Missions, ambitions and goals

Code of Conduct for employees and fellow workers

At KTH we work for a better future by improving society and identifying smart solutions to current and future challenges. We are at the service of humanity for the society of tomorrow^[1]. The KTH value platform² is based on equal opportunities and takes a stand against all forms of discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and victimisation. This is a quality issue.

HR Policy and Value Platform

This Code of Conduct complements existing legislation, agreements, regulations, internal rules and guidelines. It is based on the HR Policy³ with guidelines established by the KTH Board on 11 June 2018. The Code is a guide and a tool in day-to-day, ongoing operations at KTH. Its purpose is to create a good working environment⁴ and to clarify employees' responsibilities and what is expected of every employee and fellow worker. Being a KTH employee and fellow worker must be based on KTH basic values, which in turn are based on the joint value platform for all government employees. Well-developed teamwork, leadership and management are prerequisites for well-functioning operations.

As a KTH employee or fellow worker, I agree to the following:

• I always lead by example, use a professional approach in meetings and in my communications. I treat all employees, students and other collaboration partners with respect and consideration, regardless of gender, gender identity or expression, religion or other belief, social background, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity or age.
• I understand the importance of a good working relationship with my colleagues and with my manager and I take responsibility for my working tasks, my work and its quality.
• I contribute to, and work consciously for, a good working climate. I react and inform my immediate manager, another manager, the HR function, the health and safety or union representative if I perceive that there is discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment or victimisation among my colleagues and/or students. I am aware that my contribution to the work for a good working climate may affect my individual salary level and/or career development.
• I am aware that discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, victimisation or offences against the KTH basic value platform and KTH guidelines may result in disciplinary action and in extreme cases to a police report and/or dismissal from my job or connection with KTH.
• I respect the fact that my immediate manager, as employer representative, has the responsibility to lead and distribute the work of the relevant employees within the framework of the conditions prevailing at our workplace and within our research.

Code of conduct for students

KTH’s goal is to offer you as a student a good education, as well as a good study environment from which you can obtain useful knowledge and experience for your professional life. KTH therefore considers it of the utmost importance that you, during your studies, maintain a professional attitude to your studies, fellow students, teachers and other staff at KTH.

The Code of conduct for students clarifies some of the expectations of you as a student at KTH.

As a student at KTH, I agree to uphold the following:

• I consider all people to be of equal value. All students and staff at KTH have the same rights, opportunities and obligations, regardless of sex, transgender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age.
• Equal treatment at KTH implies a respectful and inclusive work and study environment free from harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination and offensive behaviour. I, like every student and employee, have a responsibility to treat others with respect in all meetings and to promote a secure and prejudice-free study and work environment.
• I will always lead by example and maintain a professional approach to all meetings and in all my communication. I treat all students, staff and other partners with respect and consideration, irrespective of their social background, sex, transgender, identity or expression, ethniticy, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age.
• I am aware that discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and victimisation, as well as any contravention of KTH's core values and guidelines, may be ground for disciplinary action.

KTH’s core values are based on democracy, the equal value of human beings, human rights and freedom and free and open discussion. Equality between men and women and the dissociation from all forms of discrimination are both an issue of quality and a natural part of KTH’s core values. Equality and diversity among employees and students also represent important resources for KTH.

KTH’s activities are based on the conviction that education and research can and should contribute to improved living conditions and to the development of society which fulfils requirements regarding ecological, social and economic sustainability. As a university of technology, KTH has a particular responsibility for developing and sharing knowledge that is required in order to promote such sustainable development. Activities should be conducted in such a manner that KTH’s resources are used efficiently, without foregoing quality and service.

The future of science is based on openness and collaboration. KTH works actively to ensure the dissemination of knowledge, the free exchange of information and to promote collaboration both nationally and internationally.

Priority areas for KTH's development

KTH's President has prioritized four areas for the university's development: internationalization, sustainability, gender equality and digitalisation.

