Policies

To succeed in its mission it is paramount that the University allows the free and open exchange of ideas and it is thus committed to upholding the values of academic freedom and freedom of expression. These values are specifically safeguarded in the University’s Charter under article 4(a) which specifies that all members of the university community can develop new ideas without fear of sanctions or censorship and article 4(b) which specifies that all members of the university can freely express themselves. Therefore, the University policy explicitly specifies that all faculty members may freely pursue any intellectual or artistic enquiry and can thus publish or exhibit their work and intellectual endeavors without being subject to censorship or intimidation.

This freedom is extended to academic practices for teaching purposes where both faculty and students are freely allowed to express their opinions. Furthermore, members of the community are allowed and encouraged to express their opinions and beliefs in the public domain freely as long as they do so in their personal capacity and not representing the University. It is clarified that this freedom is not without limits as defined by the current Laws; for example, speech that is libelous, slanderous, incites violence, harassment of individuals or minorities and so forth is not permitted. In such cases and when public speech is deemed purposefully wrong or misleading and brings the organization to disrepute may lead to disciplinary action.

Stemming from the policy of academic freedom, the University is committed to serve as a beacon of free thought and free speech and allows its premises and functions to be used as an open societal platform for promotion and exchange of ideas by various formally or informally organized bodies, both within the confines of the community as well as the society at large. The University reserves the right to deny platform to actions that are deemed unlawful and/or incite hate or violence.

Frederick University is committed to being an equal opportunities organization, as clearly stipulated in article 4(d) of its Charter. Additionally, the university adopts a no-discrimination policy as explicitly expressed in article 4(c) of its Charter and no discrimination or bias, whether obvious or tacit, should exist in its community in relation to ethnicity, race, color, religion or belief, disability, gender, or sexual orientation.

Stemming from this commitment, a series of policy statements are adopted as summarized below:

• Establish clear guidelines on non-acceptable behavior and mechanisms for allowing the submission and review of complaints
• Maintain due processes for examining grievances that adhere to core principles of fair investigation
• Support actions for educating the university community, as well as the society at large, on discrimination issues and track performance
• Record information relating to equality issues including but not limited to matters of representation and progression and gender issues, including gender pay gaps

Discrimination is considered to be any act that treats a member of the community, whether an employee, a student, or a visitor, differently with adverse effects due to its ethnicity, race, color, religion or belief, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. Harassment is considered to be any unwelcome verbal of physical conduct that makes the subject feel insulted, humiliated or intimidated.

An exhaustive description of all behaviors that would constitute discrimination and harassment is not possible but examples of such a behavior includes:

• Publicly or privately insulting a person for their ethnicity, race, color, religion or belief, disability, gender, or sexual orientation
• Ridiculing a person and/or promoting insulting jokes based on the person’s identity or physical characteristics
• Unwanted touching or physical conduct with a person
• Stalking
• Physical assault
• Stereotyping behaviors based on a group that a person may belong in
• Use of electronic messages or social media to circulate texts or images, including text or images of sexual nature, that degrade, ridicule or harass individuals
• Threaten individuals on repercussions for the purpose of silencing or intimidating them

Within the above definition, the university includes actions that can be considered as abuse of power. Abuse of power is considered to be any behavior that would be deemed unexpected or unnatural should the relation of power a person holds over another person not exist. A manager asking a subordinate employee or a teacher asking a student to conduct personal errands is an example of abuse of power.

Retaliation against any complaint, whether deemed with merit or not, is not tolerated. The university will monitor the treatment that complainants receive after a complaint is made and resolved in order to ensure that no adverse actions are taken against him by the accused or others in power.

The university’s primary goal is to educate its community and immerse it in the values it upholds. To this end, we understand that, in several occasions, members of the community, for various reasons, may inadvertently act in a discriminatory fashion. Our primal goal is to correct this through educating and improving individuals and not promote an antagonizing environment of fear. However, it is clarified that the university will not tolerate behaviors of repeated offense or discriminatory actions done with malice and/or intend.

