Over the last few decades, the widening participation policies of successive UK governments have led to higher participation rates among 18 to 21 year old black and minority ethnic (BME) students (Sanders and Rose-Adams, 2014). At the same time, the difference in degree attainment remains at just over a 15% gap between BME students and non-BME students in terms of achieving a 2:1 or 1st degree outcome. In September, Advance HE published the data for 2016-17, which revealed:
- 75.1% of Chinese students were awarded a good honours degree (a degree attainment gap of 4.5 pp)
- 68.7% of Asian students (a gap of 10.9 pp)
- 55.5% of black students (a gap of 24.1 pp)
It is vital that we explore intersectionality as we seek to address these gaps. For example, 52.8% of black male students gained a good honours degree in 2016-17 (a gap of 24.8 pp from white male students) while 28.6% of white students gained a first class degree compared to 12.3% of black students (a gap of 16.3 pp). Students’ chosen subject also affects their chances of attaining a good honours degree. In 2016-17, the BME attainment gap was 11.3% in science, engineering and technology (SET) subjects and 15.4% in non-SET subjects.
These figures show that Higher Education currently reproduces racial inequalities. As a result, action is being taken to address this across the sector. Continue reading
