Contextualisation of the BAME Awarding Gap in UK Higher Education

I had the privilege of delivering a paper at a conference organised by the Royal Holloway Student Union last week that aimed to raise awareness about the ‘unexplained difference’ of 13%-20% points, between students from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds and their white counterparts who achieve 1st Class or Upper Second Class degrees in UK Higher Education (having progressed to HE with similar grades at A' Level).

This is a politically sensitive area: conversations about the experiences of BAME students are never comfortable, they are considerably watered down. It is clear that there are issues - there is a ‘leaky pipeline’. However, the context of the ‘leaking’ is always explained in safer and more palatable ways other than race. Why is that so? Accepting that there are challenges triggers a number of negative feelings such as guilt, particularly since HE proudly presents itself as enlightened, liberal, safe and neutral space. So, any evidence that is not consistent with this positioning is problematic, and thus dismissed. No one wants to be accused of hypocrisy.

In my talk, I argued that rather than pretend that university campuses and lecture theatres are neutral spaces, fellow academics and students should grasp the nettle and challenge structures that continue to produce, reproduce and perpetuate injustice/inequality in UK society.  Different universities have come up with a number of initiatives to ameliorate the situation, but differences remain and are glaring: some institutions have acknowledged the scale of the problem and are implementing genuine changes, however progress has been slow in others – there is denial that there is a problem and thus people are engaging with notions of power, social class, privilege and disadvantage disingenuously.

This is a 'wicked problem' (Webber, 1973), it is daunting and has deep roots - concerted effort has to be made to ameliorate the situation. So, how do we move beyond debates into action? 

•  Strong ethical leadership is required in Higher Education.
• Higher Education should facilitate and normalise uncomfortable conversations about race and challenge and change the current elitist culture. 
• Inclusivize / diversify the curriculum. 
• Promote race equity through pedagogy.
• Facilitate an institutional habitus/ethos where all students have a sense of belonging (irrespective of their background). 
• HE should engage honestly with data and avoid 'gaming' with figures. 

This is an uncomfortable topic, but someone has to talk about it - I will talk about it. “When you’ve got to do what’s right, you’ve got to do what’s right.”