From KTH Development plan 2018–2023

"Diversity is an asset and kth must be perceived as an open and welcoming place for
prominent individuals, irrespective of their gender, transgender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion
or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age. Gender equality and the repudiation of all forms
of discrimination are both a matter of quality and a self-evident part of kth’s core values. In-depth work
is required in terms of creating awareness and developing skills with regard to equal opportunities and
core values if we are to achieve our goal of an open and welcoming kth. Managers at all levels need to be aware of their responsibilities and how they should act in order to promote this work. Knowledge and awareness regarding gender and equality must be integrated into all study programmes so that, after graduating, students are able to contribute to more equal society. The gender perspective must also be integrated into research to a greater extent."

"Awareness of equality issues can be related to a more general need to improve social sustainability."

"An equal-opportunities KTH has integrated the gender perspective into all study and research programmes."

Source:
An equal-opportunities KTH

 Gender equality in KTH's sustainability goals 2021-2025

KTH has decided on new university-wide sustainability objectives for the period 2021-2045. For the overall objectives, there are sub-targets developed as well as an action plan. Nowadays, gender equality is also included to make work more efficient and coordinated.

Below are all of KTH's six university-wide sustainability goals, of which goals 1, 3 and 4 explicitly concern Gender Equality, Diversity and Equal Opportunities:

1.  KTH is a leading technical university within education for sustainable development in which all students, post-graduation, will be able to drive and participate in the transition to sustainable development and an equal and climate-neutral society.
   Learn more about objectives, sub-targets and measures for education
2. KTH is a leading technical university within research for sustainable development and a climate-neutral society.
   Learn more about objectives, sub-targets and measures for research
3. KTH's collaboration, research, and innovations contribute to sustainable development, gender equality and equal opportunities, and climate transition and exert an increased, clear impact on society.
   Learn more about objectives, sub-targets and measures for collaboration
4. KTH's work with sustainable development and gender equality is integrated into everyday operations, and employees and those working on behalf of KTH have knowledge and are provided with the conditions to contribute based on their individual roles.
   Learn more about objectives, sub-targets and measures for integration and working methods
5. The KTH organisation is characterised by efficient resource management and contributes to sustainable development and a climate-neutral society.
   Learn more about objectives, sub-targets and measures for resource management
6. KTH is a leading technical university for climate transition and a climate-neutral society.
   Learn more about objectives, sub-targets and measures for climate 2025-2045

For each university-wide objective, there are sub-targets.

Global goals for sustainable development

Agenda 2030 is a universal agenda with 17 global sustainable development goals adopted by UN member states September 25, 2015, and aims to realize human rights for all.

Sweden has declared that we will be a leader in the implementation of Agenda 2030. To achieve the global goals, we need to work actively against discrimination and restrictive norms, and for equal rights and opportunities, it is a government assignment that also applies to colleges and universities.

Source: globalamålen.se

Learning objectives and key competencies for sustainable development

UNESCO has developed a guide for education staff on learning for sustainable development to learn for the Global Goals (SDGs) and thereby contribute to achieving the Global Goals. The guide identifies guiding learning objectives and suggests topics and learning activities for each SDG. It also presents implementation methods at different levels, from course design to national strategies. The guide does not aim to be prescriptive in any way, but to provide guidance and suggestions that teachers can choose and adapt to specific learning contexts.

Education for Sustainable Development Goals: learning objectives (2017). UNESCO

How are gender equality, diversity and equal conditions linked to sustainable development?

Three goals are directly related to gender equality, diversity and equal conditions in education:

• Objective 4 "Good education for all", to ensure inclusive and equal education of good quality and to promote lifelong learning for all.
• Goal 5 "Gender equality", to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls
• Goal 10 "Reducing inequality", to reduce inequality within and between countries

4. Good education for all

Ensure an inclusive and equal education of good quality and promote lifelong learning for all.

