Ethnicity and differential degree attainment HEAECU BME summit

Ethnicity and differential degree attainment

HEA/ECU BME summit - participant universities’ 2007/8 data (Berry and Loke 2011) Aston; Bedfordshire; Bradford; Coventry; Greenwich; Hertfordshire; Leeds Metropolitan; London Metropolitan; Northampton; OU; Portsmouth; Roehampton ; Teeside; University of the Arts

• Research undertaken for then Df. ES on Ethnicity and Degree Attainment in 2007 by Broecke and Nicholls. . . found that even controlling for a wide range of factors thought likely to contribute, coming from a minority ethnic community had a statistically significant and negative effect on degree attainment. • Findings from the 2008 ECU/HEA project. . . highlighted once again the somewhat confusing and complex picture regarding degree attainment, ethnicity and the mitigating effects of socioeconomic, educational and institutional factors for individual attainment. Improving the degree attainment of Black and minority ethnic students (Berry and Loke 2011)

UH: Percentage of ‘Good degrees’ by Ethnicity 2009/10 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Overall White Mixed Asian Black Chinese

Developing an Inclusive Culture project Inclusive teaching strand of curriculum design toolkit Case studies Communication (eg. social media/web 2. 0)

Teaching practice: • Teaching environment - free from prejudice, discrimination and harassment? • Teaching style – does it take account of students’ backgrounds, language needs and varied learning styles? • Eurocentric curriculum? examples from different cultural backgrounds • Encouragement of students to be globally and culturally aware • Is race equality built into our teaching?

Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University TEACHING IN RACIALLY DIVERSE COLLEGE CLASSROOMS

Case Studies Humanities: Identified paid work experience specifically for black candidates within discipline (eg diversity summer internship scheme; diversity funds and the diversity trust) Invites BME external speakers Stimulated dialogue about mixed group and benefits to learning Education: 5 Stage plan to eliminate any possible discrimination Application, Induction, Learning and Teaching activities, placements, assessment (anonymous marking where possible) Business School: Following up work in the Business School initiated by the BME summit programme Discussion with staff to ensure inclusive seminars Agenda item on each FLTAG Pharmacy: Dissertation – analysis of performance of Pharmacy students and Bioscience students on same module to determine any differentials between coursework performance and exam performance plus consideration of cultural difference within the two schools

UHSU Societies • 48 societies listed on the UHSU website • 9 associated with ethnicity/cultural background (e. g. Afro-Caribbean, Nigerian, Tamil, Greek, Kurdish) • 11 associated with religious belief

Individual change: Shifting purpose for engaging staff in equality Aiming to increase awareness Aiming to increase understanding Aiming to take action May and Bridger (2010) p. 86

References: • May, H and Bridger, K (2010) Developing and embedding inclusive policy and practice in higher education. York: Higher Education Academy. • May (2010) Towards an Inclusive Culture: Engaging Students in Institutional Enhancement. Presentation accessed via www. heacademy. ac. uk Dec 2010 • Summit Programme to promote student success: ‘Improving the degree attainment of Black and Minority Ethnic Students’. Accessed via http: //www. heacademy. ac. uk/resources/detail/ourwork/inclusion/Cov entryethnicitysummit Dec 2010 • Teaching in Racially Diverse College Classrooms. Accessed via http: //isites. harvard. edu/fs/html/icb. topic 58474/TFTrace. html Dec 2010 • Thornton (2009) BME workshop. University of Hertfordshire.