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Universities need to push harder to create university-wide change so that the work universities are doing to create inclusive communities is fully reflected in students’ experiences.
This is because if students don’t feel a sense of belonging at their universities, their experiences at university and the grades they’re awarded for their degrees can suffer.
Universities need to do more to make sure all staff are accountable for actively contributing to creating inclusive cultures.
While universities are doing work in the long term to improve staff diversity, they need to do more in the immediate term to improve students’ access to diverse role models, and to encourage BAME students to do postgraduate study and improve the diversity of academic pipelines.
For example, universities could:
Universities are taking on a range of activities to develop more diverse and inclusive environments, including anti-racism training for university staff, looking at recruitment practices to enhance diversity, and developing inclusive learning environments.
For this work to connect with the lived experiences of BAME students, the next step is making sure inclusive practices are consistently put into place across universities.
Universities need to focus as much on the culture outside the classroom as the culture inside it. They should make sure accommodation, catering services and social events factor in the needs of diverse groups. Universities also need to work on increasing students’ access to diverse role models in the immediate term and to support BAME students to go into postgraduate study and academia.
The Business School at the University of Wolverhampton have launched JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) a positive action project for their Black and global majority students. JEDI provides additional support to students, helping them to overcome disadvantages and barriers.
We're able to develop our inclusive lens and gain more insights into the lived and living experiences of our global majority students.
Dr Ada Adeghe
Associate Dean for Inclusivity, University of Wolverhampton
Our monthly updates are a great way for you to stay up to date with our work, events, and higher education news.