Developing a whole institution approach to Black & Minority Ethnic student success

Hana Riazuddin Student Diversity & Inclusion Officer @kcldiversity Syreeta Allen Widening Participation Officer: K+ @syreeta_kcl @KCLWP

What our students said

“BME 2020” – Sajid Javid “Increase by 20 per cent the number of students from black and minority ethnic communities studying in higher education by 2020, from 2014 levels.” Source: Office of the Prime Minister

What are the external and internal drivers for your institution?

Discussion What would your first steps be? What interventions would you/are you undertaking to address these issues? What data do you have or would you need? What governance structure or senior leader would be responsible? Who would be responsible for implementation or operationalising the strategy or actions?

BME Student Success Project A working group was convened in January 2014 – chaired by Vice Principal (Education) and included KCLSU representatives to: Understand the national picture and gather best practice Collect and review King’s data Identify key actions and interventions for first phase of activity. Process included: Aligning the project with with our Race Equality Charter Mark Submission – Self Assessment Teams to contribute to action plan Recruited BME student researchers to conduct focus groups and present a paper of recommendations

What did we find? -12% The institutional attainment gap using national measurement (% 1st and 2:1 by ethnicity) in 2014/15 was -12.0% Most evident - 1st class degree level (-8.0%) Not all BME groups – Black students

Not all BME students are under-represented Most under-represented ethnic minority groups in higher education are Black-Caribbean, Black-African, Asian-Bangladeshi and Asian-Pakistani students. Black Caribbean and other Black pupils are significantly less likely to attend higher tariff institutions than other ethnicities. White working class boys agenda

  “They assume that I’m not doing well on my course because I’m black whilst actually I’m doing pretty well. People always assume the worst of me or assume that I’m not capable and then they’re shocked or surprised that I come out and achieve good things”  “I feel like I often have to represent my race in my course and I think discussing with other black people they also have that pressure. Like if you put your hand up and you answer it wrong, people will look at you and like oh of course you didn’t know it’, ‘she didn’t know the answer to that.’”   “But when they’re talking about psychological things like why people go to the doctor or lectures like that, they never take cultural perspectives into account…I wanted to study how people experienced depression differently because of their cultures but the lecturer didn’t feel that this was relevant. I’m really angry I’m not gonna lie.”  “My point is not really that 'the courses are 'too white'' but that I wanted to see the rich human legacy of… from a variety of viewpoints.”  

Our journey so far… Support for students Race Equality Charter mark KPIs OFFA Agreement King’s 2029 Steering Group Open Meetings WP BME Student Strategy Data – dashboards Harassment, bullying and discrimination Quality assurance processes and policies Harassment Advisors and reporting mechanism Open Doors Project Student ambassadors BIT project Community ambassadors Frontline staff – Harassment, bullying and discrimination training Personal Tutor Portal Inclusive Education Portal Unconscious Bias – mandatory Support for students University strategy and commitment Institutional processes, policies and monitoring Training and resources for staff

University strategy and commitment King’s 2029 Vision “To care are about our learners on an individual basis and design mainstream interventions that remove all forms of inequality in learner engagement” University strategy and commitment

KPIs and Steering Group KPIs to reduce gap at 1st class degree level – institutional and faculty Aligning data, policy and processes Steering Group to develop and drive the university strategy to close the attainment gap, institutionally and at faculty level Includes representatives from all faculties, senior management and BME student representatives Institutional processes, policies and monitoring

University strategy and commitment Most recently reported performance in 2014-15 access agreement monitoring:    In 2014-15 the number of students from ethnic groups defined as non-white at King’s College London has increased to 41% but the 2014-15 target of 42.8% has not yet been met. Category: progress made but less than anticipated University strategy and commitment

Full lifecycle widening participation Support for students

Widening Participation BME Strategy More BME  students on KCLWP programmes Develop strategic partnerships with BME community organisations Stronger relationships with KCLSU cultural societies Increase BME teacher and parental engagement University strategy and commitment

Open Meetings: March 2016 Support for students

Open Doors Project & Mentoring Scheme Support for students

Continued challenges Change is never fast enough for students who are with us – managing quick & visible actions vs longer term change Getting the data right Resource, leadership and governance Staff understanding/awareness/support Avoiding deficit models Measuring impact

Next steps?

Questions? Hana Riazuddin Student Diversity & Inclusion Officer Syreeta Allen Widening Participation Officer: K+ @syreeta_kcl