Exploring the ‘unexplained’ awarding gap through understanding BAME students' experiences

A narrative method of enquiry was used to investigate the university experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students studying in a south-eastern UK business school. Participants were self-selecting undergraduates and postgraduates and academic and professional staff. The three facilitators were all academic staff from the Business School: two who identify as Black, one who identifies as white. Using a ‘Thinking Group’ (Kline, 1999) narrative methodology, it was found that issues relating to belonging, isolation, inclusive curriculum, and employability are all impacting Black, Asian and minority ethnic students' success in the Business School currently. The research resulted in the co-creation of 30 recommendations for action in the following academic year.

Inclusive curriculum and BAME student advocacy in a business school: reflections on three years of inclusive module reviews

This article presents a case study of BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) student advocacy and its impact upon the curriculum of a large business school within a post-92 UK university. Learning from the University of Birmingham's (2017) ‘BME Ambassador Scheme’ and the ‘Curriculum Consultants’ model at Kingston University (2017), a programme of BAME Student Advocates was established in 2018 across this university, to raise issues of race equity with staff in positions of power. The scheme has grown from 10 BAME Student Advocates in 2018 to 14 in 2020, offering student advocacy on many aspects of university life, including employability services, the learning environment, academic skills workshops, student community and belonging, and the undergraduate curriculum. The role-holder is employed by the central Student Success Team, and partners with a senior member of staff in each academic school (and several other business functions) to collaborate on specific race equity objectives each year. One recurring aspect of the role involves offering diverse student perspectives on module content, delivery and assessment to achieve a more inclusive curriculum design for programmes with the largest awarding gaps. This article reflects upon the outcomes and lessons learned through conducting 24 such module reviews over a three-year period within a business school and proposes potential future developments.

Collaboration and co-production with Black, Asian and minority ethnic students: working in partnership with our students to inform and deliver access and participation practice

In recent years, the topic of UK-domiciled undergraduate students from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds not accessing, succeeding and progressing as well as their White peers in Higher Education (HE) has gained increased policy and media attention. Institutions are required to address gaps amongst student groups that are underrepresented within HE, including students from BAME backgrounds, through their Office for Students' (OfS) regulated Access and Participation Plan (APP). This paper offers specific examples of how Edge Hill University, a university in North West England, has begun to approach this work in the new regulatory environment. APPs now place an increased emphasis upon research informed practice, student engagement, consultation, and evaluation. This innovative practice article provides a detailed example of genuine collaboration and coproduction with students to develop and deliver APP work, and extends an earlier presentation delivered at the March 2021 Open University Access Participation and Success International Biennial Conference. In this article, the authors outline the development of a new Diversity Access Programme and a BAME Student Advisory Panel. The paper offers a reflective account of how APP leads, Widening Participation (WP) practitioners, evaluators and students can work together effectively in partnership to design and deliver WP initiatives.

Identifying and addressing differential Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic student experiences at a post-1992 institution

The University of Brighton commissioned a university-wide study to identify some of the factors contributing to the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic degree awarding gap at UK Higher Education Institutions from the perspective of the students that it impacts. An Action Research focus-group approach was used to inform the planning for the institutional 2020–2025 Access and Participation Plan and an application for the Advance HE Race Equality Charter. This project focused on students who were identified as British and/or qualified for home (UK-resident) tuition fees. This paper presents the positive and negative factors identified from the focus groups as having a potential impact on the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic student experience. Findings are separated into two categories, the academic student experience and the non-academic student experience, and the paper highlights those factors which were consistent across the institution's provision. The paper also discusses the multifaceted, whole-institution approach which has been taken in response to these findings and the principles underpinning the actions and interventions. Final remarks share reflections on the learning, both at an institutional and sector-level, and next steps that the University of Brighton intends to take to improve the student experience and address degree awarding gaps.