4.3 Equal access to vocational training and higher quality education

By 2030, ensure all women and men equal access to vocational and post-secondary education, including higher education, of good quality at an affordable cost.

4.A Create inclusive and safe educational environments

Build and improve educational environments that are adapted for people with disabilities, and take into account gender aspects and thus offer a safe, peaceful, inclusive and appropriate learning environment for all.

Social sustainability

Gender equality and equality are key aspects of social sustainability that are also linked to economic and environmental sustainability. Gender equality and equality are thus both sustainability goals in themselves and means for sustainability in a broader sense.

"Sustainable development must be a driving force for the development of new and existing research areas, and the 17 global goals constitute a clear reference point. The goals balance ecological, economic and social aspects where equality and diversity are included."

"Awareness of how gender equality can be related to social sustainability in a more general way needs to increase."

 Source: KTH's development plan

KTH's overall sustainability goals for education 2016-2020

• KTH shall increase all employees 'and students' knowledge of and commitment to issues concerning sustainable development.
• Sustainable development must be integrated into all educational programs at all levels so that postgraduate students can contribute to sustainable societal development.

JML is integrated into the revision of KTH's sustainability goals 2020-2025

In order for KTH's students to achieve the learning objectives for sustainable societal development within each degree, the educational programs need to ensure that the students have basic knowledge, skills and abilities about:

• Gender equality and equality as goals for sustainable development.
• How inequality and inequality can affect technological and societal development.
• Gender equality, diversity and equal conditions work in organizations.

Government assignments

In 2016, the government gave all universities and colleges a special government assignment to develop the work with gender mainstreaming in order to contribute to achieving the gender equality policy goals.

Read about Guidelines for Gender Mainstreaming Academia here .

Learn more about An Equal KTH - Plan for Gender Mainstreaming of KTH (JIKTH) , here .

Sweden’s Gender Equality Objectives

The goal of gender equality policy is that women and men should have the same power to shape society and their own lives.

The new gender equality policy contains six main objectives:

•   An even distribution of power and influence. Women and men shall have the same right and opportunity to be active citizens and to shape the conditions for decision-making in all sectors of society.
• Economic equality. Women and men must have the same opportunities and conditions in terms of paid work that gives financial independence for life.
• Gender equality education. Women and men, girls and boys must have the same opportunities and conditions when it comes to education, study choices and personal development.
• Even distribution of unpaid home and care work. Women and men must take the same responsibility for homework and have the opportunity to give and receive care on equal terms.
• Equal health. Women and men, girls and boys must have the same conditions for good health and be offered care and attention on equal terms.
• Men's violence against women must end. Women and men, girls and boys, shall have the same right and opportunity for bodily integrity.

Learn more about gender equality policy objectives here .

 The Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen, DO)

DO is a government agency that works to promote a society free from discrimination on behalf of the Swedish parliament and government. DO monitor compliance with the Discrimination Act and the Parental Leave Act, and DO’s work is governed by the Act concerning the Equality Ombudsman.

The goal of DO’s work is a society where there is respect for the equal rights and opportunities of all – irrespective of sex, transgender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age.

What is discrimination?

In Sweden, discrimination is prohibited through the Discrimination Act. Discrimination means that a person is treated less favorably in comparison to someone else. However, not all unfavorable or unfair treatment is discrimination in the legal sense.

In simple terms, one could say that the legal definition of discrimination consists of four conditions. For an event to be considered discriminatory, all four of these conditions must be met.

1. It must involve an incident or situation that places a person at a disadvantage or violates a person’s dignity.
2. The disadvantage or violation of dignity must relate to one or more of the seven grounds of discrimination (for example sex or age).
3. The incident must involve one of the six forms of discrimination that are listed in the act (for example direct discrimination or harassment).
4. The incident must have taken place within one of the areas of society to which the act applies (for example working life or the housing market).

