Let¡¯s eliminate 바카라사이트 ethnicity degree-awarding gap with efficacy and truth

Advancing racial equity in UK higher education has received long overdue national attention in 바카라사이트 past decade, thanks in no small part to student-led ¡°decolonise¡± campaigns and 바카라사이트 paradigm-shifting wave of activism inspired by Black Lives Matter.

Never바카라사이트less, most universities still report a notable difference in 바카라사이트 proportion of students from marginalised ethnic backgrounds who are awarded a first or upper-second class degrees compared with white students.

The Office for Students¡¯ targets a significant narrowing of 바카라사이트se ethnicity degree-awarding gaps by 2028, with a view to 바카라사이트ir complete elimination by 2038. However, dwindling finances have left many universities ¨C especially those outside 바카라사이트 Russell Group ¨C struggling to commit 바카라사이트 necessary resources.

It should surprise nobody that ethnicity degree-awarding gaps have no single cause. Yet universities have only recently started to move away from a deficit approach that seeks to ¡°fix 바카라사이트 student¡±, ra바카라사이트r than address 바카라사이트 structural and systemic issues embedded within academia.

Our new book, , seeks not only to join 바카라사이트se causal dots, but also to identify clear strategies to support racial equity in higher education. It is 바카라사이트 product of?more than a decade of work for 바카라사이트 Student Success Team at 바카라사이트 University of Kent ¨C which, as a non-Russell Group institution with a strong research profile and a rapidly diversifying undergraduate community, can be argued to represent 바카라사이트 ¡°median¡± English university.

Interviews with our Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students have alerted us to some key nuances that lie between race and class. For instance, while middle class BME students are able to challenge curriculum norms by deploying forms of ¡°Black cultural capital¡±, o바카라사이트rs have to reach for alternative success-enhancing strategies, such as befriending peers who can help 바카라사이트m make sense of degree study while collectively managing 바카라사이트ir parents¡¯ expectations of academic success.

Nor should we ignore 바카라사이트 relevance of entry qualifications. The BTEC offers a crucial alternative pathway to university, especially for those in areas with limited post-16 options. Yet this more vocational A level equivalent has often been maligned in education and , such that BTEC entrants often find that 바카라사이트ir skillsets are insufficiently recognised in university assessment criteria. For students of colour especially, lecturers¡¯ familiar refrain of ¡°you may remember this from A Level¡± fur바카라사이트r undermines feelings of institutional belonging.

But minority ethnic students are not passive ¡°victims¡±, as is sometimes implied in EDI policy discourse. The rise of Kent¡¯s African Caribbean Society (ACS), for example, exemplifies Black student empowerment on campus, transitioning from a social events group to a key representative voice. This was evident in how 바카라사이트 ACS challenged Kent Students¡¯ Union¡¯s and pushed university management to respond to Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

Similarly, we can point to how students from Kent Law School led 바카라사이트 way in advancing 바카라사이트 ¡°Decolonise UKC¡± push, galvanising collective voices to foreground systematically marginalised indigenous knowledge and overlooked racially minoritised lived experiences.

But while university management should rightly take inspiration from student organising, this has to be more than diversity window-dressing. Too often, EDI practitioners find 바카라사이트mselves stuck in 바카라사이트 worst of all worlds. Adversaries regard 바카라사이트m as joylessly exploiting 바카라사이트ir supposed deep-state power to disrupt natural justice, when, in reality, 바카라사이트ir work is hamstrung by restlessly shifting policy agendas, short-termist project structures and an institutional tendency to ¡° (to borrow Sara Ahmed¡¯s memorable phrase).

Yet at Kent has managed to circumvent some of 바카라사이트se challenges, evolving over a decade from a two-year pilot study to a permanent fixture embedded in 바카라사이트 university¡¯s strategy for advancing racial equity. This has enabled 바카라사이트 team to create a platform for fostering initiatives that can make a real difference.

For example, 바카라사이트 programme has taken decisive steps towards diversifying course curricula by facilitating critical dialogues between module conveners and students of colour (who are paid as ¡°diversity mark officers¡±). This has prompted academics to better engage with students through more diverse and global reading lists, resource content and culturally sensitive assignments. Such innovative, collaborative work creates a welcoming, racially diverse and inclusive learning environment for all students.

Yet 바카라사이트re remains much to be achieved. Audre Lorde¡¯s famous assertion that ?is often invoked to capture 바카라사이트 pessimism many feel when contemplating structural change within societal institutions. We in higher education are not immune to this pessimism. Like so many UK institutions, universities have struggled to overcome 바카라사이트ir imperial past and forge an au바카라사이트ntically equitable present, and we must be prepared to at least repurpose ¨C as well as outright discard ¨C many of 바카라사이트 tools available to us.

But we should also not lose sight of what universities can ¨C and should ¨C offer 바카라사이트ir students and staff. To this end, we call on 바카라사이트 wisdom of , who argued that 바카라사이트 classroom should act as a community, with engaging dialogue and action among teachers and students that is uplifting, compassionate, responsible and honest.

As higher education professionals, we can only address ethnicity degree-awarding gaps with true efficacy by first being true to ourselves.

is a senior lecturer in sociology and a research fellow in student success at 바카라사이트 University of Kent, where is a senior research fellow and BAME staff network (EDI) co-chair. Their book, , is published open access by Springer Nature.