Transformative change towards gender equity at universities
Transformative change at universities has been described as those changes that are broad and deep, where depth is evidenced by changes in values, beliefs, policies, and structures (Leišytė, Dee, van der Meulen, 2024). Universities are known to be specific loosely-coupled professional organisations that have unclear technologies and are resistant to change. Gender equity policies and practices have been part and parcel of university organizational landscapes in Europe for decades, but if one looks at the gender equity at universities, there is still strong evidence of the leaky pipeline as well as research and organizational cultures that resist gender equity (Leišytė, Peksen, Tönnes, 2022). Studies of organizational learning in universities that unpack the complex multi-level mechanisms of university transformation are helpful to understand the dynamics of successful structural and cultural change to achieve gender equity (Watts & Dowd, 2024, Dee & Leišytė, 2016). Based on research as well as practice of Prof. Leišytė in leading change processes towards gender equity in universities in the Netherlands, Germany and Lithuania, the aim of this workshop is to raise awareness of the complexity of multi-level deep change in universities to transform organizational culture. Drawing on organizational learning models, the participants will discuss factors fostering and hindering the processes of gender equity oriented change in universities and will design their pathways towards organizational transformation in their respective universities.
Liudvika Leišytė is Professor of Higher Education and Deputy Director at the Center for Higher Education (zhb) at TU Dortmund University. Prof. Leišytė is a member of editorial boards of Higher Education Policy, Triple Helix, The Learning Organization, Social Inclusion, and Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung. She is an Advisory Board member of the Lithuanian Higher Education Quality Assurance Agency delegated by the Lithuanian Parliament Education and Science Committee. She is an appointed member of the project selection committee of the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre since 2021. In 2019 she served on the evaluation panel of the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku) ‚Centers of Excellence in Education‘ program. In 2023 Prof. Leišytė was elected as a member of the Academia Europaea (Academy of Europe).