Even if all the conditions are met, it is not certain that an incident will be considered discriminatory. In some cases, other legislation have to be taken into consideration when assessing whether discrimination has taken place. For example, if a person who is under the age of 18 is refused to buy alcoholic beverages in a restaurant, this is not considered age discrimination as there is another law, the Alcohol Act, that prohibits restaurants from selling alcohol to people under the age of 18. There may also be other factors that result in an incident not being considered discriminatory. An individual assessment must be made in every case.

1. It must involve an incident or situation that places a person at a disadvantage or violates a person’s dignity

Being disadvantaged means that a person is placed in an inferior position or deprived of an improvement, a benefit or a service. For example, this might involve someone not being called to an interview for a job, not being accepted to a study program, not being allowed to shop in a store, not being admitted to a restaurant or not being able to rent a car or a home.

2. The disadvantage or violation of dignity must relate to one or more of the seven grounds of discrimination

For an incident to be considered discriminatory, it must also relate to one or more of the “grounds of discrimination”. There are seven grounds of discrimination covered by the Discrimination Act:

• sex
• transgender identity or expression
• ethnicity
• religion or other belief
• disability
• sexual orientation
• age.

3. The incident must involve one of the six forms of discrimination that are listed in the act

The Discrimination Act specifies six forms of discrimination:

• direct discrimination
• indirect discrimination
• inadequate accessibility
• harassment
• sexual harassment
• instructions to discriminate.

Direct discrimination

Direct discrimination is when someone is treated less favorably than someone else in a comparable situation and there is a link to one or more of the grounds of discrimination. For example, if an employer thinks that a jobseeker has a foreign sounding name and, for that reason, chooses not to call that person for an interview.

Indirect discrimination

Indirect discrimination is when there is a rule or procedure that appears to be neutral but disadvantages people of, for example a certain sex, a certain religion or belief, a certain age or any other ground of discrimination. For example, if an employer sets an unwarranted requirement that employees have a driver’s license that may put people with a disability at a disadvantage.

Inadequate accessibility

Inadequate accessibility is when an establishment fails to take reasonable accessibility measures to enable a person with a disability to come into a situation comparable with that of a person without this disability.

The requirement is only that “reasonable measures” be implemented. Whether a measure is reasonable depends, for example, on the establishment’s practical and financial ability to implement it. Whether the situation involves a fleeting contact or a longer-term relationship is also taken into account, for example if someone is making a single visit to a shop, or if they are employed or studying for any length of time.

When it comes to accessibility for people with disabilities, there are also a number of other acts that may apply (for example the Work Environment Act). If an establishment provides inadequate accessibility pursuant to one of these acts, this may also be considered discriminatory.

Harassment and sexual harassment

Harassment involves conduct that violates a person’s dignity and relates to one or more of the grounds of discrimination. It may involve comments, gestures or ostracism. Examples of harassment can be a teacher who mocks a pupil because she wears a headscarf or a case officer at a public authority who ridicules a person over their sexual orientation.

Sexual harassment means conduct of a sexual nature that is unwanted by the person who is subjected to it. This may involve groping or unwelcome compliments, invitations or innuendo.

Instruction to discriminate

Instruction to discrimination is when someone orders or instructs someone who is in a dependent position, such as an employee, to discriminate against someone else.

4. The incident must have taken place within one of the areas of society to which the act applies

The ban on discrimination applies within several areas of society, for example in working life, education, employment services, healthcare, social services, social insurance and financial aid for studies, or in the supply of goods and services.

The Discrimination Act is not applicable to all areas

The Discrimination Act does not regulate what happens between individuals in their private life, for example how neighbors or relatives treat one another. Nor is the content of TV, radio, social media, newspapers, magazines and advertising covered by the ban on discrimination. Nevertheless, these areas are covered by other legislation that set limits for what is and is not allowed.