Co-creating with BAME students in legal education

This article explores the challenges of addressing inequitable outcomes and experiences for BAME Law students. It considers the specific challenges BAME students face in entering a profession that is highly competitive, and which has traditionally lacked diversity. It details the approach that The University of Law, as a specialist legal educational institution, has taken to work and co-create with its student body to reduce these inequitable outcomes and experiences, as well as to improve a wider sense of belonging between students, their educational institution and the legal sector. It takes, as a case study, The University of Law's BAME Student Advocate scheme, which was established in the spring of 2020, and spotlights a few key projects delivered by the BAME Advocates: an employer engagement project, a Ramadan project and a project on raising awareness of institutional racism through the Stephen Lawrence case.

#Ibelong: Towards a sense of belonging in an inclusive learning environment

#Ibelong is an Erasmus+ project delivering a suite of evidence-informed interventions to improve the belonging and success of students who are first-generation entrants, from ethnic minorities or have a ‘migrant background’. The activities operate at course or programme level and involve working with both staff and students. This article provides a rationale for the #Ibelong programme of activities by drawing on relevant research and describing the three interconnected interventions: Dialogue Days, Team Teacher Reflection and Community Mentoring. The interventions were evaluated using Programme Theory evaluation tools: theory of change and logic chains. The descriptions highlight activities that have worked well, how delivery has been adapted from in-person to online delivery, and evidence of short-term benefits and medium-term outcomes. The article concludes by reflecting on how this suite of interventions could be used by other courses, universities and sectors, to improve the belonging and success of diverse students and staff.

Editorial: Special edition ‘Race and Ethnicity’

The articles in this special issue of Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning are based on presentations at a series of remote seminars organised by The Open University (UK), titled ‘Avoid Photocopying the past – re-designing HEIs to reduce inequitable outcomes for BAME students’. The first seminar (15 July 2020) proved so popular that parts 2 (6 October) and parts 3 (3 December) were added. The theme continued into Day 1 (of 4) of The Open University???s Access, Participation and Success (APS) Biennial International Conference held online in March 2021. This special edition therefore includes five articles which originated as presentations focused on research around race and ethnicity in higher education (HE).

Why we need to reimagine the curricula in higher education to make it more culturally sensitive

Persistent racial equality gaps exist in HE. We argue that culturally sensitive curricula can address those racial equality gaps as well as support the development of culturally competent graduates equipped for social change. In this short piece, we briefly describe our conceptualisation of culturally sensitive curricula and the tool we have developed to support curricular enhancement. We report on emerging evidence of the impact of culturally sensitive curricula on students' engagement and suggest how such curricula could lead to impact on educational outcomes.

Target Oxbridge Year 10 programme

Target Oxbridge is Rare Recruitment's programme to help students with black African and Caribbean heritage to increase their chances of getting into Cambridge or Oxford Universities. Target Oxbridge and Trinity College, University of Cambridge, launched a unique programme called the Target Oxbridge Year 10 programme to demystify the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in order to help more 14 and 15 year olds of black heritage prepare to apply to and gain places at these leading universities. This new programme for students in Year 10 featured webinars with Trinity College academics and students, and Target Oxbridge alumni provided advice to Year 10 black British students who are considering attending university. The webinars aimed to demystify Oxford and Cambridge Universities, offer insights into what college life is really like, provide information on the application process, and offer guidance on preparing applications. Students also learned about how degree subject choice can affect their career options. This article provides an evaluation report on the Programme's effectiveness.

Exploring and developing strategies for integration in a classroom setting within higher education

Integration in the classroom is discussed openly within the school setting, but largely remains a taboo subject within higher education (HE). Staff often make visual observations that students tend to sit with one another based on sex, ethnicity, class, ability and/or faith. As educators, we can address the issue superficially via the use of classroom plans in the form of covert integration. However, the need to adopt such strategies and their effectiveness remains un-assessed. I explored the issue of integration in the classroom amongst students in the first year of their law degree via action-based research. Initially, there appeared to be a reluctance amongst students to engage in a dialogue on the issue of integration. However, when they did, the students commented on the benefits of social and/or academic integration and were open to the mixing of students within a classroom setting. The research also indicated that after the integrated workshops, students developed an increased confidence in mixing with people from different backgrounds and increasingly felt part of a community both within the classroom and as part of the University.