About – DEI4SME

Strengthening Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in Education and SME Management.

DEI4SME is an Erasmus+ project co-funded by the European Union, uniting six partner organisations from Finland, Germany, Austria, and Lithuania for the mission to enable DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) in business and business education.

The project's team is committed to strengthening DEI in Education and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) management through extensive collaboration with various stakeholders. The project's vision goes beyond talk, as it sets out to create an effective digital tool and a learning ecosystem around it to enable social responsibility planning, execution, and governance.

By equipping business graduates with the skills and resources to drive change towards DEI, even in resource-challenged SMEs, the project aims to drive actionable implementation of social sustainability in business with a positive impact on business and a wider society. We aim to create a digital tool for planning, implementing and monitoring corporate social responsibility and educational materials so that higher institution graduates can lead the change towards diversity, equity, and inclusion, even in small and medium enterprises that have little extra resources. This will lay the foundation for creating the EU’s joint standard for monitoring social responsibility and solving a number of social challenges in the union.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is a conceptual framework that promotes the fair treatment and full participation of all people, especially populations that have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination because of their background, identity, disability, etc.

PROJECT GOALS

Higher Education Institutions will receive digital education infrastructure to develop graduates’ skills needed to lead change toward social responsibility in SMEs.

SMEs will receive a digital tool to plan, implement, and report measurable DEI activities in line with the ESG requirements in the EU.

The project will support employment of multiple underrepresented groups, especially students with diverse backgrounds, because SMEs will develop competencies in and awareness of the DEI management.