For any discrimination complaint, due process is followed to ensure that (a) the complainant and the accused have the right to freely express and defend their positions as well as appeal to any decision reached (b) no penalty, discrimination or retaliation is made towards either the complainant or the accused until a decision is reached (c) the process, until is conclusion is safeguarded by confidentiality. All the above are achieved through the operation of disciplinary committees that follow specific procedures to reach a conclusion and suggest sanctions which are then rectified by competent bodies. For example, when the accused is a faculty member, the process is dictated by articles 72 and 73 of the Internal Regulation for Teaching and Research Staff, whereas if the accused is a student, the process is defined in articles 38 to 41 of the Students Internal Regulation.

Code of Practice for the Prevention and Combating of Harassment and Sexual Harassment

The right to employment also includes the right to enjoy it peacefully, free from any verbal, physical, sexual, or other form of harassment. Frederick University is consistent with the fundamental principles of human rights and, in particular, human dignity, gender equality and gender discrimination. Thus, it is clarified that any behavior that constitutes harassment or sexual harassment within the community is considered unacceptable.

For the purpose of preventing and combating harassment and sexual harassment conduct, Frederick University adopts this Code of Practice for the Prevention and Combating of Harassment and Sexual Harassment (ENG / GR), which is in compliance with article 12 par. 4 of the Equal Treatment of Men and Women in Employment and Vocational Education Act of 2002 (205 (I) / 2002).

You can view our Actions on Harassment here

Non-discriminatory admissions policy

The University’s decisions on student recruitment are based on individual merit and are free from any form of discrimination. Candidates are considered for admission on the basis of their academic qualifications, regardless of sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, disability, age or sexual orientation. This Policy also applies to access to scholarship programs and access to the rights, privileges, programs, and activities made available to students.

As part of the non-discriminatory admissions policy, Frederick University uses positive discrimination to increase opportunities for access to education of students who belong in underrepresented and vulnerable groups. Examples include but are not limited to granting special scholarship schemes for trafficking victims, asylum seekers & refugees, unaccompanied minors, girls in engineering & technology programs.

Gender equality actions

Frederick University is committed to ensure and promote gender equality to its community. The intersectional Gender Equality Plan (GEP) of Frederick University is a policy document covering the next four years (2021-2025) with which the University demonstrates its efforts, actions and projects to promote gender equality through institutional and cultural change.

The university is committed to eliminating gender pay gap. It also adopts a policy goal of having a minimum of 30% representation of women in all top governing bodies.

For the 2021-22 academic year, the university has 50% women representation in its Council and 50% of the top management positions are held by women. In academic management, 39% of chaired positions (Rector, Vice-Rectors, Deans, Presidents) are held by women. The university has a low percentage in women representation in Professorships and this has been set as a key gap to address.

The university aims to have the gender pay gap less than 5% in all posts and take into account any such gaps when applying salary increases. In relation to gender pay gap tracking, the university has a positive record in gender cap in management (9% higher for women). For administrative staff the gender pay gap is negligible. For academics, the gender pay gap is 4%. Although the gap is considered acceptable, it arises due to the lack of female academics at the rank of Professor. Analysis of salaries by rank shows that gender pay gap is <2%.

Frederick University is committed in providing high quality education and services relevant to its mission, to the business sector, the industry and the society. The University has developed and applies a quality assurance policy which addresses all three core pillars of its registered mission: education, research and contribution to society. Through this policy, the University strives in achieving a continuous improvement of the quality of (a) its programmes of study, including the curriculum, students and graduates, academic staff and infrastructure, (b) the research output of its academic staff and creation of new knowledge, (c) the administrative services and (d) the service to the business sector, the industry and the society.

The quality assurance policy of the University relies on self-assessment activities and promotes the development of quality culture among the academic and the administrative staff, through its implementation and the continuous training of the academic and administrative staff on issues related to quality.

The internal quality assurance process constitutes an academic process and it is not controlled or restricted by non-academic bodies. At the university level the internal quality assurance process is regulated and overseen by the Internal Quality Committee, while the academic staff, the administrative staff and the students are represented in the Committee.

