The technological higher education institutions are well placed to take full advantage of these new posts. We look forward to answering the call with applications that are interdisciplinary in nature and which will enhance the management teams in our institutions, and help to prepare higher education institutions to meet the challenges ahead. Ours is an IDEA sector: we promote Inclusion, Diversity, Equality, and Access. It is an approach that engenders fair opportunity for all.
“This initiative supports that commitment in helping to build an attractive pipeline of talent within higher education teams; a pipeline which represents society and which reflects an ethos that is balanced, diverse, and inclusive. These characteristics should cross all disciplines, all faculties, all subject areas. We look forward, as a collection of innovative institutions, to competing for these posts and realizing even greater equality in higher education.”
“We are particularly pleased to have introduced IT Carlow student Charlene Somers to the Minister’s event this morning. Charlene is a perfect example of the pipeline of talent that we wish to embed in our institutions. She represents an example of a more inclusive future, leading by example through her achievements, the quality that she displays in her work and her leadership aspirations. We wish Carlene well in her career.”
Dr Annie Doona, Chair of THEA’s Board of Directors and President of the Institute of Art Design and Technology Dun Laoghaire (IADT) also stated: “Our sector has been an active supporter of this initiative since it was first introduced as a key intervention embedded in the Gender Action Plan. Representatives from the technological higher education sector worked closely with Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor’s team on the Gender Equality Taskforce which gave rise to the action plan and subsequently to this initiative, aimed at achieving equality of outcome in the higher education sector. We see this is a significant new tool in addressing gender inequality in higher education and look forward to affirmative action to effect positive change in our institutions.”
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For more information, please contact:
Róisín O’Connell, Head of Communications, THEA: (087) 9193333; roisin.oconnell@thea.ie
NOTE TO EDITORS
The Technological Higher Education Association is the representative advocacy body for the technological higher education institutions in Ireland. For more information on the organization and its members see wwww.thea.ie
In August 2018, THEA published a Gender & Diversity Statement for the technological higher education sector. This statement can be downloaded here: contentFiles/THEA_Equality_Statement_2018.pdf
