Page 37 - Race Equality in Education Pocket Book

Race Equality University; Issues and experiences –

• Experienced researchers in this field, such as Professor
Jacqueline Stevenson, who heads research at the Sheffield

Institute of Education, found that BAME students feel just as
confident as their peers at university. The main difference is a

sense of entitlement to its support services, resources and

opportunities. If a lack of confidence is not the problem, it
appears that the presence or absence of a sense of privilege

might be playing a larger role.

• Respondents from the NUS Race for Equality report (2011)
suggested that BAME students may feel pressured by parents

to attend university and undertake a course that is views as
‘socially respectable’, such as medicine or law. Inevitably if

students undertake a course they are not interested in, impacts

on their level of satisfaction and attainment.

• BAME young people are underrepresented at Russell Group

universities (Alexander and Arday, 2015) and on
apprenticeships schemes and overrepresented in the figures for

unemployment and the prison system.

• Many graduate-level jobs and post-graduate courses (and
related bursaries) have 2:1 degree or above as a minimum

entry requirement. This means that minority ethnic graduates
are less likely to be able to benefit from these opportunities,

which impacts on the job market and the academic pipeline.

• In the Race for Equality report (2011), the NUS Black Students’
Campaign highlighted the multiple factors which not only

explain the Gap, but also depicted the systematic rejection felt
by Black students through both the content of their degrees

and the treatment they face. Some of the key issues include a

Eurocentric curriculum which Black students are unable to
relate to given that it is not reflective of diverse contributions to

the field.

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