A summary of the Quality Assurance Policy and System of the University is available here. A detailed document describing the Quality Assurance System of the University is available to the academic and administrative staff of the University through the university portal.

The University pledges to maintain an ethical contact, both internally relating to its operations and investments, as well as externally.

Frederick University places special emphasis on environmental conservation, sustainable resource management, and sustainable development. In this context, the University commits to supporting and strengthening its Environmental Management system. In particular, the University commits to taking into consideration the environmental dimension in the entire range of its activities and the need to take necessary measures to minimize its environmental footprint. The University is also committed to strengthening environmental awareness among its staff, students, and society at large.

The Environmental Management Policy is governed by the following principles, according to which the University:
- Integrates the Environmental Management Strategy into its Strategic Plan.
- Ensures that the responsibility for the effective implementation of the Environmental Management Strategy is communicated to all teaching and research staff, administrative staff, students, and all partners.
- Identifies and monitors the environmental impacts resulting from its activities and takes measures to minimize them.
- Sets Annual Environmental Management Goals, which are updated based on annual data. In this context, it ensures that the Environmental Management Goals and processes are subject to monitoring and review, with a commitment to continuous improvement.
- Aims to reduce the waste it produces, through actions focusing on reducing waste production, reuse and recycling of products, and the adoption of the principles of the circular economy.
- Ensures water conservation on its premises.
- Implements an energy policy aiming at energy saving and sustainable energy management.
- Designates the Health and Safety Office (which is renamed to Health, Safety, and Environmental Management Office), as responsible for monitoring the Environmental Management system. The Organization ensures that the staff of the Office have the necessary training.
- Makes the necessary recommendations to its partners so that they support the Organization’s efforts to improve its environmental record.
- Provides the necessary resources to adopt the above principles.

Frederick University, firmly believes that key to its mission is being a force for positive change in the society. Unequivocally, one of the central problems facing humanity now is that of energy use and climate change at large. As a responsible institution we have developed this energy policy to steer decisions related to energy use. This dedication is further strengthened by the responsibility stemming from our leading role in research on energy matters, including sustainable energy systems, building physics, renewable energy, and more.

The University’s Management is committed to developing, establishing and continually enhancing the organisation’s Occupational Health and Safety standards and culture.

The University’s Occupational Health and Safety system considers and incorporates all the processes required for the safe and healthy operation and provision of services, related to its range of activities. Implementation of the University’s Occupational Health and Safety system aims to provide a healthy and safe working environment and to prevent or minimise occupational risks for its faculty and administrative staff, its students and all visitors that may be affected by the organisation’s activities.

The University’s procedures and practices are based on and comply with the following health and safety principles:

- to meet or exceed all national statutory and regulatory requirements, for the provision of a safe and healthy working environment

- to include Occupational Health and Safety related strategies in the organisation’s Strategic Plan and two-year Action Plan

- to provide a framework for setting annual Occupational Health and Safety objectives, review and update them as appropriate

- to provide an environment where work-related health and safety risks are controlled to prevent injuries and occupational illnesses

- to ensure Occupational Health and Safety systems and procedures are fit for purpose, transparent, efficient, reliable and responsive to changing contexts

- to ensure Occupational Health and Safety systems and procedures are subject to monitoring and evaluation with the commitment of continual improvement

- to ensure Occupational Health and Safety systems are supported by the provision of relevant and comprehensive trainings

- to identify, evaluate, monitor and control risks related to the infrastructure and the processes incorporated in the University’s operation

- to develop and implement processes which will identify, monitor, register and report accidents related to the operation of the University and minimise possibility of reoccurrence

- to ensure whenever appropriate and practicable, Occupational Health and Safety systems and procedures are evaluated by students, stakeholders and independent bodies

- to ensure that responsibility for the effective implementation of the Occupational Health and Safety strategy is shared between all members of its faculty and administrative staff, its students and all visitors. 

You can download the Occupational Health and Safety Policy: ENG / GR