In the second week of July, the Seoul National University Diversity Council distributed its seventh diversity report widely both on and off campus. The diversity report is the council’s annual report examining the state of diversity among members of the university community, the support programs available to various groups, etc., and proposing related policy agendas. To create the report, the council collects a wealth of data through a diversity survey of 45 SNU institutions, each of which has a diversity representative appointed each January.

A special section in this year’s report summarizes the results of a research project the council conducted last year entitled “Work-Life Balance Experiences Among Members of Seoul National University: Suggestions for Improving Work-Life Balance on Campus.” Comprising Chapter II of the report, the section discusses the university’s systems related to work-life balance, subjective assessments by various groups in the university of their levels of work-life balance, and more.

This year’s report also contains some significant findings regarding diversity at SNU. With respect to gender diversity, it is noteworthy that the proportion of women among undergraduate students decreased slightly; however, the proportion of women among master’s program students exceeded 50% for the first time. Women’s proportion among doctoral students continues to rise steadily. Women now make up 19.7% of all full-time, tenure-track faculty members, an increase of 1.2% over last year, and this can be viewed as the result of the Gender Equality Action Plan established in 2020 and carried out since then. It is also encouraging that the proportion of seats on major committees held by female faculty members has risen to 30%.

In addition, SNU diversity reports include a signature indicator for full-time, tenure-track faculty called the “diversity index.” This is the percentage of such faculty members who belong to at least one of the following groups: women, people who did not receive their undergraduate degree at SNU, and people of foreign nationality. The university’s diversity index in 2022 was 36.9%, a clear increase from its 2018 level of 30.8%.

As for diversity in nationality, the proportions of people of foreign nationality among faculty and regular students has not changed greatly in the past 10 years. However, now that restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic have eased, the numbers of exchange students, visiting students, and participants in short-term programs are returning to their pre-COVID levels.

Finally, it is noteworthy that there was a large increase in the number of students with disabilities, another indictor of diversity on campus. This number had been declining continuously over the past five years but has now risen to 99, purportedly because the Korea National Disability Registration System was recently simplified.

The report can be downloaded from the Diversity Council’s website (http://diversity.snu.ac.kr).