Equality Days

Reykjavík University like other Icelandic universities celebrates the annual festival Equality Days with a special programme for students and staff from 3-7. February.

Equality Days is an annual event about raising awareness of social and gender equality but the festival has been celebrated jointly by all universities in Iceland since 2015.

One of RU‘s goals is to graduate students who „emphasize social responsibilty, equality, innovation and development that aims to increase sustainability achieved with an ethical vision.“

RU works towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2020 by implementing the PRME goals across the university but two of the UN goals are Education for All and Gender Equality.

The RU programme is a collaboration between the university and the RU Student Union:

Monday:

Kl. 12-12.30 The Sun

• Rector of RU, Ari Kristinn Jónsson formally opens Equality Days 2020 at RU.
• Come and taste the Equality Cake and see how the rights slices are shared. Will you be surprised?

Tuesday:

12.00-13:00 M101

• Educational and vocational counselling know a thing or two about equality in education and what rights you have to special educational resources.
• Come and see your options and learn how to tackle exam and social anxiety, dyslexia for reading and dyslexia for math and everything in between that can have a disruptive effect on us in our daily lives as well as off campus.

Wednesday:

12:00-13:00 M101

• Queer Iceland
  Whether you already identify as queer or are unsure about your sexuality and/or sexual identity, Q is for you. The association is for all of those who care about queer matters. Those who are taking their first steps, are out and proud, or just would like to learn more; are all welcome and encouraged to get in touch with us and take part in Q’s activities. Q is meant to be an unforced place to meet and get to know people going through similar things.

Thursday:

12:00-13:00 M208

• Samtökin '78 The National Queer Organization
  The NQO educational officer drops in for a visit to tell us all about the basics of LGBTQIA; gender diversity and sexual orientation. What is intersex, asexual, cis, trans and all the other concepts that can apply and what does it all mean?

20-22 Bragginn Student pub

• Pubquiz at Bragginn with irresistible gender equality offers for RU students. SFHR has spent the last few weeks without rest making up the quiz. Come on over, all of you! Bragginn can take it!

Here you can see all the events during Equality Days on Facebook

The origin of the project can be traced to the collaboration of the Equal Opportunities Representative of the University of Iceland and the Academy of the Arts in 2015. But the project reached new and unprecedented heights at a meeting called by the then Equal Opportunities Representative at the Ministry of Education, Jóna Pálsdóttir, who brought together the equality representative of all the universities in the country to join this project which is growing and flourishing year after year with no end in sight. The project is unique in itself and entrepreneurial in the sense that nowhere in the world are universities working together on equailty awareness like this in Iceland.