Chartered Institute
of Linguists

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Valuing every culture, every language and every linguist

The Chartered Institute of Linguists was founded on the belief that knowledge of languages and intercultural competence benefit society economically, culturally and politically.  Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) is the bedrock for this; integral to serving our members, candidates, partners, and clients in the best possible way.

If we aspire to a leadership role in the languages community, then we must commit ourselves to valuing every culture, every language and every individual linguist to enable them to unlock their potential and perform at their very best.

As the world becomes increasingly global, the imperative of ED&I and our collective responsibility for it have grown both more pressing and more complex.  All international organisations must face up to the reality of unfairness, exclusion and inequality within and between different countries, societies, businesses, individuals and organisations. Any honest assessment of this context says no organisation is doing enough, and we must all strive to do more.

CIOL is committed to eliminating discrimination and maintaining a strong focus on ED&I throughout our organisation; we expect the same of all of our partners and stakeholders. We believe that everyone should be treated fairly and with respect and dignity, and we expect all of our staff to be aware of and adhere to the equality, diversity and inclusion principles that guide us; individuals should not experience any form of discrimination when interacting with us.

Our ED&I policy commits us to ensuring there is no discrimination in all areas of our work, membership and examinations, as well as in the recruitment, training and retention of staff and volunteers. We expect all our external suppliers, contractors and partners to share our commitment to ED&I, to comply with and keep up to date with all relevant legislative provisions.

We want ED&I to underpin everything we do.  We welcome feedback on any aspect of our policy and performance and look forward to hearing from you at info@ciol.org.uk