Disadvantaging people who are on parental leave is prohibited

An employee or jobseeker who is, will be or has been on parental leave is protected from being disadvantaged by an employer. This protection also covers temporary parental leave for the care of a child who is ill. Examples of someone being disadvantaged are if they miss out on job opportunities, are reassigned to less rewarding duties or their salary development is impaired.

Active measures to prevent discrimination

The Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination in individual cases but also requires that employers and education providers work with “active measures”. This involves both preventing discrimination against individuals and promoting equal rights and opportunities – irrespective of ground of discrimination. DO’s website provides more information about how active measures are to be implemented.

Submit information and complaints about discrimination

DO receives information and complaints about discrimination, risks of discrimination and deficiencies in employers’ and education providers’ efforts to prevent discrimination. Information or complaint from the public is important to DO’s efforts to tackle discrimination. With the help of the information, DO can identify problems within various parts of society where DO need to take action in order to drive improvements, provide guidance and increase knowledge about risks of discrimination, or where DO need to take action in order to influence legislation.

In other words, DO use the information to ensure in various ways that the law is complied with, not primarily to resolve situations for individual people. The information may be included in what is known as a supervisory investigation and, in a limited number of cases, lead to court proceedings.

Only a small proportion of the information and complaints received lead to investigations and decisions. You can submit information and complaints on the DO ’s website . The online form is in Swedish, but you can fill the form in any language you want.

Source: The Equality Ombudsman fact sheet

UKÄ's review of the quality system

UKÄ examines the higher education institutions' operations to ensure that higher education in Sweden is of high quality. The reviews are based on the Higher Education Act, the Higher Education Ordinance and the principles for quality assurance of higher education in Europe, the so-called ESG (Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area).

Assessment areas 

The review of the HEIs’ quality assurance processes focuses on how well HEIs’ quality system and quality work help to improve and ensure the quality of the programmes at all levels. The review encompasses all assessment areas in the model for UKÄ’s reviews.

Gender equality is one of six assessment areas that are in focus for UKÄ's reviews:

• governance and organization
• preconditions
• design, implementation and outcomes
• student and doctoral student perspective
• working life and collaboration
• gender equality.

Assessment area: Gender equality

The assessment area evaluates how well, through its quality work, the HEI systematically contributes to ensuring that gender equality is factored into the content, design and implementation of the programmes. Gender equality is systematically factored in as part of the HEI’s quality system and quality work.

Using information produced within the quality system, the HEI identifies needs for development of a gender equality perspective in the programmes. The HEI takes action and continuously improves the programmes based on a gender-equal work approach. Planned or implemented measures are communicated appropriately with the relevant stakeholders.

Assessment criteria

"The HEI ensures systematic efforts to take into account gender equality into the content, design and implementation of the programmes." What does that mean? How can we work with these dimensions?

Guidelines for the HEI:

"Show through its quality work how the HEI satisfies the assessment criterion within the area, for example by describing procedures and processes that contribute to it. The description is to show how the HEI works continuously to systematically incorporate gender equality into its programmes. The description can also include examples of goals and strategies that have been established in relation to the assessment area and assessment criterion. This could include how the HEI follows up these goals, how it is decided if the goals have been achieved and what measures the HEI takes if the goals have not been achieved. Also show how the HEI identifies areas for improvement through its quality work.

If there is a difference in how the quality work is carried out between different parts of the HEI or between different types of programmes, these differences are to be described.

If needed, refer to the policies, procedures and processes described in conjunction with the assessment area ‘governance and organisation’. In addition to what emerges related to the assessment criterion, the HEI can highlight other issues deemed important for the systematic development of gender equality in the programmes at the HEI.

Provide evidence that the quality work is well-functioning and effective, and that it systematically ensures gender equality in the programmes based on the information generated in the quality system.

In addition to the descriptions and evidence provided in the HEI’s selfevaluation, focus areas are also included as part of the documentation used for the assessment panel’s judgment of the assessment area."

If you want to read more about Guidelines for reviewing the HEIs’ quality assurance processes you can do it here .