Universities must challenge attainment gap, study says

by LAUREN CODLING

AN ASIAN student has said universities need to communicate with ethnic minority students

more in order to support their needs, as new research showed white students were more likely to get higher grades than their BAME counterparts.

Last week, research by Universities UK and the National Union of Students (NUS) showed

a 13 per cent gap between the chances of white and BAME students getting a first or upper

second degree.

Although the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Student Attainment at UK Universities: #Closingthegap report acknowledged the fact that universities had worked to reduce the

disparity, it was still evident that more needed to be done as 81 per cent of white students obtained a first or 2:1 in 2017-18, compared with 68 per cent of their BAME peers.

Amna Atteeq, a sociology student at Aston University, contributed to the study. The 23-year-old, who is also the president of the university’s student union, believes the higher education sector should collaborate to ensure the issue is not ignored.

“They need to find the best practise to ensure that all students are given the same platform

in order to achieve at their best ability,” she told Eastern Eye, adding that it was vital

that universities engaged with their own students rather than implementing a nationwide

programme across all schools.

“It is important that universities talk to their own students,” she said. “I’ve seen universities

put on initiatives that I know would not work with mine. Students come from different backgrounds and need different kinds of support. It is best to ask them directly what they are struggling with and what support they need.”

For instance, she revealed that some BAME students may be suffering from mental health

problems which they felt unable to talk about due to taboos within their culture.

“The best way to communicate with students is to have an open dialogue with them,” Atteeq said. “That is so important.”

The report made five recommendations on how changes can be made, including having

conversations about race and cultures and gathering data on the attainment gap.

Atteeq agreed with these suggestions, pointing out that the student union at Aston University

had launched several campaigns to engage with minority students.

For instance, they organised events around initiatives such as Black History Month and

Islamophobia Awareness Month.

Atteeq, from Birmingham, admitted she had reservations about her university choices when she first applied for a number of schools.

When she visited one institute, she said she felt uncomfortable about the lack of diversity and

worried that she could potentially drop out due to feelings of exclusion.

However, at Aston, she said the high levels of diversity made her feel “instantly welcome”

and it was one of the reasons she chose to attend the school. The university has around 72

per cent of BAME students. “The different kinds of people you meet from a range of backgrounds is amazing”, Atteeq said.

She also believed that visible BAME role models within higher education were important factors to ethnic minority students. In addition, Atteeq said universities should engage

with BAME alumni from local areas who could revisit their schools to show students what they have been able to achieve.

Last year, statistics showed a lack of BAME representation in the number of professors in

UK universities. In the 2016-17 academic year, only 25 black women were recorded as working as professors, out of about 19,000 professors in total. It also showed that BAME staff were more likely than their white peers to be in junior positions.

“Role models are so important to students and that is because, from my perspective, students automatically disregard certain careers because they don’t see people from their own background in those roles,” Atteeq said.

Baroness Valerie Amos, the director of SOAS who co-led the report, said although universities

were racially and culturally diverse, the sector would be “failing a generation of students”

if work was not done to reduce the attainment gap.

“It is important that universities act and are transparent in their approach so black, Asian and minority ethnic students are given the best chance of success,” she said.

Responding to the report, Chris Millward, director for fair access and participation at the Office for Students (OFS), said universities and other higher education providers should act

on its recommendations. He noted that OFS had set targets for the sector to eliminate the

unexplained gap in degree outcomes between white and black students by 2024-25.

“Higher education provides life-changing benefits, but we know that stubborn gaps in attainment between certain ethnic groups are stopping some students from fulfilling their

true potential,” he said. “In particular, black students are much less likely to complete their

studies, secure a first or upper second-class degree, or find graduate-level employment than their white peers.

“This is not right, and it must change.”