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Deans pledge to further race equality at 果冻影院
12 July 2018
Leadership roles, widening participation and inclusive advocacy are among commitments
果冻影院's most senior people managers have come up with plans to tackle race inequality at the university.听
Their pledges come as the result of individual meetings with听members of the Provost's Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team, where they were presented with听faculty specific data and a race equality toolkit.
The team members were听Ijeoma Uchegbu, Chair in Pharmaceutical Nanoscience, PVP Africa and The Middle East, Provost鈥檚 Envoy for Race Equality, Marcia Jacks, Co-Chair of the Race Equality Steering Group, Paulette Williams, Head of Student Success Projects
What was the motivation?
Professor Uchegbu said, 听"We all know the story: Applicants from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds, are less likely to be appointed when compared to White applicants and staff from BME backgrounds are promoted at a slower rate to White staff.
Furthermore BME staff are more likely to be involved in disciplinary procedures when compared to White staff. The data also shows that UK BME students are less likely to get a good degree when compared to UK White students and that both BME staff and students express less satisfaction in response to survey questions. Is 果冻影院 institutionally racist? The data is hard to ignore. Are individuals at 果冻影院 largely racist? This is patently not the case. To quote Professor Ivan Parkin, Dean of the
Faculty of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, 鈥淚 simply believe that everyone should have a chance to achieve their full potential.鈥� We agree with Parkin, but how do we get to such a place where race is no longer a barrier to progress at 果冻影院? The
Racematters@果冻影院 network often grapple with this question. There is no single answer. The collective will of the institution and its constitutive parts have to be marshalled to the cause; with guts and determination at the ready. The societal backdrop doesn鈥檛 help with openly racist groups advocating a racist agenda and mainstream political parties leaning eagerly in their direction. To counter the external, we think that we need a bold and transformative vision to achieve race equality at our institution and that is what we think we currently have.
Why is diversity important?
The case for ethnic diversity in organisations is strong:
and papers authored by international teams receive more citations 鈥� a citation premium, as it were .听Diversity is a positive contributor to organisational outcomes. That much is clear.
Race equality is also not just a matter for BME communities, it is a matter for us all.听Legislation and organisational diversity drivers are important but one further 果冻影院 specific driver is our student body. 40% of our students are from a BME background.听These high tariff students are tomorrow鈥檚 leaders and they are paying us to equip them to change the world. BME students graduating with an inferior degree to their White peers will not add value or support ambition. Our staff should be able to address the more subtle needs of our student body.
What is 果冻影院 doing?
The Provost and President of 果冻影院, Professor Michael Arthur initiated the journey in听2014, made a recent bold and public commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and demonstrated that the vision to create an institution that promotes race equality comes from the very top of the institution. One of the key facets of the 果冻影院 2034听Strategy is to deliver on equality and diversity. There is also the small matter of UK legislation which mandates public organisations to .
There is good news. The desire to embed equalities within 果冻影院鈥檚 very fabric is in post and this is what led to 果冻影院鈥檚 application for the Race Equality Charter in 2014.听The application resulted in the award of the Bronze Race Equality Charter to 果冻影院 in听2015. We have taken the first steps on our way to a change, in that at least we are speaking openly about race equality to each other. We are not there yet though and our Race Equality Charter Action Plan is long, if not winding. There is still much to be done. After our meetings with 果冻影院鈥檚 deans, a number of pledges were made and we thought we would share them with you so you have an idea of the work that is going on around 果冻影院."
So what have your deans pledged to do?
- Arts and听Humanities
1. Appoint a senior academic with responsibility for race and equality
2. In collaboration with the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences and the听Office of the Vice Provost Education, exploring the creation of a Centre for the听Study of Race and Racism; with the Centre to be housed in the Institute of听Advanced Studies.
- The Bartlett
1. Appointed a Vice Dean Equality, Diversity (Dr Kamna Patel) and Inclusion with a portfolio that covers, race, gender and other protected categories (the first in 果冻影院).
2. Fully fund a percentage of the Bartlett鈥檚 Students as a means of addressing the widening participation issue with the main scheme to start in 2020. A significant proportion of these students will be from BME families.
3. Work through the Bartlett鈥檚 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan.
4. Address the BME attainment gap is a priority.
5. Trial the Fair Recruitment Specialist scheme.
6. Implement the Inclusive Advocacy Scheme.
- Brain Sciences
1.听The Deans of the School of Life and Medical Sciences (SLMS) Faculties are contributing funding via The Wellcome Trust to develop the Inclusive听Advocacy Scheme within SLMS
2.听A Faculty BME Attainment Lead has been appointed.
3.听To consider utilising Fair Recruitment Specialists
- Engineering
1. Implement measures to address racial inequalities in student attainment by asking a colleague to help champion this by drawing best practice from our leading departments and sharing these examples broadly. This is a focus of the next Away day for the leadership team.
2. A Faculty BME Attainment Lead has been appointed.
- Institute of Education
1. A senior position with a portfolio that covers race equality has been created.
2. Participate in 果冻影院鈥檚 widening participation initiatives.
3. A Faculty BME Attainment Lead has been appointed.
4. Actively engage with the Inclusive Advocacy Scheme.
5. Undertake a Focus Group on Race and Ethnicity and develop a robust action plan as part of the Athena Swan application.
6. Continue the current practice of ensuring a BME member is on our recruitment panel, wherever possible, including drawing on Fair Recruitment Specialists.
- Laws
1. Participate in 果冻影院鈥檚 Widening Participation programme.
2. A Faculty BME Attainment Lead has been appointed.
- Life Sciences
1. The Deans of the School of Life and Medical Sciences (SLMS) Faculties are contributing funding via The Wellcome Trust to develop the Inclusive Advocacy Scheme within SLMS.
2. A Faculty BME Attainment Faculty Lead has been appointed.
- Maths and Physical Sciences
1. Appoint an Equalities and Diversity Champion as part of the leadership team
2. Trial the Fair Recruitment Specialist scheme.
3. Implement the Inclusive Advocacy Scheme.
4. A Faculty BME Attainment Lead has been appointed.
- Medical Sciences
1.听The Deans of the School of Life and Medical Sciences (SLMS) Faculties are contributing funding via The Wellcome Trust to develop the Inclusive听Advocacy Scheme within SLMS.
2. Appoint a Vice Dean Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
3. Create an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
4. A BME Attainment Faculty Lead has been appointed.
- Population Health Sciences
1. The Deans of the School of Life and Medical Sciences (SLMS) Faculties are contributing funding via The Wellcome Trust to develop the Inclusive听Advocacy Scheme within SLMS.
2. Trial Fair Recruitment Specialists from autumn 2018 with an absolute recommendation of BME representation on recruitment panels as far as possible.
3. Revise governance of the Faculty EDI committee to ensure a direct link to the听Faculty Executive Committee.
- Social and Historical Sciences
1. In collaboration with the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and the Office of the Vice Provost Education, exploring the creation of a Centre for the Study of Race and Racism; with the Centre to be housed in the Institute of Advanced Studies.
2. A BME Attainment Faculty Lead has been appointed
How you can get involved
So you have read these pledges. 听Alternatively, you can ">email us. We will invite proponents of the most exciting ideas to share these with the Provost鈥檚 Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team and see if we can implement some of them.
Think 果冻影院. Think race equality.
Ijeoma Uchegbu, Chair in Pharmaceutical Nanoscience, PVP Africa and the Middle听East, Provost鈥檚 Envoy for Race Equality
Marcia Jacks, Co-Chair of the Race Equality Steering Group
Paulette Williams, Head of Student Success Projects