Activities, related to the IDEA initiative, have been ongoing at the University of Ljubljana (UL) for many academic years, on the level of the university as a whole and on the level of UL’s members (26 faculties and academies). In 2024, the Office for Equality and Inclusion was established at the university level, located at the Rectorate of the UL. The purpose of the Office for Equality and Inclusion is to connect and coordinate the IDEA activities at the level of the whole University of Ljubljana.

The main activities of the IDEA initiative at the University of Ljubljana, coordinated by the Office for Equality and Inclusion, include raising awareness, monitoring rules to prevent discrimination and offensive behaviour, and encouraging actions that create more welcoming and open spaces for everyone, no matter their background. The Office also organizes activities to promote diversity in teaching and research and works with local and international partners.

The Office for Equality and Inclusion at the University of Ljubljana covers many areas:

• Student Ombudsman’s office,
• student affairs committee,
• students with special needs and special status,
• students who can and want more,
• socio-economic inclusion (e.g. Heart UL – charity campaign with the aim to raise funds for students who, due to special personal circumstances, find themselves in a financial emergency and consequently have no means of survival),
• mental health and psychosocial counselling service,
• tutelage,
• coordination, supervision, and educational support for trusted persons (implementation of zero-tolerance policy on all forms of violence, sexual and other harassment, and bullying),
• gender equality plan.

Equality and inclusion are the heirs of humanistic intellectual formation and the successors of a long era of civilizational plans for a good society. At the University of Ljubljana, we ensure that we are a leading social force in raising awareness, ensuring and promoting the principles of equality and inclusion in education, research and the wider social environment. By establishing the Office for Equality and Inclusion, we are instituting professional coordination in the field of inclusive and equal academic environment. On the one hand, the Office for Equality and Inclusion represents an information centre, while at the same time acting as a consultative body and planner of new paths that need to be created to ensure inclusion. In our work, we proceed from the assumption that it is necessary to promote and present good practices that are already implemented at member institutions, while at the same time drawing attention to unacceptable practices.

The University of Ljubljana is committed to strengthening policies and actions to ensure an open, tolerant and safe academic environment where diversity is expressed and the potential of each individual is nurtured. This commitment is reflected in the following key documents and activities: the basic principles of Equality and Inclusion are clearly stated in The University of Ljubljana Strategy (2022-2027). Moreover, more detailed documentation and regulations were designed to cover different areas of equality and inclusion, such as: – Rules on measures against violence, harassment, and bullying, – Gender equality plan of the University of Ljubljana, – Rules on students with special needs and special status. UL also developed various guidelines offering strategic support and guidance in the areas of equality and inclusion, such as: – guidelines for working with students who can and want more (in Slovene), – guidelines for balancing professional, academic and private life and longer absences of employees and students (in Slovene), – guidelines for the preparation of open access materials for higher education teachers (in Slovene), – equality and inclusion guidelines (in Slovene), – guidelines for gender-sensitive language use (in progress), – handbook on teaching students with special needs (in Slovene), – handbook on self-advocacy for students with special needs (in Slovene), – educational videos on mental health and psychopathology, effective learning strategies, successful mental preparation and time management.

The Office for Equality and Inclusion operates at the university level, providing services and coordinating activities intended for all 26 academies and faculties of the University of Ljubljana. It is located at the Rectorate of the University of Ljubljana, under the leadership of Vice-Rector for Academic and Student Affairs.

The Office for Equality and Inclusion is committed to the implementation of all principles of sustainability, in alignment with the priorities of The University of Ljubljana Strategy (2022-2027) and UL Sustainability Strategy (2025-2030).

University of Ljubljana is committed to the constant improvement of the quality system, which it ensures: through the planning and organisation of operational processes in the areas of education, research, and other support and management activities as well as through periodic evaluation and constant improvement of the processes. UL regularly performs self-evaluation in all activities of the institution, and especially also in the area of inclusive and equal academic environment (monitoring and the evaluation of the implementation of the gender equality plan, specially designed and adopted indicators of inclusion).