Asian academics push for diversity in higher education

by LAUREN CODLING

THE UK government needs to acknowledge “structural institutional racism in higher education”, a leading academic has said, as evidence showed “chronically low” levels of representation of female and ethnic staff.

According to the latest figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, academic staff are 44 times more likely to be white than black. In data taken from 2017-18, 164,115 academic staff were white, compared to only 3,725 black academic staff.

In announcing plans to address the issue, Angela Rayner, the shadow secretary for education, said establishments did not represent the communities they served.

“Women and staff from ethnic minority backgrounds are chronically under-represented across these institutions, and in particular, at the most senior levels,” Rayner said last Saturday (16).

“Inequality is endemic in our society, and sadly our universities are no different.”

Recommendations from the Labour shadow cabinet MP included ensuring that pay transparency reporting requirements included data on gender and ethnicity pay gaps, and requiring institutions to set out steps to improve diversity and representation.

Professor Kalwant Bhopal, a professor of education and social justice at the University of Birmingham, has published a number of research papers concerning the achievements and experiences of ethnic minorities in education.

Although she welcomed the move by Rayner, Bhopal said all governments need to address institutional racism in higher education before change can happen.

“A failure to acknowledge racism results in the failure to act upon it,” she told Eastern Eye on Tuesday (19). “We must have higher education institutions which acknowledge [institutional racism] but also acknowledge white privilege.

“Once that is acknowledged, we can have conversations about it.”

While interviewing fellow academics for her research, Bhopal spoke to people who had experienced “subtle micro-aggressions”.

This could include a colleague not making eye contact, constant undermining or not having their opinion considered.

She also spoke to students who admitted they were deterred from pursuing higher education as they felt they would have no positive role models to look up to.

“[Ethnic students] feel the evidence suggests that once they do enter academia, they could experience discrimination, exclusion or marginalisation,” she revealed.

Bhopal added that her research showed many ethnic academics suggesting a need for a support network. In relation to mentoring, she found many wanted support from a person of colour who could relate to their situation.

“They want somebody who understand their position as someone who is excluded and marginalised,” she noted.

Professor Shirin Rai, professor in the department of politics and international studies at University of Warwick, also welcomed the plans to address diversity.

However, she stressed that resources were needed to incentivise universities to commit to diversity agendas. They needed to be intersectional, she said, focusing on cross-cutting inequalities such as gender and class or gender, race and sexuality.

“Diversity agendas need both funding support mechanisms at the sector level for policy-oriented changes and setting time-bound targets for improving the abysmal figures on recruitment and promotion,” she told Eastern Eye.

Meanwhile, figures showed that among senior staff in higher education, only 26 per cent of professors were female. Only 36 per cent of overall academic staff and senior academic staff are female.

Professor Neena Modi, a professor of neonatal medicine at Imperial College London, has worked to address inequality within higher education. She is president elect at the Medical Women’s Federation, which is committed to tackling the gender pay gap.

Although Modi supported the move by Labour, she said it was not enough.

“Sadly, objective evidence makes it evident that women in higher education and academia suffer a double hit,” she told Eastern Eye.

“Any actions to address this disparity are welcome but women must also take action themselves.”

However, some have raised concerns that diversity targets may put pressure on universities.

Professor Sukanya Sen Gupta, professor of management at Royal Holloway, University of London, believes institutions may be heading toward positive discrimination.

“My concern is you have diversity for the sake of diversity rather than diversity or equality based on meritocracy,” Sen Gupta told Eastern Eye.

“If [a university] took on someone who is a woman or an ethnic minority just for the sake of ticking a box, resentment could build up from other people who believe they are deserving candidates.”

She continued: “[Even] If a woman or ethnic minority was hired because they deserved it, some people would look at them with a jaundiced eye and almost not give the credit they deserve as some may make an assumption an individual had got in by ticking the box.”

Sen Gupta said opportunities should be offered at a grassroots level so that minority groups are educated enough to compete against their white counterparts.

Although she acknowledged that some people may have suffered discrimination, based on her experiences, she described academia as “colour-blind”.

“I don’t ever feel like people have said, ‘this is a woman, we won’t hire her or give her a promotion’,” she said.

However, she said change could happen if work permit regulations were altered. If an academic is not from the UK or EU, a university must prove the individual is better qualified for the job.

“We are not just supposed to be equal. The university has to prove [overseas academics] are better than [UK or EU citizens],” Sen Gupta, who is originally from India, said.

“For me, you have to prove that no one else is qualified to do your job and prove you are better than everyone else. You will pursue it if you really want it.”