Executive Board's response to the decision of the language requirement in vacancy announcements
The Dutch National Human Rights Institute has established that The Hague University of Applied Sciences has disadvantaged staff members with a non-Dutch background by imposing a strict language requirement in an internal vacancy. With this message, we would like to let you know how we have learned from this and what improvements we are implementing in consultation with the affected colleagues.

We have taken the ruling of the Dutch National Human Rights Institute to heart. As an inclusive university of applied sciences, we want to do everything possible to prevent any form of exclusion. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case here. We offer our sincere apologies for this.
Points for improvement
We discussed with the staff members who filed the complaint that we would take the following actions together:- The internal recruitment and selection manual already contains a reference to the instructions of the Dutch National Human Rights Institute. We will request an update of these instructions from the Board and include these in the manual so that the proportionality of language requirements is clear when consulting templates for vacancies;
- This point will explicitly be included in the update of the current Recruitment and Selection Policy. This update is scheduled for the coming academic year.
Open climate
Our vision document describes THUAS as an inclusive community, with equal opportunities for all. We explicitly take a stand against discrimination and actively work towards a climate of zero tolerance and an environment in which any experienced discrimination can be discussed.However, sometimes we are also confronted with 'unconscious or deliberate incompetence' in this area, which presents us with a structural and joint challenge. That is why we are actively working on inclusive education and research, inclusive HR policies and inclusive business practices in different areas. We have already taken several steps in this area, such as participation policies for people who have been out of the labour market, a focus on inclusion in trainee programmes, the gender equality plan, supporting initiatives such as Purple Friday and research within our Inclusive Education research group. We will continue to do so and invite everyone to think along with us.