AAU wants more women to reach the top of academia. The university therefore works to reduce unconscious bias in recruitment, hiring and promotion processes as it is identified as being one of the primary reasons why women in Denmark are discriminated against in their career development.  

AAU is committed to ensuring equal pay in the organization. During the university's annual salary negotiations, all managers are sent a pay scale with the current salary level and salary development in their respective departments. On that basis, management can compare men's and women's pay and initiate measures if there is a pay gap between men and women within the same job function. Furthermore, pay is regulated by collective agreements at the university which ensures a minimum pay rate and payment during parental leave, illness and the first day of a child’s illness.   

AAU has introduced budgetary principles to reduce the risk of maternity and parental leave negatively impacting staff members’ career paths. Thus, each department and unit must allocate an amount in the budget equal to the expected cost associated with maternity and parental leave based on the average expense over the past three years. 

AAU is committed to ensuring that there is no discrimination against transgender staff and students. AAU will therefore launch initiatives to increase the inclusion of transgender people through inclusive language and communication as well as adjust the administrative processes that require information about a particular gender.  

AAU is committed to ensuring that staff and students with a physical or mental disability are not discriminated against. AAU will therefore map the university's access and layout for people with physical, cognitive, mental and sensory impairments and then suggest improvements.  

AAU constructs buildings based on 'accessibility for all'. The buildings must thus be able to be used by all – regardless of any functional impairments – including wheelchair users and people with walking difficulties, people with ADHD, visual or hearing impairments, mental impairments, etc.

As a public organization, AAU is obligated to take social responsibility by retaining employees with reduced ability to work and integrating people who find it difficult to gain a foothold at work – also known as the Inclusive Labour Market.

AAU works to create inclusiveness by looking at:

• How can the university prevent deterioration and burnout through a good physical and mental working environment?
• How can the university support sickness absence policy and staff policy with social responsibility and inclusiveness?
• How can the university retain employees with reduced working capacity or bring in people who have been outside the labour market for an extended period of time?
• How can the university retain current staff members who are affected by deterioration, burnout, illness or the like?